Splitrock
(Burns-Klein House)
Marker No: 17636
Aluminum 27 x 42 Subject Marker
Texas Historic Landmark
Geographic: 30.298965,-97.750587
Location: 2815 Wooldridge Drive, Austin
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Marker Text: In 1891, Thomas F. Burns bought 3 ¾ acres of the Jones and Sedwick property along the west bank of Shoal Creek. Burns, a Scottish immigrant, married Arbanna J. Nelson in Travis County in 1876. Property records and lumber marked “Sutor & Co.” Date his house to circa 1892. Thomas, Arbanna and six children lived here in 1900. Thomas was listed as a stone cutter and owner of a marble shop. He added an additional acre to his homestead in 1901. Thomas’ son, Frank C. Burns, owned the Capitol City Marble Co. at 211 W. 6th Street.
In 1911, Thomas Burns sold the property to Hippolyt Dittlinger, owner of Dittlinger Roller Mills in New Braunfels. His niece, Anita Dittlinger Quinlan, and her husband, James, lived here with their three children from 1912-39. In 1939, the Quinlans moved to Fredericksburg and subdivided land surrounding the house into eight city lots on the east side of Splitrock Avenue (later Wooldridge Drive). In 1945, Anita sold the property to Joe H. Klein, Jr., and his wife, Jayne Linville Klein. The 1 ½-story frame house is a vernacular center passage dwelling, designed with three rooms on each side of the hallway. Stairs provided access to the attic and dormer bedrooms. Originally, the east side of the house, looking toward the city, was the front. When Splitrock Avenue became a designated street in Pemberton Heights, primary access was reversed and the west side became the front. The scenic property on a bluff above the creek includes numerous centuries-old live oak trees, the largest of which is a city of Austin registered tree. The house has remained largely unaltered, even as the city has expanded far beyond its once-rural setting. (2013) |
