Mary (Masterson) and John Fain House
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This house and its "twin" next door were built by sisters Mary Masterson Fain and Anna Belle Masterson Krister. Designed by Walter Whitley of Dallas, the houses were built in 1930. Mary Fain was the youngest daughter of Robert and Ann Masterson, pioneer ranchers with oil and gas holdings. The house blends elements of colonial revival architecture and was meant to complement the adjoining house, and they were meant to be viewed as a whole. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sisters Mary Masterson Fain and Anna Belle Masterson Krister built these matching houses in 1930, designed by Dallas architect Walter Whitley to be viewed together as a single composition. Mary was the youngest daughter of pioneer ranchers Robert and Ann Masterson, whose holdings included oil and gas. The colonial revival home was meant to complement its "twin" next door.
Why it matters
The paired houses reflect the ranching-and-oil fortunes of the Panhandle and two sisters' shared vision of home, a small chapter of women shaping Amarillo's built landscape.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Amarillo in 1930 was a city that grew up on cattle and then struck gas and oil. The Texas Panhandle was one of the last parts of the state to be settled by ranchers, and great ranches spread across the High Plains in the late 1800s. The railroad made Amarillo a shipping center for cattle.
In the years after World War I, the discovery of natural gas and then oil in the Panhandle transformed the region. Towns boomed, fortunes were made, and families who had held ranchland suddenly found themselves sitting on valuable mineral rights. Many of them built fine homes in Amarillo.
The year 1930 falls at a turning point. The stock market crash had come just months before, and the Great Depression, along with the Dust Bowl years that hit the southern Plains especially hard, would soon reshape life across the Panhandle. Houses built at this moment capture the prosperity of the boom right before the hard times arrived.
People & events
This house is one half of a pair. Sisters Mary Masterson Fain and Anna Belle Masterson Krister built it and its "twin" next door, and both were finished in 1930. Two sisters choosing to live side by side, in homes designed to go together, suggests a close family bond and a shared idea of what home should look like.
Mary was the youngest daughter of Robert and Ann Masterson, pioneer ranchers whose holdings included oil and gas. Their story follows the arc of many Panhandle families: first cattle on the open plains, then the mineral wealth that came from underneath the same land.
The sisters hired Walter Whitley of Dallas to design the houses. Rather than two separate showpieces, they got a matching composition: this house combines elements of the Colonial Revival style and was meant to complement its neighbor, with the pair meant to be seen together as one whole. The house was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1996.
Its place in the American story
The Fain House tells a broader American story about how natural resources built wealth in the West and how that wealth ended up on city streets. From Tulsa to the Texas Panhandle, fortunes made in cattle, oil, and gas paid for many of the finest homes of the early twentieth century.
The Colonial Revival style chosen here was one of the most popular in the country in those years. It looked back to the early American past, with its balanced facades and classical details, and many families across the nation used it to express stability, tradition, and success.
The house is also a reminder that women helped shape the built landscape of American cities. Here two sisters, heirs to a pioneer ranching family, commissioned an architect and created a planned pair of homes, making choices about design and place that still mark their Amarillo street almost a century later.
If you visit
The key is to look at both houses together, as the sisters intended. Stand back far enough to see the pair and notice how they relate to each other, the way the lines, proportions, and details of one house answer the other.
This is a private residence, so enjoy it from the sidewalk and respect the privacy of the people who live there. Keep an eye out for the Colonial Revival touches, such as orderly symmetry and classical detailing, that give the house its character.
If you're traveling through Amarillo, as many people do on the old Route 66 corridor or across the High Plains, this makes a quick and rewarding stop. Pair it with other historic homes and markers around the city to see how cattle and oil money shaped Amarillo's neighborhoods.
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
- · Mary Masterson Fain
- · Anna Belle Masterson Krister
- · Walter Whitley
- · Robert Masterson
Themes & tags
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