Westbrook Estate
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Roy A. and Gladys Westbrook House is a 2 1/2 story Tudor Revival style home constructed in 1928. The house sits on a 1.5 acre blufftop site in the Park Hill neighborhood that overlooks the Fort Worth Zoo and Forest Park. The Park Hill neighborhood was designed by the noted Kansas City, Missouri, landscape architecture firm of Hare and Hare. The home was designed by prominent Fort Worth architect Joseph L. Pelich, whose residential designs were mostly based on period revival styles. His work can be found throughout Fort Worth's oldest neighborhoods. Pelich also designed the original Casa Manana outdoor theater in Fort Worth. The home has multiple gables and a steeply pitched, slate covered cross-gabled roof. Side gables are decorated with hand-hewn and pegged half-timbering. Other notable features include an arcaded recessed portico, brick battlements, tall brick chimneys with chimney pots, and multiple-light double-hung and diamond-pattern casement windows. The home's interior includes stained and leaded glass windows, ornate wrought iron work, three marble and plaster fireplaces, a tile fountain and plaster coffered ceilings. The grounds and associated landscape features include a three-car garage at the basement level, low brick walls, a stone grotto, a concrete terrace and a swimming pool with a diving tower. Roy A. Westbrook made his fortune in the Hendrick Oilfield in central Winkler County. Westbrook was a founding member of the Fort Worth Petroleum Club and also served as president and director of the Fort Worth Cats Baseball Club. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2009
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Fort Worth Zoo, this 2½-story Tudor Revival home was built in 1928 for oilman Roy A. Westbrook and his wife Gladys, in a Park Hill neighborhood laid out by the celebrated Hare and Hare landscape firm. Prominent Fort Worth architect Joseph L. Pelich designed it with pegged half-timbering, slate gables, marble fireplaces, and leaded glass. Westbrook's fortune came from the Hendrick Oilfield in Winkler County, and he helped found the Fort Worth Petroleum Club.
Why it matters
The estate captures the wealth the Texas oil boom poured into 1920s Fort Worth and the period-revival mansions that boom built in its finest neighborhoods.
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Related people
- · Roy A. Westbrook
- · Gladys Westbrook
- · Joseph L. Pelich
Themes & tags
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