Carrington–Covert House
Carrington-Covert House | |
Carrington–Covert House | |
Location | Austin, Texas, US |
---|---|
Coordinates | 30°16′40″N 97°44′24″W / 30.27778°N 97.74000°W / 30.27778; -97.74000 |
Built | 1857 |
NRHP reference No. | 70000765 |
RTHL No. | 6423 |
TSAL No. | 737 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | August 25, 1970 |
Designated RTHL | 1972 |
Designated TSAL | 8/18/2000 |
The Carrington–Covert House is a historic building in downtown Austin, Texas that serves as headquarters of the Texas Historical Commission. Built between 1855 and 1857, it is one of the few surviving pre-Civil War structures in the city.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.[citation needed] The Carrington–Covert House was turned over to the Texas Historical Commission to serve as the agency's headquarters in 1971, together with the nearby Gethsemane Lutheran Church.[1]
History
Construction began in 1855 and was essentially complete when on July 7, 1857, the building contractor, John Brandon, settled his account with the owner, Leonidas Carrington.[2][3] This was fewer than 20 years after Austin was founded.
The building has served many purposes.[4] From 1857 to 1870 it was the residence of Leonidas D. Carrington, his wife Martha née Hickman Hill, and their five children.[5][6] M.L. Hemphill bought the property in May 1870, and died five years later; apparently, his family continued living there until 1881. John Fields bought the house in 1881, but whether he ever resided there is not known.
Fields rented the house in 1893 to a charity sponsored by an Austin women's group, and from that time until 1898, it served as the "Texas Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital". The clinic operated "on the principle that two-thirds of its patients should be charity cases and the other third paying patients who contributed the funds for keeping the clinic in operation".[6] From 1903 to 1936, the house was the residence of the Covert family, who opened the first car dealership in central Texas in 1909; in 2020 the dealership was still in business in Austin.
Texas Historical Commission marker text
Leonidas D. Carrington (1816–1897) and his wife, Martha Hill Carrington (1824–1859) came to Austin from Mississippi in 1852. He began to accumulate real estate, and on Sept. 15, 1853, bought this block from James M. W. Hall, Austin hotelman, and ten days later opened a mercantile store on Congress Avenue intersection with Pecan Street (now 6th Street). In 1856, Carrington hired John Brandon, a local architect-contractor, to build on this site a vernacular Greek revival home, constructed of rough limestone ashlar. The house was completed in the spring of 1857. The property was purchased by M. L. Hemphill in 1870 and by the John Fields family in 1881. Fields leased the building, 1893–1898, to the "Texas Eyes, Ear, and Throat Hospital," directed by Dr. Henry L. Hilgartner (1868–1937), and in 1903, sold this site to Frank M. Covert (1865–1938), the head of a prominent Austin family, who lived here until 1936. Subsequent owners rented the structure as a boarding house, residence, and nursery until it was purchased by the State of Texas in 1968. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) restored the house in 1972 after an archeological excavation by the Texas State Archeologist's Office, an adjunct of the THC. Recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark-1962[7]
Gallery
- Carrington–Covert House, façade (west elevation), photo July 1974, by Roy Pledger for Historic American Buildings Survey[8]
References
- ^ "A 10K Walk Through German-Texas Heritage in Austin, Texas Archived December 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine." The University of Texas at Austin. 3/6. Retrieved on November 15, 2009.
- ^ Roberson, Wayne R. (1974). The Carrington–Covert House, Archeological Investigation of a 19th-Century Residence in Austin, Texas. Texas Historical Commission, Office of the State Archeologist Reports, Number 25, p5.
- ^ Carrington, L. D. (1856–1859). Ledger, L. D. Carrington Company, Austin, Texas; January 1856 to January 1859. Austin-Travis County Collection, Austin Public Library. Unpublished bound 700+pp ledger (hand-script entries).
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Roberson, Wayne R. (1974). The Carrington–Covert House, Archeological Investigation of a 19th-Century Residence in Austin, Texas. Texas Historical Commission, Office of the State Archeologist Reports, Number 25, p2.
