Researching the Hyde Park House

Peter Flagg Maxson, Architectural Historian

14 September 1992

• Your building retains a great deal of evidence of its own history, if you knew how to read it.

Document As Is structure thoroughly through photos and drawings.
Note different doors, windows, hardware - may indicate different building
    campaigns. Also window screens, fences, outbuildings, flower
    beds & other character-defining features.
Look for Ghost marks - indications of structural changes.
Look in protected places for sequence of paint colons, waSlpaper.
Ascertain oldest plant materials - ehm trees, old-fashioned roses, etc.
Historic archaeology.

• Document all phases of a building's history - the earliest appearance, ownership may not be the most important or aesthetic, and the remodelling five years ago may have been critical to understanding the evolution of the building.
• Keep good records, both photographic & written.
• Record not only the structural history of the house, but try to get a feel for earlier occupants and their lives.

• Building, biographical files - Austin History Center.
• Historic photographs (AHC files, Austin City of the Violet Crown)
• City directories (AHC - sequence & occupations of occupants (properties sometimes rented).
• Obituaries (Austin History Center, Barker Tx. History Center, U.T.) - biography, survivors.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. maps (B.T.H.C.) - location, dimensions, configuration, outbuildings, # of stories, construction materials. Check sequential maps.
• Historic sites survey (Texas Historical Commission).
• Architectural style books - J. Blumenson's Identifying American Architecture, V. & L Mc-Alester's Field Guide to American Houses
• Old Hyde Park Homes Tour brochures.
• T. & S. Sitton's Hyde Park.
• Genealogies (Texas State Library Genealogical Collection) - may be useful In locating descendents. Compile your own for early owners.
• Hire an historic preservation consultant, if appropriate.