Southgate–Lewis House
The Southgate–Lewis House is a historic landmark located approximately a mile east of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. It is situated in Six Square, an African American cultural heritage district. The Southgate–Lewis House was constructed by Robert C. Lambie in 1888, and was built in a late Victorian house style.
The Charles M. Lewis family owned the house from 1913 to 1979. Following the death of Marguerite Mae Dee Lewis in 1970, the building was abandoned for nearly a decade and fell into disrepair. The house was scheduled for demolition after being considered a hazard to the community, but was saved and designated as a landmark.
In 1986, the house was presented to the W. H. Passon Historical Society by Dr. Duane Albrecht, a professor at University of [Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin.] The objective of the W. H. Passon Historical Society is to secure and preserve materials and artifacts related to Black culture in Austin and Travis County.
Landmark status designation and recognition
- 1979 – Designated a City of Austin landmark
- 1980 – Awarded the Heritage Society of Austin Historic Preservation Award
- 1985 – Designated a landmark by the National Register of Historic Places
- 1987 – Recognized by the State of Texas 70th Legislature, Resolution No. 141, for ensuring the legacy of Black heritage in Austin
- 1987 – Awarded the "Helping Hands Award for Community Service" by the Texas Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
- 1988 – Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Description
Location
Located at 1501 East 12th Street, the house sits on what was once the main street of Austin, radiating from the State Capitol Building. This region is known as Robertson Hill, named after Joseph William Robertson, who purchased and subdivided the area around 1848.To provide a historical geographic context, the house displays a map called the "Bird's Eye View of the City of Austin," created by Augustus Koch in 1873, 15 years before the house's construction, when the population of Austin was between 10,000 and 15,000 people.
On September 21, 1886, Austin's street names were replaced by numbers, and College Street became 12th Street. Congress Avenue was designated as the dividing line delineating the East and West sides, with the Southgate–Lewis House's address changed to 1501 East 12th Street.
Architecture
The National Register of Historic Places describes the architectural style as "High Victorian" Gothic Revival. The house features projecting eaves and gables as well as a prominent front bay window with a denticulated cornice. The siding and trim are unusually ornate and varied. A continuous band of vertical siding at the base of the structure is capped with a horizontal band at the windowsill. Drop siding occurs up to the sills of the second-story windows, above which multiple rows of fish-scale and rectangular shingles alternate. Ornamental bargeboard trim with brackets is located at the eave line, and the roof is wood shingles. Two brick chimneys rise far above the cedar shake roof. A dormer on the west elevation has diagonal support brackets for the overhang and crossed bargeboard trim. There are 22 double-hung windows.Interior floor plan
The first floor interior of the house is composed of five rooms. The main entry hall contains the stairway balustrade that leads to the second floor. From the foyer, one can enter the main parlor through a door on the right. The parlor contains a fireplace with a mantle and brightly colored tiles arranged in a complex, non-repeating geometrical pattern. A pair of very large wooden double doors separate the first parlor from the second parlor. The second parlor has two doors: one that leads to a wrap-around exterior covered porch and another that leads to a formal dining room. The dining room is completely lined with tongue-and-groove beaded boards with wainscoting that wraps around all four walls. The dining room then leads to a small kitchen. The kitchen has a door that opens to the wrap-around exterior covered porch. The staircase in the main entry hall leads upstairs to the second floor, which is composed of three bedrooms, a small closet, a small bathroom, and a large hallway with a balustrade surrounding the stairwell. From the hallway, a large window opens onto a small exterior balcony.History
Robertson Hill
Joseph William Robertson was the patriarch of the family after whom Robertson Hill was named. Robertson was a physician, a Texas Ranger, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas. He established a pharmaceutical business and a medical practice on Congress Avenue. He was elected mayor of Austin in 1843. Robertson is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, two blocks from the Southgate–Lewis House. In 1848, Robertson purchased a large tract of land from Dubois de Saligny one half mile east of the city center. Robertson and his son, George L. Robertson, began actively subdividing the family property and selling lots. This region became known as Robertson Hill.John Southgate
John Southgate was a bookbinder and publisher in Austin, Texas with a business at 1008 Congress Avenue, located next door to Charles Lundberg's Bakery, near the Texas State Capitol. Southgate had more than thirty years of experience working in England and the United States in establishments such as Daniel Appleton & Company, now Appleton-Century-Crofts. In the late 1800s, the Austin American Statesman made numerous remarks praising the work of John Southgate. For example: "Mr. John Southgate has just completed an 850-page ledger, which is a beautiful specimen of the bookbinder's art. It is handsomely bound, and in finish and workmanship cannot be excelled any where " and "The Statesman commends Mr. Southgate as an honest, faithful man, and one whose business engagements will be punctiliously complied with". Southgate eventually associated with the Eugene Von Boeckmann Publishing Company.Robert C. Lambie
Robert C. Lambie was contracted by John Southgate to build the house in 1888. Lambie built many now-historic structures in Texas, including: the First Engineering Building at The University of Texas at Austin the home and studio of German sculptor Elisabet Ney, the Old Main Building at Texas State University, and the Hays County Courthouse.Lambie was famous for his elaborate woodwork, exemplified by the balustrades, ornate door molding, window molding, finial pendants, and elaborate plinth blocks within the Southgate–Lewis House. Quoting the State of Texas Legislature: "the Southgate–Lewis Home at the corner of East 12th and Comal Streets in Austin.... one of the finest staircases in all of Austin".
