Astin-Porter Home
Bryan, Brazos County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built for Onah (Ward) Astin (d. 1944), the wife of cotton planter James H. Astin (d. 1897), this house was designed by the Waco firm of Howard Messer and S. Wemyss Smith. Construction began in 1901 and was completed two years later. The exterior of the Classical Revival residence features a two-story gallery with Corinthian columns. Holland Porter, a planter, purchased the home in 1946, and additions were made to the structure during his ownership. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in 1901 and finished two years later, this Classical Revival residence was built for Onah Ward Astin, widow of cotton planter James H. Astin, and designed by the Waco firm of Messer and Smith. Its two-story gallery and Corinthian columns announced the wealth that cotton brought to the Brazos Valley. Planter Holland Porter bought and expanded the home in 1946, lending the house its double name.
Why it matters
The Astin-Porter Home embodies the cotton-planter gentry whose fortunes shaped the towns and architecture of early-twentieth-century Central Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Onah Ward Astin
- · James H. Astin
- · Holland Porter
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Wilkerson House
Bryan, TX
Built in 1912 by noted Bryan architect and contractor Charlie Jenkins, this home stood in a neighborhood favored by the town's business leaders during the 1910s and 1920s. First owned by banker A. W. Wilkerson and later by businessman John Parker, it is a variation on the American Four-Square style, with a hipped roof, eave brackets, and a wraparound porch.
Waldrop House
Bryan, TX
Built in the early 1900s to designs by the Houston firm Jones & Tabor, this home belonged to Allister Waldrop, a prominent Bryan retail merchant who also served as president of the city school board. Its American Four-Square form reflected the era's turn toward clean, simple design, dressed up with Palladian dormer windows and second-story wood shingles.
Eugene Edge Home
Bryan, TX
This Queen Anne residence, built in 1901-02 by prominent local builder Charles Jenkins, blends its wraparound two-story porch and decorative balustrade with Colonial Revival touches like Doric columns and a pedimented entry. It served as the home of early Bryan businessman Eugene Edge until 1918, before he built a later house nearby.
McMichael-Wilson House
Bryan, TX
This Queen Anne home was built in 1904 for lumberman and Brazos County clerk George Washington McMichael, who died the same year. In 1912 it was bought by prominent planter Alfred Flournoy Wilson, and it stayed in the Wilson family for nearly sixty years. Its corner turret, wraparound porch, and conical-roofed pavilion made it a Bryan landmark, recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1985.