Get a lesson in Austin history: Visit these landmark neighborhood treasures
If you're looking to discover more about the historical side of Austin, discover these charming historical Austin landmarks: Laguna Gloria, Caswell House, Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms, French Legation Museum, and the Texas Capitol. Each of these memorable excursions will take you back to early Austin and Texas history. Have an enchanting afternoon experience almost any day of the week with just a quick city drive and a modest admission fee.
Laguna Gloria
Location: 3809 West 35th St.
On the shores of Lake Austin is a rare and glorious site, Laguna Gloria, once the palatial Italian-style villa built and occupied by Clara Driscoll. Now a contemporary arts museum, the property also has stunning natural landscaped grounds and parks dotted with art sculptures and exhibits.
Laguna Gloria was built in 1916 on land once owned by Stephen F. Austin. It’s named after a nearby lagoon located off the Colorado River. Clara, a world traveler, fell in love with Italy and so revived the 19th century classical Italian architectural style. She gardened and entertained friends and dignitaries there until donating the home site in 1943 to the Texas Fine Arts Association.
Today Laguna Gloria is owned by the Austin Museum of Art. Besides being able to tour the villa and its grounds, visitors of all ages can enjoy its art galleries and enroll in art classes. The villa and gardens have been a popular spot for weddings, social gatherings, and corporate events.
The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday; the grounds are open every day. There’s a small admission charge to see the villa and art galleries.
Caswell House
Location: 1404 West Avenue (at 15th Street).
At the turn of the century, Daniel H. Caswell and his family arrived in Austin. A 60-year-old prominent Tennessee businessman in the cotton trade, Caswell had his grand home outfitted with all the features common in the finer homes of that time period: gas, electric fixtures, and indoor plumbing.
Sixty-some years later, the city was considering demolishing Caswell’s house, which had fallen into disrepair. Somehow the house was spared and later taken over by the volunteer organization Austin Junior Forum in 1979. The house was renovated and stabilized and used for meetings and events for the organization. Soon thereafter, it opened up to the public as a rental venue.
The spacious, well-appointed and centrally located Victorian mansion (near the Capitol), with its crystal chandeliers, stained glass windows, stacked porches and corner turret, has charmed many into booking it for weddings, fundraisers, luncheons and corporate events.
Austin Junior Forum also uses the house to sponsor etiquette classes for teens and pre-teens. Usually held during the winter holiday season, the professionally instructed classes teach children practical social skills.
Caswell House is open Monday through Friday, and by appointment Saturday.
Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms
Location: 10621 Pioneer Farms Dr. in Northeast Austin.
Watch 19th century farm life come alive at Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farms. The historical park was the homestead of Frederick and Harriet Jourdan, whose family came from Tennessee and Kentucky by wagon in the 1850s to settle the 90-plus acres.
The property was donated to the Austin Heritage Society to honor those early Texas settlers and in 1975 a walking tour museum opened to give Austinites an up-close multi-sensory experience through the sights, sounds and smells of pioneer farm life.
The Jourdan’s restored cabin depicts a typical early Texas settlement: cedar log construction with a breezeway, a parlor fireplace, and wood-burning stoves. Besides the Jourdan’s farm and those of other “Texians,” are the homesteads of German immigrants and cotton planters, and a Tonkawa Indian campsite. Visitors will also walk through the stores of an 1899 replicated village square to watch blacksmiths, carpenters, crop planters and other early frontier artisans in action.
Open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with special school programs available by reservation on other days.
French Legation Museum
Location: 802 San Marcos Street.
Considered the oldest wood-framed structure to still exist in Austin, the French Legation was built in 1841 to represent the French government in the newly formed Republic of Texas. It housed France’s chargé d’affaires, Alphonse Dubois, followed by a Galveston bishop and then a Texas revolution veteran.
Dr. Joseph W. Robertson and his descendants were the last to own the property, in whose hands it stayed for many years before it was sold to the State of Texas in 1945. The state appointed Daughters of the Republic of Texas as the property’s custodian, after which the home was converted into a museum.
The lavish mansion exhibits characteristics of Creole design: a gallery baseboard-finished porch, batten doors, wrap-around fireplace mantelpieces, and a hip roof. Objects from the Dubois and Robertson families are contained in the museum’s collection, along with other items that reveal what it was like to live in early Austin.
The lawns and gardens on the 2.5 acres and the carriage house are available for outdoor event rentals. Open Tuesdays through Sundays.
Texas Capitol
Location: 1100 Congress Avenue, downtown.
Standing proudly as the sixth tallest state capitol is Austin’s own, completed in 1888 in Italian Renaissance Revival style. The Texas Capitol houses the Texas Legislature offices and chambers and the governor’s office on 2.25 acres.
An immense four-story underground Capitol Extension was completed in 1993, which doubled the square footage and improved its functionality. And speaking of square footage, the capitol has 360,000 square feet of floor space, more than any other state capitol building, with almost 400 rooms and more than 900 windows.
Portraits of presidents of the Republic of Texas and governors of Texas line the capitol’s rotunda, a whispering gallery, which allows whispered sounds to be heard from any other area within the rotunda’s circumference. Along the south foyer are portraits of David Crockett, General Santa Anna and sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.
Other interior features include a terrazzo mosaic depicting the seals of six nations that have governed Texas and a grand staircase. Outside on the grounds are 17 monuments that surround the building, including Terry’s Texas Rangers, heroes of the Alamo, Confederate soldiers and volunteer firemen.
Take a self-guided or guided tour, or specialty tours on Women in Texas History and Heroes of the Texas Revolution.
Picture Credits:
Laguna Gloria By Matthew Fuller (Matthew Fuller) [GFDL (https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons
Caswell House By David E Hollingsworth
French Legation Museum - "French legation 2011" by Larry D. Moore. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Austin Capitol Building - © BrandonSeidel | Dreamstime.com - State Capitol Building At Night In Downtown Austin, Texas Photo
