Update - The Tate House

This is how the Tate House (see previous post) looked after just two weeks of remodeling. It just goes to show what hidden gems we have in Georgetown for people who are willing to put the time and money into them! The house next to this one (803 S. College St.) is now being repainted in a coordinating color scheme.

The Tate House

The same family that purchased the Leavell House (see earlier posts) has also purchased the green bungalow that is next to it at 807 College St. A woman named Mrs. Tate lived there for many years. The first order of business is clearing the yard, which had gotten quite overgrown. The new owners offered some of the plants in the yard to neighbors who wanted them, as well as some old bricks. Will Moore took the bricks to build a new walkway in front of the Logan-Parker house he is renovating on 7th Street (see earlier post about Sears Kit homes). We'll have to get a picture of that when it is done!

Remodeling Project

One of my co-workers at Southwestern bought this house at 1209 Olive St. and is remodeling it. You can see the original wood siding underneath the other siding.

The Lane- Riley House

Bill Jones, the Southwestern University Historian, took me to see this house this week. It came up because I asked him to clarify whether Rev. James Sterling Lane was the first chaplain at Southwestern. Dr. Jones said that Rev. Lane served as chaplain for Southwestern in his capacity as minister of the First United Methodist Church in Georgetown (in those days the minister of the Methodist Church also served as the chaplain at Southwestern). Dr. Jones then told me that Rev. Lane's home in Georgetown is still standing, so we went to visit it. The house is located at 1302 College St. It is vacant and needs a lot of work. It was built in 1872, the same year Southwestern University was being founded in Georgetown. In 1908, it was bought by another Methodist minister, Rev. George Riley (1853-1925). Descendents of Rev. Riley apparently still own the home. The house has a Texas Historical Marker and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It still has the old well on the property. Rev. Lane was a Civil War veteran and is buried in the IOOF cemetery behind Southwestern. His grave is one of the ones featured on the Williamson Museum's cemetery tour this weekend (May 1, 2010).

The John Leavell Homestead

Work is going full-swing on the house at 803 College St., which is known as the John Leavell Homestead. The new owners are adding an addition on the south side of the house, a garage on the north side of the house, and several rooms on the back of the house. They also appear to be adding a porch on the front. For the record, I am posting a photo of the house as it looked in 1896. This photo hangs in what used to be the County Seat restaurant. The house was built in 1880.

A new garage

I don't know whether last week's snow caused the roof of this dilapidated garage on College Street to cave in or whether the owners decided to finally tear it down. In any case, it is being rebuilt, which will be a nice improvement to the neighborhood.

Updates

In this post, I provide updates on several properties we have been following for the past few months.

• The gas station/garage on University Avenue at Church Street has been sold. Whitestone Tire Center, which is currently located at 1000 S. Austin Ave., plans to remodel the building for its new store. They are going before HARC Feb. 25 to get their plans approved.
  
• Two blocks down on Church Street, the garage and addition have been framed for the house at yellow house at 1009 Church St.
  
• Work began in earnest this week at the house at 601 College Street. Several dumpsters full old old asbestos and other things were seen being removed. It appears the new owner plans to renovate the house from top to bottom - literally.
  
• A little further down College Street, the house at 307 College Street has now been framed and we can start to see what it will look like.
  
• And finally, the rebuilt Booty House is really starting to look good. It will be great to have this beautiful house back on University Avenue.