Browne-Wagner House
245 E. St. Charles St., Brownsville, TXConstructed in 1894 for Mrs. Josephine Glaevecke Browne, the residence at 245 East St. Charles Street is the most intact example of the larger brick residences characteristic of Brownsville in the late nineteenth century. The house is particularly noteworthy for its finely molded brickwork--a quality peculiar to the Lower Rio Grande Valley-- and the very tall, handsome proportions of its facades. An example of vernacular handling of styles, the house features design elements from various sources. The architect, S. W. Brooks, employed classical detailing at door surrounds while expressing the overall proportions and other detailing in a more Victorian Italianate manner.
Brooks' client on the house, Mrs. Browne, purchased lots 10-11-12, Block 43, in Brownsville, from the New York and Brownsville improvement company in April 1894 and contracted Brooks to construct a "dwelling house" on the property within a twelve-month period. The $1,300.00 payment for the house was made in Mexican coins. Mrs. Browne received an imposing and conservative residence which belies its late date.
Brooks was prominent in Brownsville during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Apparently well-connected in regional and local politics, he served several terms as city engineer and as superintendent of the Brownsville Post Office in the late 1880s and early 1890s. His talents were broad, working not only as an architect but as a contractor and engineer. Brooks first began his career in New Orleans as a builder and lumber dealer. In 1863, he moved to Matamoros, Mexico, and fifteen years later he permanently settled in Brownsville. As an architect, Brooks designed and built the Fort Brown Post Hospital and the first Hidalgo and Starr County courthouses. As a contractor, Brooks supervised the construction of the first Cameron County Courthouse. He designed or built numerous other public buildings and also served with the U.S. Engineer Corps.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
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.