Witte-Schmid House
Off Schoenau, near jct. with Eckermann, Shelby, TXThe Witte-Schmid House (1860), named for the two families who occupied it, is an excellent example of a rural vernacular house. The house, which features fachwerk construction and a center-passage plan, is typical of dwellings built by successful German settlers in Austin County in the mid 19th century. Largely intact, it is significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture, at the local level, as a distinctive building type expressing the German origins of its builder. The building is among the oldest surviving examples of German architecture in Austin County, Texas.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
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.