Edwin and Daphne Neville House
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This 1914 Birdsall P. Briscoe house is a two-and-a-half story brick Tudor revival style residence. Retaining its original floor plan and interior finishes, it features half-timbered gables, a steeply-pitched hipped roofline, and four brick chimneys. Briscoe’s design includes one-story brick loggias, topped with brick balustrades. Edwin L. Neville, partner at Dorrance & Company, and his wife, Daphne Palmer, were active in civic affairs, including the Houston community chest, the Junior League of Houston, inc., the Edward Palmer Memorial Chapel and Jefferson Davis Hospital. The house remained in the Neville family until 1949.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This two-and-a-half-story brick Tudor Revival residence was designed in 1914 by Houston architect Birdsall P. Briscoe, and it still keeps its original floor plan, half-timbered gables, steep hipped roof, and one-story brick loggias. It was home to Edwin L. Neville, a partner at Dorrance & Company, and his wife Daphne Palmer, both active in Houston civic life through the Community Chest, the Junior League, and area hospitals and chapels. The house stayed in the Neville family until 1949.
Why it matters
The home preserves an intact example of early-20th-century Houston's residential architecture and the civic-minded business families who shaped the growing city.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Edwin L. Neville
- · Daphne Palmer Neville
- · Birdsall P. Briscoe
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
W. T. Carter, Sr. House
Houston, TX
Built in 1920 to designs by noted Houston architect Birdsall Briscoe, this Georgian Revival house drew timber magnate William T. Carter, Sr. and his wife Maude from their Main Street mansion to Courtlandt Place, where three of their grown children already lived in an unbroken row of family homes. Carter's fortune came from a large East Texas timber operation centered on Camden. The design blends Tudor and Classical Revival touches—gabled dormers, a slate roof, and Flemish-bond brickwork.
F.C.L. and Emilie Neuhaus House
Houston, TX
Houston businessman Franz Carl Ludwig Neuhaus and his wife Emilie commissioned the noted firm Sanguinet and Staats to design this Colonial Revival house in 1909, completing it the following year. Classical touches — a Doric-entablature portico, arched sidelights, and a porte cochere — mark it as fine early-twentieth-century craftsmanship. It was the first home built on Courtlandt Place, one of Houston's early planned residential enclaves, and stayed in the family until 1945.
James L. Autry House
Houston, TX
James L. Autry came to Corsicana in 1876 and studied law just as Texas's first oil discoveries were transforming the state's economy. As chief counsel for the Texas Company—later Texaco—he helped invent the new field of petroleum law. In 1912 he commissioned the noted firm Sanguinet and Staats to build this Neoclassical home, distinguished by its double galleries, fluted Doric columns, and tile roof.
Ezekial and Mary Jane Miller House
Houston, TX
Around 1900, Ezekial Miller arrived in Houston and built a thriving timber business, becoming a well-known merchant and civic leader in a city then booming on lumber and commerce. In 1905 he built this home for his wife Mary Jane and their five children. Its corner tower, dormer window, and mix of Queen Anne exuberance with restrained Colonial Revival lines typify the work of Houston's early-20th-century builders.