Underwood and Clara Nazro House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Underwood and Clara Nazro House in Harris County. Now, Courtlandt Place has always had a way of drawing a certain kind of family, the kind that builds something meant to last, and this house is no exception. Of all the homes along that street, this one stands apart.

It is the only one in Courtlandt Place built in the Georgian Revival style, and that alone is worth slowing down for. The red brick veneer catches your eye first, and then you notice the front entry portico, with its full entablature held up by slender columns topped with composite capitals. It is a house that knows what it is.

And who built it? A Fort Worth firm by the name of Sanguinet and Staats, doing what the marker calls early twentieth century residential work, and doing it well. Underwood Nazro and his wife Clara moved in with their two children in 1916, and the family made this their home through 1928.

Now, Underwood Nazro was not a man who kept to one lane. He was Vice-President of the Gulf Oil Company, and beyond that he worked in finance and community investment. A man with a hand in the industry that was reshaping Texas and a mind turned toward what a community could become.

Then, in 1940, a new chapter walked through that front portico. Banker Ike McFarland and his wife Mae Wynn McFarland settled in, and they stayed until 1969. Mae Wynn McFarland was a preservationist, which means she understood something the house itself might have appreciated: that what gets built with care deserves to be kept with care.

Three decades they called it home. A Georgian Revival original, one Fort Worth firm's finest Houston work, and a succession of people who, each in their own way, knew the value of a thing worth holding onto.

What the marker says

THIS HOUSE, THE ONLY ONE OF GEORGIAN REVIVAL STYLE IN COURTLANDT PLACE, IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY RESIDENTIAL WORK OF FORT WORTH FIRM SANGUINET AND STAATS. THE RED BRICK VENEERED HOUSE FEATURES A FRONT ENTRY PORTICO WITH FULL ENTABLATURE SUPPORTED BY SLENDER COLUMNS WITH COMPOSITE CAPITALS. UNDERWOOD NAZRO, HIS WIFE CLARA, AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN LIVED HERE FROM 1916-28. NAZRO WAS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE GULF OIL COMPANY AND ALSO DID BUSINESS IN FINANCE AND COMMUNITY INVESTMENT. BANKER IKE McFARLAND AND HIS WIFE, PRESERVATIONIST MAE WYNN McFARLAND, LIVED HERE FROM 1940-69.