White - Turner House
Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John W. and Martha L. White had this late 19th-century Victorian home constructed in 1890 and lived here until 1894. Several families owned the house until 1901 when Nash Turner purchased it for his mother, Kate. Turner, an internationally recognized race horse trainer, lived here with his mother in 1920-21. The home, which features fine Eastlake gingerbread trim, remained in the Turner family until 1937. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John W. and Martha L. White built this ornate Victorian home in Bastrop in 1890, in the flush of the late Gilded Age when Eastlake "gingerbread" trim was the height of fashion. After several owners, Nash Turner bought the house in 1901 for his mother, Kate. Turner, an internationally recognized race-horse trainer, lived here with her in the early 1920s, and the house stayed in his family until 1937.
Why it matters
The house preserves both the exuberant domestic architecture of small-town Gilded Age Texas and the memory of a locally rooted figure who earned a reputation on the world stage of horse racing.
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Related people
- ยท John W. White
- ยท Martha L. White
- ยท Nash Turner
- ยท Kate Turner
Themes & tags
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