Above: Texas Historical Commission. [Gov Joseph Sayers House, (W Elevation)], photograph, April 1, 1977; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth935843/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.
A Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report completed in 1936 says:
"The original house consisted of four rooms, a hall and two porches. At an unknown later date an addition consisting of Kitchen, Bath, and Service Porch
was added to the rear of the house. This addition was made by moving two outbuildings and connecting them to the house; these were probably not original outbuildings because they have no architectural value. The rear porch was also enclosed, to form another bedroom. The other outbuildings and the fences have been remodeled, added, and moved and have no architectural value.
The house stands on the original site and was built in 1868. It is not believed that an architect's services were used in the building of the house, and the builder's
name is unknown. A Captain Knowles felled and stripped the walnut used in the house, and he might have been the builder."
This report also notes that Sayers owned the house until November 15, 1899 (during his first term as governor). Captain Knowles was probably William Wadsworth Knowles, who was in the area from at least 1855 to at least 1883.
A 1975 HABS supplement describes the house as "Wooden frame with clapboarding, 50'4" (three-bay front) x 50'6"...low gabled roof...Center hall plan with rear ell." The house was nearly twelve feet tall from floors to ceilings.
Note that all the references to the address in the 1934 photographs and plans below are wrong; the actual address is 1703 Wilson Street.
Below are two views of the front of the house, as viewed from the west, from 1934 and from 1969.
Above: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 20, 1934, WEST ELEVATION (FRONT). - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-3; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=3 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Front elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672154/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.
According to an April 1975 data sheet within the Texas Historical Marker application (page 5), the hall was removed in 1937 (combining the front parlor and entry hall into a single larger room), and a utility room and bathroom were added in 1968. Roof materials were cypress shingles originally; composition now. "All materials for the house came from within Bastrop County. The walnut from Walnut Creek and the pine from the Lost Pines Belt."
The house has "Brick piers 10" x 10", 3 [actually 4] walnut fireplaces and 3 brick chimneys. Walnut ceilings random width unpainted in living, dining room and S. W. bedroom. Front doors handmade walnut. Hand hewn pine beams under floors. Wainscot of hand pressed pine painted cream in living, dining room and S. W. bedroom."
Below are two views of the front oblique of the house, as viewed from the southwest, from 1934 and 1969.
Above: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-2; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=2 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Front oblique)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth676306/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.
The National Register Nomination File (for December 1978, as part of the Bastrop Historic and Architectural Multiple Resource Area) describes the house as a "1-story simple Greek Revival residence with pedimented portico on 4 square columns, cornice with returns at sides, corner pilasters, central paneled walnut doors with 3-light [pane] sidelights and 8-light [pane] transom."
Many of these details can be seen in the two photographs that follow, closeups of the front entrance, the first from 1934 and the second from 1969. Note also the doorbell centered between the two panels of the left front door - more on that in a bit.
Above: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 20, 1934, DETAIL OF ENTRANCE (WEST ELEVATION). - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-4; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=4 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Entrance detail)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672162/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.
It is fortunate that this house was part of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), a program begun in 1933 to document the architectural heritage of the United States. Technical drawings were done of the house in 1934, including a floor plan at that time. As can be seen from the cover sheet below, the original house was an L-shape.
Above: HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 0 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=1 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 1 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=2 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
As noted above in the 1982 Texas Historical Marker application, one wall of the hall was removed in 1937 to make the parlor into one larger room, and sometime before 1982, the remaining porch was glassed in. The application also notes that the porches have random width tongue-and-groove pine floors and ceilings.
A porch ran along the inside of the L (on the back side of that), and part of that porch was walled in sometime before 1934 to create another bedroom. The plans also show a cistern in a shed off the back side, but does not show the kitchen and bath addition at the top of the L, which also happened before 1934. Both the cistern shed and that addition are visible in the photo below. The addition in the photo, so obviously tacked on, may have been remodeled, as a new utility room and bath were added somewhere to the house in 1968.
Above: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM SOUTHEAST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-6; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=6 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer, March 13, 1934, VIEW FROM NORTHWEST. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TXPhoto from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-1; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=1 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
The HABS drawings are full of wonderful little details about the house. Note the second drawing below (sheet 3 of 4), which has a very detailed representation of the front door bell, which was still in place in 1982.
Above: HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 2 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=3 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Above: HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 3 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=4 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below are the north and south side elevations of the house. The north elevation photo is from 1934, matching the plans. The south elevation photo is from 1969, and with the trees, it is hard to tell what changed in the 35-year interim.
Above: Historic American Buildings Survey, L.C. Page Jr., Photographer March 20, 1934 NORTH ELEVATION. - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Photo from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-5; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.photos/?sp=5 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Texas Historical Commission. [Governor Sayers House, (Side elevation)], photograph, December 1, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth672707/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection. This is the south elevation.
Various sources say Joseph had the house built for his first wife, Ada Walton, who he married in 1868. According to a March 13, 1886 article in the Bastrop Advertiser, "Rumour has it on Joseph and Ada's wedding night, the young bride took her diamond engagement ring and carved her name on the window ledge of the master bedroom."
Above: HABS TEX,11-BAST,1- (sheet 4 of 4) - Governor Joseph D. Sayers House, 1903 [sic] Wilson Street, Bastrop, Bastrop County, TX. Measured drawing from Survey HABS TX-33-C-5. From Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (HABS TEX,11-BAST,1-; https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.tx0150.sheet/?sp=5 accessed September 9, 2020). Public domain. No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government.
Below: Klein, Stan & Yancey, Michael D. [Governor Sayers House, (West elevation)], photograph, December 21, 1976; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth676447/m1/1/: accessed September 9, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. From the Texas Historical Commission National Register Slide Collection.
The wrought-iron fence in front of the house dates back to at least 1940, and was visible in a May 2011 Google Map Street View.
Below is a segment of an 1887 "bird's-eye view" of Bastrop - click on it for a larger view. The Governor Sayers' House is towards the left at 1703 Wilson. This drawing indicates that the kitchen/bath/service port addition on the rear of the house might have been there by 1887, as well as the cistern shed. Tax records indicate this house was (and is) located on Farm Lot 3, while his father Dr. David Sayers' home, at 1307 Church, on the right-hand side of the intersection of Diagonal (now Church) Street and an unnamed street (now Buttonwood) was and is on Farm Lot 1.
Above: Augustus Koch (1840–?). Bird’s Eye View of Bastrop Bastrop County Texas 1887, 1887. Lithograph, 16.6 x 22.9 in. Lithographer unknown. Bastrop County Historical Society. From http://www.birdseyeviews.org/zoom.php?city=Bastrop&year=1887&extra_info= and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_map-Bastrop-1887.jpg
© Amanda Pape - 2020 - e-mail me!
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