Southgate–Lewis House

Southgate–Lewis House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Southgate–Lewis House in June 2021.
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Location	1501 East 12th Street Austin, Texas, United States
Coordinates	30°16′23″N 97°43′25″W / 30.27306°N 97.72361°W / 30.27306; -97.72361
Area	East Austin
Built	1888
Architect	R. C. Lambie
Architectural style	Victorian
NRHP reference No.	85002265[1]
RTHL No.	15230
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 17, 1985
Designated RTHL	1988

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.^[2][3] The Southgate–Lewis House was constructed by Robert C. Lambie in 1888, and was built in a late Victorian style.^[4]

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.^[5]

In 1986, the house was presented to the W. H. Passon Historical Society by Dr. Duane Albrecht, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin.^[6] The objective of the W. H. Passon Historical Society is to secure and preserve artifacts related to black culture in Austin and Travis County.^[7]

• 1979 – Designated a City of Austin landmark^[8]
• 1980 – Awarded the Heritage Society of Austin Historic Preservation Award^[9][10]
• 1985 – Designated a landmark by the National Register of Historic Places^[11][12]
• 1987 – Recognized by the State of Texas 70th Legislature, Resolution No. 141, for ensuring the legacy of Black heritage in Austin^[5]
• 1987 – Awarded the "Helping Hands Award for Community Service" by the Texas Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History^[13]
• 1988 – Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark^[14][15]

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 (1809-1870), who purchased and subdivided the area around 1848.^[17]

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. ^[18]

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. 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 made of cedar shakes with two brick chimneys. The dormer on the west elevation has diagonal support brackets for the overhang and crossed bargeboard trim.^[19] There are 22 double-hung windows.

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 mantel and geometric tiles. A pair of wooden pocket 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 lined with tongue-and-groove beaded boards with wainscoting, and leads to a small kitchen, which 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.

Robertson Hill was named after Joseph William Robertson (1809–1870).^[20][21] 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, and 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 (which included a home that is now known as The French Legation).^[22] He and his son, George L. Robertson, began actively subdividing the property and selling lots. This region (which includes the Southgate–Lewis House) became known as Robertson Hill.^[17]

John Southgate was a bookbinder and publisher in Austin, Texas^[23][24] 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, such as "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 [sic]" (April 12, 1988, Page 3) and "The Statesman commends Mr. Southgate as an honest, faithful man, and one whose business engagements will be punctiliously complied with" (April 29, 1884, Page 4). Southgate eventually associated with the Eugene Von Boeckmann Publishing Company.^[25]

Robert C. Lambie was contracted by John Southgate to build the house in 1888. Lambie (with his stonemason partner Francis Fischer) built many historic structures in Texas, including the First Engineering Building at The University of Texas at Austin^[26][27][28], the home and studio of German sculptor Elisabet Ney (now the Elisabet Ney Museum),^[29] the Old Main Building^[30] at Texas State University, and the Hays County Courthouse.^[31] Lambie was known for his woodwork. Quoting the State of Texas Legislature: "the Southgate–Lewis Home at the corner of East 12th and Comal Streets in Austin .... [contains] one of the finest staircases in all of Austin".^[5]

The Charles M. Lewis family owned the house from 1913 to 1970. Charles M. Lewis was a prominent Black citizen and a professor at Samuel Huston College. His daughter, Marguerite Mae Dee Lewis, was a teacher at L.C. Anderson High School,^[32] which at the time was located only two blocks from the house.^[33] 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, founding the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas. Old Laurine Cecil Anderson High School was located only a few blocks from the Southgate–Lewis House.

After the death of Ms. Lewis in 1970, the house was abandoned for nearly a decade and fell into disrepair. Most of the windows were broken, and the roof was missing in many places, allowing water to enter. Pigeons began living inside. Because it posed a danger to the community, it was condemned and scheduled for demolition.^[5]

One week before the scheduled demolition date^[5] 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^[34] (now named Preservation Austin^[35]), with support from its Executive Director. David Hoffman,^[36] a historic preservation architect with the firm Bell, Klein and Hoffman,^[37] provided advice. Charles Betts^[38][39] extended his faith in the project, and, as a consequence, Franklin Savings^[40] provided the necessary loan. Charles Betts and Franklin Savings were located in The Walter Tips Building on Congress Avenue,^[41][42][43] which is a City, State, and National Landmark.

Peter J. Fears was the craftsman in charge of the restoration work. Fears had just completed a restoration of the historic Limerick-Frazier House,^[44][45][46] only a few blocks away on 13th Street.

When 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 likely 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.

After inspection, 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.

After living in the home for many years, the professor donated the Southgate–Lewis House to the W. H. Passon Historical Society^[6][5][47] in December 1986 at the encouragement of Ada Marie DeBlanc Simond. The goal of the Passon Society is to secure and preserve materials (journals, books, periodicals, exhibits, et cetera) 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.

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 (with Janie Beatrice Perry Harrison^[48] and Fannie Mae Murphy Lawless). The Society was first organized in 1975 (by Ada Simond) 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 [and to] recognize and reward the efforts of individuals and organizations that protect, enhance, and reflect respect for the Black Heritage of our community."^[49]

The Southgate–Lewis House is now the home of the W. H. Passon Historical Society.^[7][50] 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".^[49] The Southgate–Lewis House stands as an important African American Historical Landmark and as a repository for African American history and culture.^[51]

Wesley H. Passon (1864–1933) 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.^[52] The community of Wheatville was founded in 1867 by James Wheat, a former slave from Arkansas.^[53] The location that was once Wheatville (between 24th and 26th streets, Rio Grande Street to Shoal Creek) 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."^[54] 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.^[50]

In 1907, W. H. Passon provided a comprehensive historical record of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Austin^[55], 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 (A.M.E.) ... [book] ... 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".^[17][56]

Ada Simond used the Lewis family and the Southgate–Lewis House as inspiration for a series of children's books relating to Black history in East Austin. The series included six books entitled Let's Pretend: Mae Dee and Her Family (beginning with Let's Pretend: Mae Dee and Her Family Go to Town in 1977),^[57] in which she told historically accurate stories of Black families living in Austin in the early 1900s. These books are "narrated by Mae Dee Lewis, whom Simond identified as a childhood friend."^[58] The series was named "Outstanding Publication on a History Subject" by the Texas Historical Commission in 1979.

On June 19, 2021, the first federally recognized Juneteenth National Independence Day was celebrated at the Southgate–Lewis House. The banners on the west elevation of the house depicted distinguished African Americans in government, education, literature, medicine, and sports, while the banners on the north elevation depicted distinguished African Americans in religion and the military.

• After the 1980 restoration
• 
  West elevation in 1985
• 
  Balustrade for the staircase in the main entrance hall
• 
  Northwest perspective c. 1980
• 
  Front (north) elevation after 1980 historic preservation

Media related to Southgate-Lewis House at Wikimedia Commons