This beautiful iron fence surrounds the Queen Anne Victorian house of an early Texas cattle baron, James Dunn Houston, in Gonzales, Texas.
Outside of Nacogdoches, Gonzales has perhaps the richest history in the state of Texas. It was here that the first shot of the Texas revolution was fired. It was here that 32 men answered Sam Houston's call for aid in defending the Alamo. All lost their lives in the fight for independence from Mexico. After learning of the fate of the Alamo defenders, Houston, believing that Gonzales would be the next site of attack by the Mexican army, ordered the town evacuated and burned to deny the enemy another conquest. After the revolution and through the 1840s the town was rebuilt on its original site and eventually became a financial center as men made their fortunes in cattle and cotton. Lavish lifestyles resulted in large homes that were built and have been preserved for over a hundred years. Eighty such mansions have been documented, although the list and the research continues to grow. Today all of these homes seem to be occupied with the exception of one. Over the next few weeks I'll bring you a small sample of these Victorian beauties that I discovered on my last road trip through Gonzales.
James Dunn Houston was born in Texas in 1851, his parents having come here from Mississippi. He began construction on this beautiful home in 1895 and it was finally completed three years later. It has 15 main rooms, five bathrooms, an indoor conservatory, and each of the main rooms has its own individually designed fireplace. The floors are oak hardwood in an original parquet pattern. Light fixtures in the dining room, banquet room, living room and foyer hang from elaborately carved medallions which match the molding around the rooms. Two wall murals painted on canvas and purchased in New Orleans still grace the foyer.* Houston only lived in the home two years. In 1900 he moved to San Antonio where he became a banker.
* From tourgonzales.com
22 comments:
Beautiful iron fence, and I like the porch railings, too!
Wonderful fence and a truly beautiful house, how I would love a house like that!
Hello, what a beautiful house and the iron fence is great! Wonderful finds, have a happy day!
really beautiful and my favorite part is the tower... and the fence to.
wow. quite the 'home'. :) i cannot imagine burning your own town. tragic.
Great fence and the house is breathtaking....
Since I am from East Texas, been here. It is a very interesting town with a lot of history.
Love the grand home and fence.
That is truly a grand home! In a way it reminds me of the homes in Quincy Illinois, my home town. There was a lot of wealth in Quincy at one time resulting in many grand homes like this. Visitors are always amazed at the homes along Maine street.
An amazing house that is like an old work of art. At one time I would have loved to live in a house like that but as I got older I decided I wanted a tiny house so I would have less up keep. I still love to see them though.
Iron fences - the best. thanks for sharing.
That house is amazing. Just think about living there in that big house with that pretty lawn and that nice iron fence. Wow.
Oh my goodness it took three years to build and then he only lived there two. Wonder what he lived in, in San Antonio.
Gorgeous fence and house!
Great for link to Good Fences!
Wonderful fences. Beautiful house.
Hi Kathy, beautiful iron fence surrounding a gorgeous mansion. Great Texas info. We watched the special called Texas Rising on the History channel. It was very good.
Thanks for sharing and always a great history lesson.
Have a nice weekend. cm
Nice fence.
I do like the nice wrought iron fence in front of this historic home and I must say that home is pretty awesome looking.
There are many houses now throughout the world that are just as big, but this era had houses of much grander architecture, in my opinion. There used to be many more fences like those in your photo on properties when I was a youngster also. It adds a grand touch to the house and property.
WOW! Now that is a VERY impressive house and lovely fence
I'm impressed by the number of mansions in your area! This is one very fine example of lavish living in the 1800s!
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