I really appreciate historical places and houses, and I like to visit this kind place and learning things about the structures like this one W.H. Stark House a Victorian landmark in Orange Texas. A 14,000 square-foot home was built in 1894 by William Henry Stark and his wife, Miriam M. Lutcher stark, prominent philanthropists who occupied the home until 1936. Designed in the queen Anne architectural style, the house features a distinctive turret, stained glass windows, and ornate woodwork in cypress and long leaf yellow pine.
A brief History of Stark:
Miriam Melissa Lutcher Stark moved to Orange, Texas, with her parents, Henry Jacob Lutcher and Frances Ann Lutcher, as a teenager in the late 1870s. Her father co-founded the Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company, which was the start of the philanthropic legacy of the Lutcher and Stark families.
In 1881, Miriam Lutcher married William Henry Stark, who was involved in various business endeavors including banking, oil, rice, and insurance. Upon the death of Miriam’s father, William Henry Stark became the president of the Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company. He and Miriam had two children, Frances Ann Stark and H.J. Lutcher Stark. Frances Ann Stark died as a young child, but H.J. Lutcher Stark survived his parents. Miriam and W.H. Stark were avid collectors who instilled in their son, H.J. Lutcher Stark, a lifetime dedication to philanthropy and the arts that continues to benefit the Orange, Texas, community today.
The W.H. Stark House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. It is operated as a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private foundation established in 1961 by H.J. Lutcher Stark, the only surviving child of W.H. and Miriam Stark.
What a nice place to visit and a well preserve historical place.