Proctor-Green House
Cuero, DeWitt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Harvard graduate and attorney David Cogswell Proctor established his law career in Indianola, Texas, in the late 1840s. He opened a second firm in 1880 in Cuero, fortunately before the 1886 hurricane that destroyed much of Indianola. Finding his place in the booming cattle town of Cuero, he bought this lot in 1880 from L.C. Fudge, who had purchased the land from the Cuero Land and Immigration Company. In 1892, proctor hired Victoria architect James Hull to design a two-story house here. D.C. Proctor died in 1908, and in 1911 his wife sold the house to judge John M. Green and his family. Green once served as a state legislator, and also opened a law firm with his son, Howard, who would continue to live here after his father’s death for many years. It remained vacant for a considerable time, but in recent years it has seen recognition and commendation as a historic landmark. The house can be described as late Victorian, with a Queen Anne floor plan and Colonial Revival details. It includes two interior brick chimneys with corbelled caps at gable ends serving six fireplaces. The windows are stained glass, while the front entrance is composed of double doors with a transom. The south elevation contains a projecting bay with a pedimented gable. The gable has palladian windows with art glass. The stairway is reversed to begin at the far side of the hall. The house has been altered very little. The house is one of Cuero’s last remaining 19th century houses, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Terrell-Reuss Streets Historic District.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Harvard-trained attorney David Cogswell Proctor built his career in coastal Indianola before opening a Cuero office in 1880 — a move that spared him when an 1886 hurricane destroyed much of Indianola. In 1892 he hired Victoria architect James Hull to raise this elegant two-story house, later home to state legislator and judge John M. Green and his family. Late Victorian with a Queen Anne plan and Colonial Revival trim, art-glass windows, and six fireplaces, it survives as one of Cuero's last nineteenth-century houses.
Why it matters
The house maps the rise of a booming Texas cattle town and the professional class that gave it permanence, now preserved within a National Register historic district.
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Related people
- · David Cogswell Proctor
- · John M. Green
- · James Hull
Themes & tags
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