Carrington-Covert House

Leonidas D. Carrington (1816-97) and his wife, Martha Hill Carrington (1824-59), came to Austin from Mississippi in 1852. He began to accumulate real estate and on Sept. 15, 1853, bought this block from James M.W. Hall, Austin hotelman, and ten days later opened a mercantile store on Congress Avenue. In 1856 Carrington hired John Brandon, a local architect-contractor, to build on this site a vernacular Greek Revival home, constructed of rough limestone ashlar. The house was completed in the spring of 1857. The property was purchased by M. L. Hemphill in 1870 and by the John Fields family in 1881. Fields leased the building, 1893-98, to the "Texas Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital," directed by Dr. Henry L. Hilgartner (1868-1937), and in 1903, sold this site to Frank M. Covert (1865-1938), the head of a prominent Austin family, who lived here until 1936. Later owners rented the structure as a boarding house, residence, and nursery until it was purchased by the State of Texas in 1968. The Texas Historical Commission restored the house in 1972. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962

Carrington-Covert House is a historical marker in Austin, Travis County, dedicated in 1962. It is one of 336 historical markers documented in Travis County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 641 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.2780, -97.7404 near Austin. The nearest cataloged historic site is Gethsemane Church (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Site of Swedish Evangelical Free Church, Diocese of Austin, and State Bar of Texas.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5453006423. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.