Woodland (Huntsville, Texas)

Sam Houston House This house is mis-named "Sam Houston House". It was designed and built by Margaret Lea Houston and not Sam.
Sam Houston House in 2012
Sam Houston House
Sam Houston House
Location 1402 19th St. on Sam Houston State University campus, Huntsville, Texas
Coordinates 30°42′53″N 95°33′10″W / 30.71472°N 95.55278°W / 30.71472; -95.55278Coordinates: 30°42′53″N 95°33′10″W / 30.71472°N 95.55278°W / 30.71472; -95.55278
Area 15 acres (6.1 ha)
Built 1847 (1847) 1848
Architectural style Dog-trot
NRHP reference # 74002097[1]
TSAL # 8200000674
RTHL # 8482
Significant dates
Added to NRHP May 30, 1974
Designated NHL May 30, 1974[2]
Designated TSAL January 1, 1981
Designated RTHL 1962

Woodland was a historic house on the grounds of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Designed and built under the direction of Margaret Lea Houston, , it was the residence of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, when he was in Huntsville. from 1847 to 1859. The house is now part of Sam Houston Memorial Museum, and is a National Historic Landmark.[2]

Description and history

Woodland is the centerpiece of the 15-acre (6.1 ha) museum property at the southeast corner of the Sam Houston State University Campus. It is a 1-1/2 story structure of mill-sawn, rather than hand hewn logs, originally finished in hand planed wooden clapboards (now destroyed by the university) and covered by a gabled roof. It was built as a classic Greek Revival Cottage dogtrot house, with a central breezeway flanked by rectangular chambers, with brick chimneys at the ends. A shed-roof porch extends in front of the breezeway, supported by square posts. The breezeway includes a staircase which provides access to loft spaces used as bedrooms.[3]

The Greek Revival Cottage was designed by Margaret Lea Houston who oversaw its construction beginning in 1847. Houston's family occupied the house until 1859, the period during which he served as a United States Senator, and as Governor of Texas. Houston's signature achievements, the independence of Texas and its subsequent annexation to the United States, happened before he took up residence here.[3]

Tragically, the University decided to convert the Greek Revival Home unto a log shack typical of the homes built by the first Anglo inhabitants in Texas before the 1840's to make the public and school children believe that the structure historically looked the way it looks today with the Greek Revival portico, clapboard siding and other features destroyed and replaced with rough battens and crude porches front and rear.

The house is now accompanied by a reconstruction kitchen outbuilding as the 19th century kitchen was destroyed at the same time that Margaret Lea's Greek Revival Home was converted into a log shack. The Houston Law Office is still largely intact but the native stone chimney was replaced with German style cut stone, as never existed in Walker County in the 1840's. [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 Staff (June 2011). "National Historic Landmarks Survey: List of National Historic Landmarks by State (Texas)" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "NHL nomination for Woodlands". National Park Service. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
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