Watkins House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Watkins House in Llano County. Now, some houses just sit there. This one has been doing things, quiet and steady, for well over a century.

George M. Watkins was a merchant and civic leader, born in 1863, and he built this house about 1916 alongside his second wife, Lutie, who went by McLean before she became a Watkins. Lutie was no ordinary resident of Llano.

She was the first president of the Woman's Culture Club, which tells you something about the kind of household this was from the very beginning. The house itself was probably built by a local contractor named J. R.

Blackmore, and if that's the case, Blackmore had a real eye for craft. What he left behind is described as a fine example of a craftsman-inspired structure. Low-pitched roof, deep eaves, fenestration detailing that catches your attention the moment you stop and really look, and ornate wood craftsmanship throughout.

Now, Lutie passed in 1921, and George carried on, living in this house he and she had made together. He lived all the way to 1945, when he died at the age, well, the marker gives you 1863 and 1945, and you can do that arithmetic yourself on a long stretch of highway. What matters is what he did at the end.

George M. Watkins willed the house to the Woman's Culture Club. The very organization his wife had helped lead as its first president.

The club moved in and occupied the house in 1953, and that is the kind of ending that doesn't feel like an ending at all. It feels like the whole thing was planned that way from the start.

What the marker says

Merchant and civic leader George M. Watkins (1863-1945) and his second wife, Lutie (McLean) (d. 1921), first president of Llano's Woman's Culture Club, built this house about 1916. The house, probably built by local contractor J. R. Blackmore, is a fine example of a craftsman-inspired structure. It features fenestration detailing, a low-pitched roof with deep eaves, and ornate wood craftsmanship. In 1945 G. Watkins willed the house to the Woman's Culture Club which occupied it in 1953. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994