East Side Historic District

The East Side Historic District is Bryan's most intact concentration of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century residential structures. Although dominated by large-scale dwellings of Victorian-era styles, Classical Revival style, or early-twentieth-century eclecticism, the district also contains notable examples of popular architecture such as bungalows and four-square plan dwellings. The architecture in the district illustrates the type of dwellings built and occupied by Bryan's professional class of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Successful businessmen, bankers, and civic leaders shared this somewhat exclusive neighborhood, close to their downtown businesses, with others of the same ilk.

Because houses in the district are carefully renovated and maintained under the guidelines of Bryan's Landmark Commission, the East Side Historic District retains much of the appearance and ambiance of its early development. In a city without zoning to regulate land-use patterns, per reservation in this district is the product of happenstance; it has been spared the significant changes experienced in other older neighborhoods due to laissez-faire development. The East Side Historic District is part of a local historic district, a larger area designated in 1983 under the city's landmark ordinance.

The district is located in the northwestern part of one of Bryan's early residential additions which Zeno Phillips laid out in the 1880s. Several years before the subdivision was platted, however, William R. Cavitt built his auspicious Italianate-style brick dwelling (National Register 1976) on land that is now in the center of Phillip's Addition. The district lies within the earliest portion of the Phillips Addition which was developed around the Cavitt estate. Most of the extant houses were in place by 1912. The original East Side School, the city's first public education facility, was built in 1880 and no doubt provided an impetus for growth in the immediate vicinity. Texas Women's College (razed), established in 1905 a few blocks east of the district on Ennis Street, encouraged development beyond the district's boundary, especially by the late 1920s and 1930s, when E. 30th, E. 31st, and surrounding streets gradually were lined with bungalow and revival-styled houses.

Bryan's East Side was the home of many successful businessmen. Cavitt, the original land owner, was a planter and lawyer, and also served as county attorney and state legislator. The district's second oldest structure, built about 1885, was home to the T.R. Batte family from 1897 to 1976. It occupied the entire block immediately south of the old East Side School building. The eclectic Boatwright-Bryan House was erected at the northeast corner of the same block in 1904, and the John A. Moore House, at the northwest corner, was also built about that time. Boatwright and his son-in-law. Travis Bryan, a descendant of the town's founder, was a prominent local banker and was associated with the First National Bank of Bryan.

The desirability of the neighborhood caused building activity to accelerate at the turn of the century. Eugene Edge, the proprietor of one of the city's oldest retail establishments, had prolific local builder C. E. Jenkins erect a house at 508 E. 29th Street in 1901. The same year, Jenkins built the elaborate Classical house at 600 E. 29th for Mrs. Nina Astin, widow of James H. Astin who owned substantial amounts of property in the Brazos River bottom. Edward Hall, the co-founder of the First State Bank & Trust, had his eclectic house built at 611 E. 29th in 1903, across from Mrs. Astin. George McMichael had his Queen Anne house built across from the Cavitt House on E. 30th in 1903 but died a few months after its completion. The Alfred F. Wilson family occupied it from 1912 to 1969.

Other prominent local businessmen came to the East Side at the end of the decade. Three houses went up near the Hall House flanking the 600 block of E. 29th Street. W. 0. Sanders, a horticulturist at Texas A&M University, had his home built at 610 E. 29th in a style that was commonly featured in pattern books of the day. An embellished four-square plan was selected by merchant A. M. Waldrop Sr. for his lot at 615 E. 29th and banker Albert Wilkinson retained C. E. Jenkins to construct a similarly designed house across the street at 614 E. 29th.

In 1918, the school district contracted for the construction of a new East Side School building to expand the existing facility. The Fort Worth architectural firm of M. L. Waller & Co. designed this stylized neoclassical building with the primary facade facing Baker Street, perpendicular to the old building on E. 30th. The original 1880 school was razed to make way for new auxiliary structures in the late 1940s, and subsequently, the institution was renamed Fannin Elementary School.

The final spate of the early residential buildings included smaller infill domestic structures, generally with bungalow features, or houses remodeled in then-current styles. A small frame bungalow built across from the East Side School at 1209 Baker about 1925 was typical of the 1910s and 1920s houses constructed on portions of the subdivided lots in the neighborhood. The Burger House at 500 E. 30th is one of the most interesting and curious houses in the district. Originally a substantial Victorian-era L-plan dwelling, the house was extensively remodeled into a hybrid bungalow by owners in about 1920, leaving a striking record of historic layering.

Single-family residential development in the district nearly ceased after 1930. Over the next several decades, changing economics weakened the neighborhood's infrastructure, resulting in the modification or deterioration of many neighborhood structures and the construction of non-compatible apartments.