Carrington Bluff House
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1854, local Austin merchant and land speculator, L.D. Carrington (1816-1897), bought this property and the surrounding outlots for his family farm from Hannah (Este) Burnet (1800-1858), wife of the first president of the Republic of Texas, David G. Burnet (1788-1870), and built a house in the 1880s. The present appearance dates to the 1911 remodel by owner Charles Morrison (1875-1966) and the 1920s and 1930s second story addition by owner Joseph O’Reilly (1857-1937). This vernacular house has a modified hip roof with south and east facing gable ends. Square columns on the south porch and the wavy glass on the upper pane of the front door are consistent with 19th century trends. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2018
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1854 the Austin merchant and land speculator L.D. Carrington bought this bluff-top property from Hannah Burnet, wife of David G. Burnet, the first president of the Republic of Texas, and made it his family farm. The house took its present vernacular form through decades of alteration — a structure of the 1880s, a 1911 remodel by owner Charles Morrison, and a second story added by Joseph O'Reilly in the 1920s and 1930s. Square porch columns and wavy glass in the front door still recall its nineteenth-century origins.
Why it matters
The Carrington Bluff House links early Austin's merchant and speculator class to the founding figures of the Texas Republic, and its layered additions preserve a century of the city's domestic architecture.
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Related people
- · L.D. Carrington
- · Hannah Este Burnet
- · David G. Burnet
- · Charles Morrison
- · Joseph O'Reilly
Themes & tags
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