James Lafayette and Eliza Pitts Malone House
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This house was built in 1891-92 for James L. and Eliza Malone. The Malones, parents of 16 children, were among the early pioneer families in the Stringtown area east of San Marcos. the house was sold out of the Malone family in 1906 following James' death. In 1926, the Victorian Queen Anne dwelling was modified to classical revival style by S. A. and Lellye McGehee Perkins. Returned to its earlier appearance in a 1996 renovation, the house features an L-shaped floor plan with a 2-story porch, chamfered columns with jigsawn brackets, turned balusters, and a gabled shingled roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1891–92 for James and Eliza Malone, parents of sixteen children, this Victorian Queen Anne home anchored the Stringtown settlement east of San Marcos, where the Malones were among the earliest pioneer families. A 1926 remodel gave it a Classical Revival face, and a 1996 renovation restored its exuberant original details — the two-story porch, chamfered columns, jigsawn brackets, and turned balusters.
Why it matters
The house records both a large pioneer family's stake in Central Texas and the changing tastes in American domestic architecture across a century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When the Malone house went up in 1891 and 1892, San Marcos was a growing Central Texas town where the Hill Country meets the farm and ranch land of the Blackland Prairie. The spring-fed San Marcos River had drawn people for thousands of years. By the late 1800s, railroads had tied the town to the rest of the state, bringing new settlers, new markets, and new building materials.
Those were the Gilded Age years, when prosperity and mass production were changing the look of American homes. Factory-milled trim, ready-cut decorative pieces, and pattern books spread fashionable designs from the big cities into small towns and farm communities. The Queen Anne style, with its asymmetry, porches, and showy woodwork, was the height of fashion.
East of San Marcos lay Stringtown, a rural area of farming families. For pioneer families who had come when the region was still lightly settled, a fine new house in the 1890s was a statement: the hard early years were over, and they had built something lasting.
People & events
James L. and Eliza Malone were among the early pioneer families of the Stringtown area. They raised sixteen children, a household big enough to fill a schoolroom. A house built for them in 1891 and 1892 had to be practical as well as handsome, a working farm family's home that could also show off the family's standing.
James died, and in 1906 the house passed out of the Malone family. Twenty years later, in 1926, new owners S. A. and Lellye McGehee Perkins made it over in the Classical Revival style, which was popular at the time. The Victorian frills that had been the latest thing in the 1890s now looked old-fashioned. The cleaner, columned look of Classical Revival suggested dignity and modern taste.
Then the story turned again. In a 1996 renovation, the house was returned to its earlier appearance and gained recognition as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Today you can see the L-shaped plan, the two-story porch, chamfered columns with jigsawn brackets, turned balusters, and a gabled, shingled roof, much as the Malones would have known them.
Its place in the American story
The Malone house shows how American tastes moved over a century. The Queen Anne style spread across the country in the late 1800s, helped by railroads and factory-made millwork. Then, in the early twentieth century, many families remodeled their Victorian homes to look more classical. Late in the century, preservationists began reversing those changes. This one house went through all three chapters.
It also tells a family story repeated all over rural America. Large farm families like the Malones were the backbone of settlement across Texas and the West, clearing land, raising crops, and filling churches and schools. Their homes often outlived the families who built them, passing through new owners and new purposes.
Finally, the 1996 restoration reflects the historic preservation movement that has reshaped how Americans treat old buildings. Rather than tear down or endlessly update, communities increasingly chose to recover what had been lost. Places like this turn architecture into a record of how people lived and what they valued.
If you visit
Treat the Malone house as a private property unless you know otherwise, and enjoy it respectfully from the street. Even from the sidewalk there's plenty to see. Look for the L-shaped footprint and the two-story porch, then let your eye go to the details: the chamfered columns, with their corners shaved off, the jigsawn brackets, and the turned balusters along the railings.
It's fun to try to picture the 1926 Classical Revival version, then compare it with what stands today, a reminder that old houses are rarely frozen in time. Spotting where a building has been changed and then restored is a big part of the pleasure of looking at historic architecture.
The house fits easily into a day in San Marcos. Spend time along the clear, spring-fed San Marcos River, wander the historic downtown around the courthouse square, and look for other Victorian homes from the same era. Together they paint a picture of a small Texas town coming into its own.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · James L. Malone
- · Eliza Malone
Themes & tags
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