James & Selina Phillips House
West Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James Price Phillips, descendant of a Brazoria County old 300 family, married Selina Harris Lee in 1911. They had four children, and Price built this house for his wife to commemorate the birth of their youngest child, Oliver Wendel, in 1920. The site had been a pecan orchard next to the Dr. Rees Porter home, which served as a hospital for soldiers of the Texas Revolution. The Phillips house is an American foursquare design with prairie and craftsman style detailing. The two-story frame construction house has a square floor plan and blond gonzales brick in the porch columns and chimney. The home remained in the Phillips family until 1978.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James Price Phillips descended from one of the "Old Three Hundred" families of Stephen F. Austin's original Texas colony, and in 1920 he built this home to mark the birth of his youngest child. It rose on a former pecan orchard beside the Dr. Rees Porter home, which had once served as a hospital for soldiers of the Texas Revolution. The American foursquare house, with prairie and craftsman touches and columns of pale Gonzales brick, stayed in the family until 1978.
Why it matters
The home links an original Austin-colony lineage to the everyday architecture of early twentieth-century Texas, threading the Republic's founding into modern family life.
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Related people
- · James Price Phillips
- · Selina Harris Lee Phillips
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
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