Whitis-Moore House
San Saba, San Saba County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1905, Austin banker John H. Whitis came to San Saba as co-founder and officer of First National Bank. His family lived with Irene Clark before buying this site. They hired A.T. McLellan to build their home, completed by October 1905. Two years later, when the Whitis family returned to Austin, clark bought the home. She later sold it to her daughter and son-in-law, Cornelia (Clark) and Alex Enoch Moore. The Moore family, active civicly and in the Presbyterian Church, owned the house until 1973. The home features Queen Anne styling, including spindlework, turned posts and hipped roof with cross gables.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2005
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1905 Austin banker John H. Whitis arrived in San Saba to help found the First National Bank and commissioned builder A.T. McLellan to raise this Queen Anne house, finished that October. When the Whitis family returned to Austin, the home passed to Irene Clark and then to her daughter Cornelia and son-in-law Alex Enoch Moore, a family active in civic life and the Presbyterian Church who kept the house until 1973. Its spindlework, turned posts, and cross-gabled hipped roof preserve the exuberant residential taste of turn-of-the-century central Texas.
Why it matters
The house records how banking and commerce brought Victorian architectural fashion to small county-seat towns across the American heartland at the turn of the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · John H. Whitis
- · Irene Clark
- · Cornelia (Clark) Moore
- · Alex Enoch Moore
- · A.T. McLellan
Themes & tags
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