William T. and Valerie Mansbendel Williams House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place. Now settle in, because this is one of those stories where the house itself is almost a character. We're talking about a home in Travis County, constructed between 1933 and 1934, and if you look at it, really look at it, you start to understand that somebody poured something more than timber and mortar into it.

The house was built by William Kutalek and Peter Mansbendel for a couple named William T. Williams, Jr. and Clotilde Valerie Mansbendel Williams. And here's where the story gets its first little twist, because that name, Mansbendel, appears twice in that sentence.

Valerie's father, Peter Mansbendel, was one of the men who built the house. A noted local artisan, the marker calls him, and when you see the wood and stone carvings he left behind on the interior and exterior of this place, well, noted starts to feel like an understatement. This man didn't just build his daughter a house.

He decorated it. He signed it, in a way, with his hands. The home draws its motifs from the Tudor Revival style, and it's laid out in a u-shaped plan that wraps itself around an enclosed courtyard.

There's something almost protective about that shape, isn't there. Like the house is keeping something close. Now William T.

Williams, Jr. was no quiet figure in Austin life. The marker tells us he was a successful city leader and attorney who was a leading contributor to Austin's growth and development. And Valerie held her own ground too, staying active in civic, church, and school organizations.

Two people, one house, one father who built it with his own hands and left his carvings all over it like a long letter to the people he loved. That's the kind of story a house holds, if it's lucky enough to have one this good.

What the marker says

This historic home was constructed in 1933-34 by William Kutalek and Peter Mansbendel for William T. Williams, Jr. and Clotilde Valerie (Mansbendel) Williams. With motifs drawn from the Tudor Revival Style, the house features a u-shaped plan surrounding an enclosed courtyard. Wood and stone carvings by noted local artisan, Peter Mansbendel, Valerie's father, adorn the home's interior and exterior. William was a successful city leader and attorney who was a leading contributor to Austin's growth and development. Valerie was active in many civic, church and school organizations.