James L. Autry House is located at 5 Courtlandt Place in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Design is credited to Alfred C. Finn, when he worked for the

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

architecture firm of

Sanguinet & Staats Sanguinet & Staats was an architectural firm based in Fort Worth, Texas, with as many as five branch offices in Texas. The firm specialized in steel-frame construction and built many skyscrapers in Texas. The firm also accepted commissions for res ...

, and was executed in 1912. Autry was a general counsel and director for Texaco.

Architecture

The James L. Autry House was designed by Alfred C. Finn working under the commission of Sanguinet & Staats in 1912. The house is located at 5 Courtlandt Place, which is a

private street A private road is a road owned or controlled by a private person, persons or corporation rather than a road open to the public and owned by a government. Private roads can be on private land or can be constructed on government land for use by gov ...

in Houston. The house is next door to a greenhouse and tennis courts at 3 Courtlandt Place, a property that was developed at the same time as the main house. Finn designed the two and a half story

Neoclassical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

structure to be supported with a wood frame. This cubic area defines the main part of the house, fronted by a half-moon Doric

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, which is supported by in the front by two small Doric columns. The portico fronts a double-gallery with

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

s, where the front of the double-gallery is defined by four large, fluted Doric columns. The front of the hipped roof includes two wide dormers with multiple-paned sash, and the sides of the main part of the house are graced by two exposed brick chimneys. Also flanking the main part of the house are a porte-cochere and a sun room, both capped with balustrades, and preserving the overall symmetry of the structure.National Archives Identifier: 40972436. Autry had requested that the design emulate a house he had seen in Corsicana, Texas. Construction costs totaled $40,686.

Biography

The house is named for its first owner, James Lockhart Autry, who was general counsel for the Texas Company, now better known as Texaco. He was born in

Holly Springs, Mississippi Holly Springs is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the southern border of Tennessee. Near the Mississippi Delta, the area was developed by European Americans for cotton plantations and was dep ...

on November 4, 1859, and first moved to Texas in order to manage a ranch in

Navarro County Navarro County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 52,624. Its county seat is Corsicana, Texas, Corsicana. The county is named for José Anton ...

. He apprenticed to an attorney in Corsicana, Texas before his admission to the bar in 1880. After forming a law firm with W.J. McKie, Autry began a long business relationship with

Joseph S. Cullinan Joseph Stephen Cullinan (December 31, 1860 – March 11, 1937) was a U.S. oil industrialist. Although he was a native of Pennsylvania, his lifetime business endeavors would help shape the early phase of the oil industry in Texas. He founded The Te ...

. In 1904, just two years after

Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindleto ...

, he followed Cullinan to

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

to work for the Texas Fuel Company, where Cullinan tapped him to serve as general counsel. A year later, Cullinan reorganized his firm, which became the Texas Company, for which Autry served as a founding director and general counsel. Once again, Autry followed Cullinan when the Texas Company moved its headquarters to Houston in 1908. Cullinan, Autry, and Will C. Hogg all resigned in 1913 to form their own partnership, which established several new companies, just a year after Autry established his residence at 5 Courtlandt Place. In 1915, he suffered a debilitating stroke. He died in 1920, survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son, who all remained in the house, which remained in family hands until its sale in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James L. Autry House (Courtlandt Place, Houston) National Register of Historic Places in Houston Sanguinet & Staats buildings Alfred C. Finn buildings