DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and this is my telling of it — the story of a house that kept reinventing itself right alongside the people passing through its doors. Now, Friedrich Huster built this place in 1867, in what the marker calls a simple vernacular Greek Revival style. Clean lines, honest timber, the kind of house that says it knows what it is.
But Huster didn't hold onto it long. Come 1868, a man named Charles Klein bought the house right out from under him — and that's where things start to get interesting. Klein had plans for the place.
He leased it first to the German-American Ladies College, which ran there from 1873 to 1879. Then the Texas German and English Academy moved in and kept the lights on from 1880 to 1886. That's a stretch of time when this house was less a home and more an institution — voices in the halls, chalk dust in the air, the whole business.
Meanwhile, the house itself was getting restless. Around 1873, somebody added a porch and a second story in the rear. The building was already starting to grow beyond what Huster first imagined.
Now Klein, for all his leasing arrangements, did something in 1882 that gave the house its name. He deeded the property to his daughter Caroline — born 1834, died 1916 — the widow of John Wahrenberger, who had been an early Austin settler. John Wahrenberger had lived from 1812 to 1864, and Caroline carried that name forward, right along with the deed.
As a semi-private residence, the house took in boarders, and this is the part where the story leans forward and lowers its voice. Among those boarders: a young man named Pat Neff, who stayed there in 1896 and 1897. You might want to remember that name.
Pat Neff would go on to serve as Governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925. And then there was Sam Rayburn, who boarded there in 1907 and 1908, and who would one day stand as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Two men, two rooms, two futures that neither one of them could've fully seen yet — and this house held them both.
The Victorian phase arrived in 1887 with the attachment of metal cornices and a pediment, which dressed the old Greek Revival bones up in something considerably more fashionable. That ornamentation would eventually come off in 1960, but it had its run. The Victorian chapter closed with the addition of the Classical Revival portico and a sleeping porch in 1916 — the same year Caroline Wahrenberger died, as it happens, though the marker draws no line between those two facts.
From about 1910 to 1946, the house settled into being the private home of the Wahrenberger family. Then in 1946 the porch was dismantled and the façade was altered — the house changed its face one more time, the way old houses sometimes do when the world around them shifts. By the time the marker was set down, the property was being maintained by Revell and Company and owned by a Wahrenberger heir.
More than a century of additions, removals, tenants, teachers, and future governors — all stacked up inside walls that Friedrich Huster raised back in 1867. Some houses just have a talent for being present at the right moment. This one's got the record to prove it.
What the marker says
Charles Klein bought house from F. Huster, 1868, leased it to German-American Ladies College (1873-79), Texas German and English Academy (1880-86) and deeded it, 1882, to daughter Caroline (1834-1916), widow of John Wahrenberger (1812-64), early Austin settler. As a semi-private residence, boarders included Pat Neff (1896-97), Governor of Texas (1921-25); and Sam Rayburn (1907-08), Speaker of the US House of Representatives. House was the private home (about 1910-1946) of the Wahrenberger family. A significant example of 19th century architectural evolution, this house was built in a simple vernacular Greek Revival style in 1867, by Friedrich Huster. A porch and second story in rear were added about 1873. Victorian phase began 1887, with attachment of metal cornices and pediment (removed 1960); ended with addition of the present Classical Revival portico and a sleeping porch in 1916. Porch was dismantled and façade altered, 1946. Property is maintained by Revell & Co., and owned by a Wahrenberger heir. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1963