Hirshfeld House
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Henry Hirshfeld (1834-1911), a native of Germany, was a prominent Austin merchant and a leader in the city's Jewish community. In 1873 he and hid wife Jennie (Melasky) built a one-story limestone cottage on the lot west of this site. Because of the financial success and a growing family, they later made plans for a larger home here. Construction of this two-story brick and cut stone house began in 1885 and the family moved in a year after completion. Designed and built by architect John Andrewartha, it features characteristics of Victorian and Eastlake styling. Exterior ornamentation includes a double gallery, a bay, strained glass, ornate woodwork, and intricate limestone detailing. The two-story stick style carriage house was built soon after completion of the main residence. The Hirshfelds had eight children. Two of their son's Jake and Sam, also became merchants and opened separate clothing stores. Jake and his brother Morris served as directors of the Austin National Bank, an institution their father helped establish in 1890. Family members continued to reside here until the death of the Hirshfelds' daughter Leila Hirshfeld Bernheim in 1973. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the boom years after the Civil War, Austin was reinventing itself as a state capital and commercial hub, and German-born merchant Henry Hirshfeld rode that prosperity from a modest limestone cottage to this grand two-story brick and cut-stone home in 1885. Designed by architect John Andrewartha in exuberant Victorian and Eastlake taste, its double gallery, bay, and intricate stonework announced a family that had arrived. A leader in Austin's Jewish community and a founder of the Austin National Bank, Hirshfeld saw his descendants live here into the 1970s.
Why it matters
The house embodies the immigrant merchant success stories that built Texas cities in the Gilded Age, and it preserves the imprint of a founding family of Austin's Jewish community.
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Related people
- · Henry Hirshfeld
- · Jennie Melasky Hirshfeld
- · John Andrewartha
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hirshfeld Cottage
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Henry Hirshfeld left Germany at fifteen, worked for uncles in Mobile, and served in the Confederate Army before settling in Austin to enter the mercantile trade. By 1873, a rising businessman, he built this one-story stone cottage with its distinctive widow's walk and jigsaw porch detailing. A founder and first president of Congregation Beth Israel and an early appointee to the State Board of Trade, Hirshfeld moved his growing family to a larger house next door in 1888 and kept the cottage as rental property.
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