Lewis family ownership
Charles M. Lewis and Marguerite Mae Dee Lewis
The Charles M. Lewis family owned the house from 1913 to 1970. Charles M. Lewis was a prominent Black citizen in Austin. Mr. Lewis was a professor at Samuel Huston College, and Marguerite Mae Dee Lewis was a teacher at L.C. Anderson High School, which at the time was located only two blocks from the house. A photograph of Mae Dee Lewis hangs on the wall, captioned: "Mae D. Lewis, Spanish Teacher, OLCA High School, Class of 1957". The acronym OLCA stands for "Old Laurine Cecil Anderson". Laurine Cecil Anderson was most famous for his teachings and being a school administrator in Texas; he founded the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas. Old Laurine Cecil Anderson High School was located only a few blocks from the Southgate–Lewis House.Robertson Hill High School and Laurine Cecil Anderson
High School Classes for African American students were initiated in Austin within the Robertson Hill High School in 1889. In 1896 Laurine Cecil Anderson resigned from his position at Prairie View to become principal of the Robertson Hill High School. In 1907 the school was renamed E.H. Anderson High School, and in 1938 the name was changed again to honor Lauren Cecil Anderson. Lauren Cecil Anderson was a neighbor and family friend of the DeBlanc family and he used to lend books to Ada Marie DeBlanc Simond. Marguerite Mae Dee Lewis, the Lewis family as a whole, and their life during their time in the Southgate–Lewis House, have been chronicled in a series of children's books written by Ada Marie DeBlanc Simond.Condemnation and restoration
After the death of Ms. Lewis in 1970, the house was abandoned for nearly a decade and fell into disrepair. Among other problems, most of the windows were broken and the roof was missing in many locations; thus water had entered the house. Pigeons had started living inside the house. Because it was a danger to the community, it was condemned and scheduled for demolition.One week before the scheduled demolition date in February 1979, the house was discovered by Professor Dr. Duane G. Albrecht. He had moved to Austin after living in Berkeley, California, for thirty years. Having just completed his Ph.D. at the University of California in Berkeley, he had now become a new assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, which was just a few blocks east of the university. At this time, the house belonged to Mary Elizabeth Lovelady.
The professor set out to restore the property. He was aided by a grant from The Heritage Society of Austin. Elaine Mayo, the Executive Director of the Heritage Society was very supportive of the project. David Hoffman, a historic preservation architect with the firm Bell, Klein and Hoffman, provided advice. Charles Betts extended his faith in the project, and, as a consequence, Franklin Savings provided the necessary loan. Charles Betts and Franklin Savings were located in a very grand historic Austin building – The Walter Tips Building on Congress Avenue, a City, State, and National Landmark.
Restoration craftsman
Peter J. Fears was the craftsman in charge of the restoration work. Fears had just completed a restoration of the historic Limerick-Frazier House, only a few blocks away on 13th Street. Fears moved into the restored home with his family. The Limerick-Frazier House, located at 810 East 13th Street, was constructed in 1876.When Peter Fears began the restoration by removing water-damaged wallpaper, he discovered that the interior walls were reinforced with long, wide boards laid diagonally, a structural feature that probably helped preserve the integrity of the house during its extended period of deterioration. In the late 19th century, "lath and plaster" construction was common in Victorian buildings, but this wooden shiplap, laid diagonally at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the frame, served as external sheathing, making the structure resistant to gusts of wind, which are quite common in the region.
