Early Texas Architecture - Tapa dura

Three factors determine building style: geography and environment; ethnic diversity; and availability of construction materials. Texas geography ranges from the low Coastal Plains along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the pine woods of East Texas, the Blackland Prairie of the north central part of the state, and the arid high deserts of far West Texas. Frontier Texas came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including people of Euro-American stock (many of them of southern origin), as well as Mexicans, blacks, Germans, and Eastern Europeans. Though many buildings were constructed by master builders and craftsmen such as Abner Cook and Augustus Phelps, most were put up by pioneers who followed traditional construction methods brought from their homelands but used local materials -- log, stone or adobe brick. Texas settlers from every culture brought tools, hardware, and the know-how needed to build homes in a harsh wilderness.

Gordon Echols traces the development of various styles from the most rudimentary and little-known rural dwellings to the sophisticated Greek Revival governor's mansion in Austin and the Victorian buildings that were made possible by new wealth earned in trading cotton, cattle and petroleum.