Gilmer-Cage-Cohn House
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The 1905 Gilmer-Cage-Cohn House is a stately, pillared, Classical Revival residence that reflects a respect for antiquity. It is a well-designed and early example of this style in Houston. Brian Brewster and Edna (Daffan) Gilmer were the first owners. B.B. Gilmer was secretary-treasurer of the Standard Milling Company when he bought this lot. He organized the Southern Drug Company and became a national leader in his industry. Gilmer also made significant civic contributions, including terms as president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Houston Bankers, Wholesalers and Manufacturers Association. After a short time in the house the Gilmers sold the property to Elliott and Roene (Masterson) Cage. Elliott was a prominent Houston attorney and proprietor of the Cage Cotton Company, while Roene was president and longtime board member of DePelchin Faith Home. By 1920, the Cages sold the house to Harry Joseph Cohn, a native of Latvia, and his wife Etta Frieda, a native of Russia. Harry Cohn was a prosperous merchant in dry goods and furniture. The Cohn family lived in the house for 64 years. The history property includes a large main house and a detached two-story carriage house, with both structures clad in horizontal wood siding. Four monumental columns with Ionic capitals dominate the house's three bay main façade. The house shows both Neoclassical and Arts and Crafts influences. Significant features include the main columns and inset porch, corner pilasters, low hipped roof with tympanum, window and door molding, off-center entrance and elliptical second floor balcony with balustrade. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1905, this stately, pillared home is an early Houston example of the Classical Revival style, its four Ionic columns and elliptical balcony announcing a fashionable respect for antiquity. Its owners read like a roster of the city's rising business class: Brian Brewster Gilmer, a drug-industry leader and Chamber of Commerce president; attorney Elliott Cage of the Cage Cotton Company; and finally Harry Cohn, a dry-goods and furniture merchant born in Latvia whose family lived here for 64 years. Each family left its mark on a house that shows both Neoclassical and Arts and Crafts influences.
Why it matters
The house traces the arc of a booming Gulf Coast city, where cotton, drugs, and commerce made fortunes and immigrant merchants like the Cohns built lasting places in the American middle and upper class.
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Related people
- · Brian Brewster Gilmer
- · Elliott Cage
- · Harry Joseph Cohn
Themes & tags
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