The Calcasieu Lumber Company's involvement
The interior wall diagonal shiplap boards were stamped by the lumberyard, "Calcasieu Lumber Co". Calcasieu was founded in 1883, only a few years before the construction of the house. Calcasieu began downtown along the Colorado River between Guadalupe and Lavaca and grew to occupy six city blocks in the 1950s. The Calcasieu Lumber Co. was "named after the top-quality lumber that came from Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana" – in particular, the longleaf pine.The restoration work on the interior of the Southgate–Lewis House revealed many unexpected findings: an elaborate staircase balustrade, beaded tongue-in-groove hardwood paneling, patterned brass hardware, wainscotting, and wood floors from old-growth heartwood longleaf pine from the Calcasieu Pine District of Louisiana.
Floorplan alterations
Both Fears and the restoration architect David Hoffman concluded that the house had not undergone any major changes in the basic floor plan since its original construction, with the exception of a small kitchen was not part of the original structure created by Robert C. Lambie for John Southgate.Donation to the W. H. Passon Historical Society
After living in the home for many years, the professor donated the Southgate–Lewis House to the W. H. Passon Historical Society in December 1986 at the encouragement of Ada Marie DeBlanc Simond. The goal of the Passon Society is to secure and preserve materials related to African American Black history and to establish an educational center for the purpose of research into the topic and the acquisition of related knowledge. The Southgate–Lewis House seemed like the ideal home for the W. H. Passon Historical Society, and reciprocally, the W. H. Passon Historical Society seemed like the ideal steward for the historic preservation of the Southgate–Lewis House.Purpose and goal
The W. H. Passon Historical Society is an organization that strives to secure and preserve materials and artifacts related to Black culture in Austin and Travis County, Texas. The Society was founded by Ada Marie DeBlanc Simond. The Society was first organized in 1975 and then chartered by the State of Texas in 1979. The stated purpose is "To unite all individuals within and without the Black Community who have a genuine interest in the Past, and an eagerness to discover the depth and breadth of the Black Experience in Austin and Travis County." The stated goal is "To secure, preserve, and legitimize events, documents, and artifacts related to the Black culture in Austin and Travis County recognize and reward the efforts of individuals and organizations that protect, enhance, and reflect respect for the Black Heritage of our community."The Southgate–Lewis House is now the home of the W. H. Passon Historical Society. The objective of the historical society for the Southgate–Lewis House is "to establish an educational center including books, journals, exhibits, periodicals, and other materials by and about Black people for the purpose of research and to broaden the knowledge of the citizenry relative to the contributions of Black People". The Southgate–Lewis House stands as an important African American Historical Landmark and as a repository for African American history and culture.
Wesley H. Passon
Wesley H. Passon was a Black educator who contributed to the preservation of African American history, most notably through a summary of the history of the African American population in Austin, Texas. In 1894, Mr. Passon was elected principal of the school in Wheatville, Texas, which was the first Black community associated with Austin after the Civil War, located just west of The University of Texas at Austin. The community of Wheatville was founded in 1867 by James Wheat, a former slave from Arkansas. The location that was once Wheatville is now primarily student housing and contains the majority of all of the sororities and fraternities at The University of Texas at Austin. W. H. Passon then went on to serve as principal of many other early schools of Austin, Texas, such as Blackshear School, which "opened in 1891 to provide free public education to African American children in the community." He was the principal of West Austin School, Clarksville School, Olive Street School, and Gregory Town. Two journals record the daily affairs of the West Austin School and the Clarksville School from 1908 to 1918.In 1907, W. H. Passon provided a comprehensive historical record of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Austin, which became an essential resource for scholars. In September 2000, the City of Austin, Texas, Historic Resources Survey of East Austin stated that "One of the most important secondary sources obtained for historical research in East Austin was the 1907 Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal ... ... compiled by historian W. H. Passon: The Historical and Biographical Souvenir and Program of the 25th Anniversary of Metropolitan AME Church, Austin, Texas 1882-1907".