Lane, James C., House

The J.C. Lane house on the main square in Wimberley, Hays County, Texas is a significant local example of a Craftsman Style home built of concrete and stone. Constructed using the "slab-rock" method, it was built entirely by hand by Mr. Lane himself, using local materials gathered over months. Mr. Lane was a well-known resident of Wimberley who contributed to the growth of the town through his work as a builder. Constructing three prominent buildings using similar masonry methods, he made an indelible mark on the built environment of the town center.
While alterations have been made to this structure since its construction, most occurred during the historic period, and do not detract from the original form of the building. Compared to Mr. Lane's other buildings on the square, this house is the most intact and was constructed in a slightly different manner, using hand-shaped rock rather than quarried stone. The building is nominated under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level of significance
Wimberley, Texas (population 3,797) is located in the Blanco River Valley in the Texas Hill Country. Settlers who came to the area after Texas statehood included William Winters, who, in 1856, built the sawmill/grist mill that became the economic heart of the village. The town got its present name in 1880 from then-mill owner Pleasant Wimberley. The Wimberley Mill ceased operation in 1925, and, by the middle of the 20th century, tourism became a new economic generator in the community. Increasing numbers of people from nearby cities began building summer homes on the rivers and creeks of the Hill Country. Architecturally, Wimberley is made up mostly of vernacular homes. Few architects designed domestic buildings in Wimberley during the 19th or early 20th centuries; rather, property owners and local craftsmen followed vernacular traditions. Wimberley Square is the commercial and social center of the community and is located just south of Cypress Creek and southwest of Ranch Road 12.

James "Jake" Calvin Lane was a well-known local builder in the Wimberley area. Lane was born and grew up in Lockhart, Texas, in adjacent Caldwell County, and owned a barbershop. In 1926, he married Rebecca Lane in Luling, Texas. The couple moved to Wimberley in 1932, where Jake continued to work as a barber, also opening a café, where Rebecca worked. The couple had two daughters.' Lane purchased the lot on Wimberley Square adjacent to his café, where he would build his first home. His distinct method of construction was first exhibited in his house, utilizing wood frames with poured concrete, and "giraffe stone" styled native rock, which he collected from nearby areas. In addition to the original house, he later built a two-story home in the same style next door, and, in 1945, built the larger café building on the square. In addition to the unique style of the house itself, the home played another important role in the development of Wimberley, as the site of the first local telephone switchboard, located in the living room.

The house is an excellent example of a Craftsman-style rock dwelling of the early twentieth century. While the design and irregular floorplan is common to craftsman-style houses of the period, the construction method is unique. Known as the "slab rock" method, and sometimes called "giraffe rock" or "crazy rock" pattern, it is a labor-intensive method of home construction. While on the exterior the Lane House looks similar to other central Texas homes built of local stone in an uncoursed rubble stone over a wood frame, the home was constructed utilizing a true slab-rock technique, with the hand-shaped rock working as a structural unit, embedded in a solid wall of concrete. The slab rock technique was used in mostly rural settings during the Great Depression in many areas of the country, most prominently in the Missouri Ozarks. While the method and examples were illustrated and described briefly in building handbooks, the technique was learned mostly through experience and performed by self-taught craftsmen, who then spread their knowledge one-on-one to new craftsmen. It was a labor-intensive, but economical method of construction, an important combination during the Great Depression, and one that allowed a man like James Lane the opportunity to build a new house on his while also working as a barber.

The Lane house was made entirely out of locally found rock, which Mr. Lane collected over months from the surrounding area. Mrs. Rebecca Lane recalled that the "red rock" came from the Marble Falls area. Charlie Oldham, who collected rocks with Mr. Lane, recalled that the field rock came from "Round Mountain between Johnson City and Marble Falls"." Mrs. Lane also recalled that her husband received "helpful advice" from a professional rock mason named Harris before beginning the construction of the house. The Florentine arches above the porch entry and fireplace hearth were cut using a hand saw. Interviews with Mrs. Lane in 1993 reveal that the construction method was indeed that of slab rock, rather than a more conventional rock veneer. She recalled that "first he built a form and poured concrete into the form, the form and the rock." She also describes the process of creating window surrounds, noting that Lane "built the forms for that and poured the cement in it and then stuck it full of little, pretty little rocks."

