Sebastopol
a.k.a. Zorn House
NE corner of W. Court and N. Erkel Sts., Seguin, TXSebastopol, located in Seguin, Texas, was the idea of Colonel J. W. Young who built the house for his sister, Catherine LeGette. It is an unusual flat-roofed Greek Revival residence and demonstrates an early use of poured concrete. The main level is T-shaped with inset galleries along the stem of the T which support a large square water reservoir on the roof. Young believed that the flat roof which distinguishes the house could serve the purpose of cooling the interior of the home.
Young was born in North Carolina in 1811. He lived in Alabama and became involved in southern politics. He was a member of the Alabama Legislature and in 1840 he was a delegate to the National Convention that nominated William Henry Harrison for the presidency.
In 1842 Young moved to Texas and ten years later he hired Henry Erkel, John Wesley Reagan, and Dr. Richard Parks to help him build a house for his sister. Erkel did the walnut wood-work; Reagan was in charge of the "limestone" construction; Parks contributed the formula for poured concrete, for which he later got a patent. When they finished their work, the men named the house Sebastopol for the Russian naval base famous during the Crimean War.
Subsequent owners of Sebastopol have included Joseph Zorn, founder of the town of Zorn, and the Seguin Conservation Society. The house has been the recipient of numerous architectural awards. In 1930, for example, the Department of the Interior gave the house an Award of Merit; in 1964 the Texas State Historical Survey Committee designated Sebastopol a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.