A. W. Sillure House
Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1912 for Alexander W. and Eva Sillure, this house is representative of the city's early 20th-century architectural heritage. Sillure, general manager and vice president of the Belford Lumber Company, personally supervised construction of this house and drew the plans for many other homes built by the company in Georgetown. The Sillure House reflects the American Foursquare and Prairie School styles in its full-width porch and broad eaves. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1912 for lumber executive Alexander W. Sillure and his wife Eva, this house showcased the very product its owner sold. As general manager and vice president of the Belford Lumber Company, Sillure supervised his own home's construction and drafted plans for many other Georgetown residences. Its full-width porch and broad eaves reflect the American Foursquare and Prairie School styles popular in early twentieth-century America.
Why it matters
The home embodies how the lumber trade literally built the residential character of growing Texas towns in the early 1900s, with the man who sold the boards shaping the neighborhood.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Georgetown in 1912 was a growing Central Texas county seat and college town, one of the many Texas communities building up rapidly in the early twentieth century. Railroads made manufactured building materials easy to get, and local lumber yards became vital businesses, supplying the boards, millwork and sometimes the plans for new homes.
Nationally, domestic architecture was changing. Americans were moving away from the ornate, towered houses of the Victorian era and toward simpler, more practical forms. The American Foursquare, a boxy two-story house with a roomy, efficient plan, became one of the most popular house types in the country.
At the same time, the Prairie School, which grew out of the Midwest and is most closely associated with Frank Lloyd Wright, was promoting strong horizontal lines, low-pitched roofs and deep, overhanging eaves meant to echo the flat American landscape. Many builders blended the two, adding Prairie details to the practical Foursquare form.
People & events
Alexander W. Sillure was general manager and vice president of the Belford Lumber Company, which was more than a place to buy boards in Georgetown. The company also built houses, and Sillure drew the plans for many of them. In a real sense, the man selling the lumber was also helping design the town's neighborhoods.
When it came time to build a home for himself and his wife, Eva, in 1912, Sillure personally supervised the construction. It's easy to see this house as a showcase for the company's craftsmanship and his own ideas about what a modern home should be.
The result blends the two leading styles of the day: the practical American Foursquare and the Prairie School, visible in its full-width porch and broad eaves. The house was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1990, which recognized it as a strong example of Georgetown's early twentieth-century architectural heritage.
Its place in the American story
The Sillure House tells a story that happened in thousands of American towns: local lumber companies shaped how whole neighborhoods looked. In the early 1900s, many Americans didn't hire architects. Their homes came from builders and lumber dealers who drew plans, supplied materials and repeated designs they knew worked.
It also shows how national design trends reached small-town America. Ideas from Midwestern architects and from popular plan books traveled by rail and print, then were adapted by local builders to fit local budgets and climates. Broad eaves and deep porches, for example, made just as much sense under the Texas sun as on the Midwestern prairie.
In this way, a single house in Georgetown connects to the larger story of how the American middle class housed itself as the country modernized.
If you visit
This is a private residence, so enjoy it from the street and respect the owners' privacy. Look for the features the marker points out: the porch running the full width of the front, and the wide, overhanging eaves that give the house its strong horizontal feel.
As you walk the surrounding blocks, try to spot houses that share its proportions and details. Since Sillure drew plans for many homes built by his company, you may be looking at relatives of this house all around town.
Georgetown rewards an unhurried stroll. Make this part of a walking tour of the town's historic neighborhoods and courthouse square, a good stop along the Interstate 35 corridor north of Austin.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Alexander W. Sillure
- · Eva Sillure
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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