The construction method, which results in the tight fit joints of the random patterned rock, is a combination of historic masonry techniques and newer methods of concrete technology.
Describing the construction of similar dwellings in Missouri, historians David Quick and Lynn Morrow noted that "these houses were relatively cheap; often, you could get the rock for the taking. The method was labor intensive, but only one skilled worker was necessary for the job." The construction began by setting wooden floor joists directly onto concrete footings. The wooden wall forms were attached to these joists to pour the concrete into. The forms were usually smooth boards nailed to 2x4's and were used only on the inside. The technique used is described as:
The rocks were set out a few inches from the form and bedded in cement mortar. The space between the rock and the form was filled in with cement, small rocks and material. The goal was to keep the wall as porous as possible; a kind of honeycomb. The porous walls provided some insulation, but the main purpose was to cut down on the transmission of moisture through the wall. As the wall went up blocks of wood would be inserted against the forms where woodwork or the framing for interior walls could be nailed to them later.

With this particular method of construction, the interior walls would be finished out with plaster applied to the concrete when the forms were removed. In the case of the Lane house, a second wythe of rock was put directly next to the form, with the concrete and rubble filler present in between these two layers of course rock. The durability of this construction method is evident in the present condition of the Lane house, as well as the other two slab-rock buildings in Wimberley built by Mr. Lane.

The site of the Lane house was originally known as John Ragsdale Lot and covers 0.145 acres. As the site of Wimberley's first telephone switchboard, operated out of the home's living room by Mrs. Rebecca Lane, the house also holds a place in the history of the then-growing town of Wimberley. Since the house was constructed, it has had six owners, including Susie "Brooks" Danforth, who lived in the house from 1938 to 1942, and was a well-known and prominent citizen of Wimberley. "She was a farmer, a poet, a hunter and a school bus driver, a teacher, a principal, a telephone operator, a rock mason, a carpenter and an artist painting in oils. She lived well and lived long; her story is told in a 1976 book called '100 Years in Wimberley." Ms. Danforth played such an important role in the history of Wimberley, and the education of its youth, the town's middle school has been named after her. The third owner of the house, Susie Danforth, was a prominent citizen of Wimberley, a schoolteacher who impacted the community in many ways. Today the middle school in Wimberley is named for her.

The Lane house remains the most intact example of Mr. Lane's design and craftsmanship. The two other Lane buildings on Wimberley Square are the two-story house directly next door, and the café down the street, currently known as the Cypress Creek Café. Both of these structures were built after the original Lane House, using similar construction techniques. The stone in both buildings, however, was commercially quarried, not hand cut, and bricks were used in some areas to expedite the construction and keep costs down. The windows are not detailed with smaller stones and feature a more conventional wooden window sill.

The two-story house was built in 1938, and the Lane family moved from the one-story house into this one after World War II, primarily because Mrs. Lane wanted a two-story home for the telephone switchboard, which she situated in the downstairs living room. The House stood largely unchanged until a rather invasive remodeling done in the early 1980s, involving the replacement of all windows, the creation of a bay window on the first floor, and a large addition to the front elevation of the house which became a shop. The original front door is still visible from the street, but severe alterations have been done to attach the addition to the historic house.

The two-story café was originally a drug store, with the proprietors (B.W. Forester) living upstairs. Less is known about the exact dates of changes to this building, which was built in 1945-46 with the assistance of J.D. Ragland, Odess Farris, and B.W. Forister. No brick was used in its construction, only quarried stone. All of the windows were replaced, and the shed roof on the second-floor balcony is a later addition, as is the wooden shed roof on the North side covering a walkway. Perhaps the most important change to the main elevation of the café is the conversion of the original double door entry to an entry bay with one large stained glass window in the location of the original door, and two side entry French doors added to the sides of the bay. This change occurred sometime in the 1970s.

The combination of construction methods, its location in the heart of Wimberley, its connection to a well-known local builder, and its intact level of preservation make the James C. Lane House a well-qualified candidate for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The house represents an important period of construction in the main square of Wimberley, as it, in combination with Mr. Lane's two other rock buildings takes a prominent location in the town square.