Built in 1907 by F. B. Baker as a speculative residence, this Queen Anne style cottage was purchased in 1908 by physician Dr. William Thomas Dawe and remained in the Dawe family until 1996. Local house lists and historic driving tour notes consistently confirm the builder, date, and long Dawe ownership.
Owners and biography
William Thomas Dawe was born June 6, 1874, in Yorkshire, England, and came to Texas with his family in 1879. He attended school locally, completed studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduated with honors from the University of Galveston Medical Department in 1906. He first opened a practice in Wrightsboro, then shortly moved into town, where he practiced the rest of his life. On January 10, 1906 (recorded locally as January 6 in some sources), he married Ada Lea Scheske (born March 28, 1881), daughter of Amiel Edward and Jessie Smead Scheske. They had three daughters, including Catherine Annear Dawe, noted in a later obituary as the youngest sister of Dr. Jessamon Dawe. Dr. Dawe died November 27, 1933; Ada died July 13, 1971. Both are buried in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery.
Architecture and features
A one story Queen Anne cottage, the house is described in period and restoration accounts as having twelve foot ceilings, longleaf pine woodwork, and decorative fretwork above the entry hall door. Interior wood floors have been carefully restored, and the plan retains large, high ceilinged rooms typical of turn of the century cottages. These features match the profile of other local Queen Anne era houses that favor vertically scaled doors and windows, transoms for ventilation, and ornamental interior millwork.
Chain of title and later history.
- 1907: Constructed by F. B. Baker.
- 1908: Purchased by Dr. W. T. Dawe.
- 1908–1996: Remained in the Dawe family.
- Post 1996: Purchased and fully restored, with public descriptions highlighting the preserved ceilings, pine trim, fretwork, and floors.