Edward Clark House Outbuilding
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Edward Clark (Lt. Governor 1859-1861; Governor 1861) purchased four lots, including this property, in 1856. This brick structure likely served as an outbuilding, and possibly as slave quarters, during the period Clark lived in the adjacent home from 1856-1867. The layout of the home is typical of slave quarters for the period and could have housed the ten slaves Clark owned. The vernacular, one-story load-bearing brick masonry building was constructed of double wythe, buff-colored Austin common brick. In the 1930s, original exterior features of the home were modified by owner Mamie Hatzfeld. Despite the changes, it is a rare surviving example of a pre-Civil War residential building. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2012
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Edward Clark—Texas lieutenant governor and, in 1861, its Confederate governor—bought this property in 1856, and this buff-brick building likely served as an outbuilding and possibly as quarters for the ten enslaved people he owned. Its plan matches typical slave quarters of the period, and despite 1930s alterations by owner Mamie Hatzfeld it survives as a rare pre-Civil War residential structure in Austin. The building was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2012.
Why it matters
Surviving quarters like this one bear physical witness to slavery in the antebellum capital, a history often erased from the grander homes it stood behind.
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Related people
- · Edward Clark
- · Mamie Hatzfeld
Themes & tags
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