The Texas Governor's Mansion is a historic home for the

governor of Texas The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Designed by prominent architect Abner Cook, it was built in 1854 and has been the home of every governor since 1856. Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 50th Tex ...

and First Lady Cecilia Phalen Abbott are the current residents. On June 8, 2008, while midway through a major renovation, the mansion was badly damaged by an arson fire.

History

The mansion is the oldest continuously inhabited house in Texas and fourth oldest governor's mansion in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that has been continuously occupied by a chief executive. The mansion was the first-designated Texas historic landmark, in 1962. and It was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as "Governor's Mansion" in 1970, and further was declared a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1974.

Original architecture

Built by Abner Cook in a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style and completed in 1856, the building occupies the center of a block and is surrounded by trees and gardens. The original mansion was . Remodeling in 1914 increased the size of the mansion to 8,920 square feet. The original mansion had 11 rooms but no bathrooms. The remodeling brought the room count to 25 rooms and 7 bathrooms. In 1931, at the recommendation of former Texas First Lady Mildred Paxton Moody, the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

established the Board of Mansion Supervisors to oversee all interior and exterior upkeep and enhancements to the mansion. The Board was abolished in 1965, and its responsibilities transferred to the Texas Commission on the Arts.

2008 fire

The mansion was partially destroyed by a

four-alarm fire One-alarm fires, two-alarm fires, three-alarm fires, etc., are categories classifying the seriousness of fires, commonly used in the United States and in Canada, particularly indicating the level of response by local authorities. The term multip ...

during the early morning of June 8, 2008, caused by a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

. Then-Governor

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

and his wife

Anita Thigpen Perry Mary Anita Thigpen Perry (born May 5, 1952) is an American nurse who was the longest-serving First Lady of Texas, being in that role from 2000 to 2015. She is married to former Texas Governor Rick Perry. As First Lady of Texas, she had been an a ...

were in Europe at the time of the fire. They had relocated in October 2007 for a $10 million major deferred maintenance project that began in January 2008. The project was to include a fire suppression system. State

Fire Marshal A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a state, provincial or territorial government, but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually in ...

Paul Maldonado said the next Sunday that investigators had evidence that an arsonist targeted the 152-year-old building. On February 17, 2011,

Texas Department of Public Safety The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, commonly known as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), is a department of the state government of Texas. The DPS is responsible for statewide law enforcement and driver license adminis ...

Director Steve McCraw announced that two

persons of interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no le ...

had been identified as the arsonists. However, ultimately no one was charged with a crime resulting from the fire. According to

Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is na ...

Assistant District Attorney Gregg Cox, who led the arson investigation, the ten-year

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

on felony arson in Texas has since expired, saying “chances are, they got away with it.” In May 2009, $22 million was allocated to the restoration of the Governor's Mansion, $11 million of which came from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

. An additional $3.4 million was raised through private fund raising. The restoration was completed in 2012.

References

Citations

Sources

* "The Texas Governor's Mansion," ''

The Magazine ANTIQUES ''The Magazine Antiques'' is a bimonthly arts publication that focuses on architecture, interior design, and fine and decorative arts. Regular monthly columns include news on current exhibitions and art-world events, notes on collecting, and book ...

'', July 2006.

External links

*
Friends of the Texas Governor's Mansion
- includes history, photos, visiting information * {{Authority control City of Austin Historic Landmarks Museums in Austin, Texas Houses in Austin, Texas Historic house museums in Texas Governors' mansions in the United States Government buildings in Texas National Register of Historic Places in Austin, Texas National Historic Landmarks in Texas Historic American Buildings Survey in Texas Buildings and structures in the United States destroyed by arson Greek Revival houses in Texas Arson in Texas Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Texas State Antiquities Landmarks Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks Burned houses in the United States Attacks on government buildings and structures

Mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...