Connelly-Yerwood House
1115 E 12th St., Austin, TXThe Connelly-Yerwood house is significant because it was home to two pioneering black families and is representative of a group of vernacular house types that proliferated in East Austin during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Connelly-Yerwood house is named for each of the two families who have called it home. The Yerwoods, an African-American family purchased the house in 1926 from the Connellys, a typical white, working-class family who had occupied the house since its construction in 1904. The nature of this seemingly benign household transition is significant in that it speaks to larger demographic changes which took place in Austin during the early part of the last century; changes that helped shape the racially and ethnically diverse character of contemporary East Austin neighborhoods. The house is eligible under Criterion A in the area of Ethnic History: Black on the local level, and Criterion B in the area of Medicine at the local level, in its capacity as home to Connie, Joyce and Charles Yerwood, three pioneering black physicians. The building's modified L-Plan and Late Victorian (Queen Anne) decorative scheme mark it as a representative example of one of a group of vernacular house types that proliferated in East Austin during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With significant changes to the house's form, however, it has not retained sufficient architectural integrity to qualify for listing under Criterion C.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
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.