{"nrhp_refnum":"85002265","name":"Southgate-Lewis House","other_names":["Site #23"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1501 E. 12th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Travis County","state":"TX","lat":30.272978687000034,"lon":-97.72341782199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A late Victorian wood-frame house at 1501 East 12th Street in East Austin, Travis County, Texas, built in 1888 by contractor R. C. Lambie, with a small board-and-batten carriage house on the property.","why_significant":"It is presented as an excellent example of a richly textured late Victorian house, a high-style building in an area where simple vernacular buildings were the rule. It was built by R. C. Lambie, a known developer and contractor, and was home to several important Austin residents, including printer John Southgate. It also has Black history associations from 1913 onward and inspired a series of children's books.","narrative":"Built in 1888 at 1501 East 12th Street in Austin, this wood-frame house is a richly detailed example of late Victorian design. It has projecting eaves and gables, a prominent front bay with a dentiled cornice, and unusually ornate siding that combines vertical boards, drop siding, and bands of fish-scale and rectangular shingles. An ornamental brick chimney rises high above the roof, and a small board-and-batten carriage house sits at the south end of the property. Few houses of this complexity survive in East Austin, where simple vernacular buildings were typical. The builder was R. C. Lambie, a real estate developer and contractor linked to several landmark public buildings in Central Texas. The first owner, John Southgate, was a printer and bookbinder who later worked with publisher Eugene Von Boeckmann. In 1913 the house passed to Black owners, as did many homes in the Robertson Hill area, and the Lewis family later inspired a series of local children's books on Black history in East Austin.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"R. C. Lambie (builder)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Physical condition is listed as excellent and current use is residential. A carport was added at the rear after 1935.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.451725-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/46/9703/40970346/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/85002265.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002265/70a07f470f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002265/70a07f470f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southgate_lewis_house.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:Southgate_lewis_house.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970346","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southgate%E2%80%93Lewis_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7570793"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/travis-county/southgate-lewis-house-85002265/"}