- ^ Parmelee, Deolece (1968). The Carrington–Covert House in 19th century Austin. Austin, Texas: Unpublished manuscript copy on file, Texas Historical Commission.
- ^ a b Parmelee, Deolece (1971). Memorandum: various ownerships of the Carrington House. Austin, Texas: Unpublished manuscript on file, Texas Historical Commission.
- ^ Texas Historical Commission
- ^ Additional Photographs from July 1974
External links
Media related to Carrington-Covert House at Wikimedia Commons
- v
- t
- e
- Arnold Bakery
- Austin Daily Tribune Building
- Blue Bonnet Court
- Brown Building
- Cambridge Tower
- Driskill Hotel
- Goodman Building
- Green Pastures
- Haehnel Building
- Lundberg Bakery
- Millett Opera House
- Norwood Tower
- Paramount Theatre
- J. P. Schneider Store
- Scholz Garten
- Victory Grill
- Westgate Tower
- All Saints' Episcopal Church
- Anderson Stadium
- Austin Central Fire Station 1
- Austin Fire Drill Tower
- Austin History Center
- Austin State Hospital
- Battle Hall
- Camp Mabry
- George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center
- Central Christian Church
- Elisabet Ney Museum
- French Legation
- General Land Office Building
- Gethsemane Lutheran Church
- Dewitt C. Greer State Highway Building
- Hyde Park Presbyterian Church
- Lamar Boulevard Bridge
- Littlefield House
- Montopolis Bridge
- Moonlight Towers
- O. Henry Hall
- Oakwood Cemetery
- Royal Arch Masonic Lodge
- James E. Rudder State Office Building
- St. David's Episcopal Church
- St. Edward's University Main Building
- St. Mary's Cathedral
- Scottish Rite Dormitory
- Seaholm Power Plant
- Texas Federation of Women's Clubs Headquarters
- Texas Governor's Mansion
- Texas State Capitol
- Texas State Cemetery
- Third Street Railroad Trestle
- Town Lake Gazebo
- United States Courthouse (1936)
- University Baptist Church
- University Junior High School
- Anthony and Louise Viaer Alumni Hall
- Wesley United Methodist Church
- West Fifth Street Bridge
- West Sixth Street Bridge
- Bremond Block Historic District
- Clarksville Historic District
- Congress Avenue Historic District
- Hyde Park Historic District
- Little Campus
- Moore's Crossing Historic District
- Old West Austin Historic District
- Rainey Street Historic District
- Shadow Lawn Historic District
- Sixth Street Historic District
- Swedish Hill Historic District
- Travis Heights-Fairview Park Historic District
- West Line Historic District
- Willow–Spence Streets Historic District
- Aynesworth–Wright House
- Judge Robert Lynn Batts House
- Genaro P. and Carolina Briones House
- Brizendine House
- Carrington–Covert House
- Daniel H. and William T. Caswell Houses
- Frank M. and Annie G. Covert House
- Cox–Craddock House
- J. Frank Dobie House
- Fischer House
- Granger House and The Perch
- Hildreth–Flanagan–Heierman House
- Henry Hirshfeld House and Cottage
- A. J. Jernigan House
- Keith House
- Laguna Gloria
- Peter and Clotilde Shipe Mansbendel House
- Mayfield–Gutsch Estate
- McKinney Homestead
- Millett Opera House
- Neill–Cochran House
- Oliphant–Walker House
- Page–Gilbert House
- Perry Estate–St. Mary's Academy
- William Sidney Porter House
- Louis and Mathilde Reuter House
- Roberts Clinic
- Robinson–Macken House
- Sheeks–Robertson House
- Col. Monroe M. Shipe House
- Smith–Marcuse–Lowry House
- Southgate–Lewis House
- Wahrenberger House
- Woodlawn
- Goodall Wooten House
- Worrell–Ettlinger House
- Ziller House