Donnybrook Duplex Residential Historic District

Eighteen small duplexes laid out in a U-shaped block about a mile and a half south of Tyler's courthouse square make up this district. Developer Robert J. Henderson began building them in November 1947, using five basic plans drawn by local architect Homer H. Lansberry, and all were finished and occupied by 1950. The one-story, wood frame dwellings have buff or red brick veneer, low-pitched roofs, and Colonial Revival wood trim, and many have a two-car garage. Uniform setbacks and repeated forms give the group a consistent look among the single-family houses around it. The district is considered significant because it is the only known duplex development of the immediate postwar period in south Tyler, built as rental housing for salesmen, clerks, oil industry workers, and other moderate-income residents during a boom in population and oil-related prosperity. Alterations are limited, mostly replacement windows and synthetic siding, and 28 of 37 resources contribute to the district's character.