St. David's Rectory
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This home was built in 1910 for Annie (Watt) and James McClendon. St. David’s Episcopal Church owned the house from 1914-1975 as a rectory. The church gave the house as a retirement gift to the Rev. Charles sumners and his wife, Virginia. The couple first moved in after marrying in 1940. Sumners was a noted minister and community leader. After his 1977 death, Virginia continued to live here until she died in 2007. The modified four-square house was designed facing south, with a dormer over the porch, later replaced by an upper-level library. Features include leaded glass pane windows, a south, side entry porch with square wooden rails and corner posts, a stacked rock chimney, decorative brackets, and a side-gabled and hipped roofline.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1910 for Annie and James McClendon, this modified four-square house served St. David's Episcopal Church as its rectory from 1914 to 1975. The church later gave the home as a retirement gift to the Rev. Charles Sumners, a noted minister and community leader, and his wife Virginia, who lived here for decades. Its leaded-glass windows, stacked-rock chimney, and decorative brackets survive as an example of early-20th-century Austin residential design.
Why it matters
The house links a growing capital city's religious life to the everyday architecture of its early neighborhoods, preserving the home of a long-serving local minister.
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Related people
- · Charles Sumners
- · Virginia Sumners
- · James McClendon
- · Annie Watt McClendon
Themes & tags
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