{"nrhp_refnum":"77001457","name":"Brinkmann, Otto, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"701 High St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Comfort","county":"Kendall County","state":"TX","lat":29.968006600000024,"lon":-98.90925727999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, two-room fachwerk (German half-timbered) house at 701 High Street in Comfort, Kendall County, Texas, built in 1861 by local cabinet-maker and carpenter Otto Brinkmann.","why_significant":"It exemplifies fachwerk construction brought to Texas by German colonists, here adapted with limestone infill typical of the Hill Country instead of wattle and daub. It is also associated with Otto Brinkmann, a skilled local builder. It is one of the oldest houses in Comfort and has served as a private residence with only minor alterations.","narrative":"Built in 1861 on a corner lot in Comfort, Texas, this small one-story house shows how German settlers built in the Hill Country. Its frame uses heavy cypress timbers with diagonal bracing and mortise-and-tenon joints pegged together, and the spaces between are filled with limestone rather than the wattle and daub common nearer the coast. The front wall still exposes the timber framing and two paneled doors. Otto Brinkmann, a Westphalian-born cabinet-maker and carpenter who arrived in Comfort in 1858, built it as his first home and lived there only briefly. He later built houses in several Texas towns and managed a local lumber yard. His mother-in-law owned the house for decades. A rear lean-to and front gallery were added in 1899, and the porch deck and roof were replaced in 1920. It remains one of the oldest houses in Comfort and has stayed a private residence.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Otto Brinkmann","architectural_style":"Fachwerk (German half-timbered construction with limestone infill)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as continuing to serve as a private residence through the 20th century; condition marked good and altered, with occupied status checked.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.626039-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/52/9727/40972752/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/77001457.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001457/c03ca2867d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001457/c03ca2867d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_brinkman_house_2009.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_brinkman_house_2009.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04000911","name":"Comfort Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/comfort-historic-district-boundary-increase-04000911/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972752","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Brinkmann_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7109536"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/kendall-county/brinkmann-otto-house-77001457/"}