Bremond Block Historic District

The Bremond District represents a Victorian neighborhood of the middle to late nineteenth century. The individual homes have been preserved intact in almost unaltered form, and individual programs of restoration have been carried out with a sympathetic eye to the traditions and style of the neighborhood Thus, the District is valuable both as an indication of architectural tastes of the last century, and as a mirror on the society which was responsible for its creation.

During the years between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the century, Austin, Texas experienced a building splurge which produced some of the city's finest old homes. Six of those homes are located within a square block which extends from Guadalupe to San Antonio Streets, and from West 7th to West 8th Streets. Each house on the block has a view of the hills to the west, and the capitol and city to the east.

Familiarly known as the Bremond Block, the area contains six distinctive and beautifully preserved houses. The homes, together, represent a large part of Austin's early cultural and social history. Indeed, just as each of the six houses represents a repository of Austin's diverse architecture, so the histories of the various owners of the homes reflect an er of growth during which Austin became a busy state capital.

The history of the Bremond Block began with John Bremond's arrival in Austin, from Philadelphia, in 1845. By 1863, he had bought a lot near his friend and future business associate, John Robinson, recently arrived from Little Rock, Arkansas. Occupied with establishing a new business, and settling his large family, John Bremond had little time to think about the house building enterprises which were to become his oldest son' favorite occupation. Indeed, it was fortunate that at least one house was already standing on the newly-purchased lot. Built in the early 1850's, the building now known as the Hale-Houston home must have been a pleasant place to live. A variation of the"dog-run" Texas traditional style, the Bremond's first home was cool in the summer; although it lacked the size and elegance of the later homes, still, its spare by surrounding growth and filtered light.

Since John Robinson also had a large family, John Bremond suggested that the Robinsons join the Bremonds in building homes on the same block. The fact that members of the two families had married one another did nothing to discourage the idea, and after John Bremond's death in 1865, his son Eugene took steps to formalize a Bremond-Robinson block. Between the years 1870 and 1900, Eugene was at the height of his business activities. In 187p he sold his store to his brother John; in 1876, he became involved in banking, and by 1882 he was president of the State National Bank. In 1887 he became a member of the Austin Board of Trade; in later years he served in the Austin Volunteer Fire Department. Yet, despite his many civic and business activities, he somehow found the time to have four homes built on the Bremond Block. His task was made easier by the fact that two of the homes had been one-story structures to which he could add second stories. He did a particularly outstanding job on his son Walter's home, adding a distinguished Mansard roof, fireplaces in every room, and a curving walnut staircase which led to the second floor and attic.

In 1877, Eugene directed his energies toward building a home for his second wife, Mary, and when he finished, he had the only frame house on the block. Despite its one-story design, the Victorian cottage was one of the most spacious in the block, and its extensive veranda assured pleasantly cool summer evenings.

In 1898, Eugene began construction on a house next door to his own home. He intended the house for his son Pierre, and the grandiose plans and durable brick construction perhaps reflect a sympathy for Pierre's two favorite occupations: raising huge dogs and racing cars. Indeed, the least ornate of all the houses, Pierre's home is undoubtedly the most spacious.

The last and most distinguished house of all was built by one of Eugene's brothers, John Bremond, Jr. Like Eugene, John was involved in many business and social enterprises: he owned a large store on East 6th Street; he was a city alderman in 1877, and chief of the Austin Fire Department; his daughter attended a fine private school, the Ursuline Academy in San Antonio. When John Bremond hired George Fiegel to design and build his home, he was expressing a desire to have a home which would adequately express his social and financial positions. Thus, the home's golden-colored brick, ornate railings, high dome, stained glass, and fine woodwork demonstrate not only John Bremond, Jr.'s high standing in the Austin community, but they are a measure of the high regard in which every member of the Bremond and Robinson families was held.

The Bremonds slowly decreased in social and commercial prominence as Austin grew from a small town to a semi-metropolitan city. Yet, their prominence of fifty years ago remains clearly visible in the homes they left behind. Their good taste assured that the Bremond Block would be one of the finest and most complete Victorian neighborhoods in Texas.

The integrity of the Bremond Block is due largely to homes which Austinites built in the surrounding district. William and Catherine North, for example, built four large houses directly west of the Bremonds; the Smith, Palm, and Tips families lived in less ornate homes to the south and east. All of the seven houses are Austin landmarks, and one of them, the Gustaf Palm home, was contracted by George Fiegel.

Of all the homes in the district, the B.J. Smith home has had the stormiest history. The house was sold and re-bought more than ten times, involved in lawsuits and litigation, and put up for auction twice. Today, the United Fund of Austin owns the building. Because that organization has been careful to preserve many of the building's distinctive features, the house still has square nails, hand-made bricks, and pieces of original glass. Its floors are made of single boards which run the length of the rooms.

The North homes on San Antonio Street are a sharp contrast to the more modest buildings on West 7th Street. The North-Evans Chateau, for example, has twenty rooms, buttresses, and stone porches on the first and second floors.

The Chateau name was derived from the dual ownership of the building, by Captain William F. North, in 1874, and by Major Ira H. Evans in 1892. Today, the Austin Women's Club owns the Chateau and that group has worked hard to restore the building to its former elegance. They have preserved the sliding doors of hand-carved pine, the hand-cut stained glass windows, and metal ceilings of pressed copper. They have added numerous pieces of antique furniture, and furnished the drawing rooms with antiques after the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods. The rugs are Persian, from the Kirman Province; draperies at the French windows are French blue water silk; and the chandeliers in the entrance hall and drawing room are of the "Versailles type."

Nine of the thirteen houses in the Bremond district have been designated as historic Texas landmarks by the Texas Historical Survey Committee.