J. D. Stiff Home
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John David Stiff (1853-1909) and his wife Blanche (Duer) (1866-1950) built this residence in 18934, the same year the first of their two children was born. A merchant, stiff owned a dry goods business on the town square. His home features influences of the Queen Anne style. Interesting elements include the paired dormers and the fish scale shingling. Members of the Stiff family owned the house until 1971. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When dry-goods merchant John David Stiff built this McKinney residence in 1893, he gave it the flourishes of the Queen Anne style then fashionable across small-town America — paired dormers and delicate fish-scale shingling that signaled a prosperous merchant on the town square. The house stayed in the Stiff family for nearly eighty years, until 1971, before being recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Why it matters
Homes like this trace how commerce and Victorian taste shaped the Texas county seat during the Gilded Age, when a successful storekeeper could anchor a community's Main Street and its architecture alike.
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Related people
- · John David Stiff
- · Blanche Duer Stiff
Themes & tags
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