A Frontier Family’s First Texas Home
Price: $0 (must be moved)
Location: Garland, Texas
Contact: Becky King, 972-205-2893
The History: It was 1868 when William and Lavenia Tinsley packed their children into a covered wagon and made the 1,100-mile trip west from Blacksburg, Virginia, to northeast Texas. The family settled on the outskirts of present-day Garland, where they bought just over 70 acres of land and a 196-square-foot log home. Several years later, they dismantled that home and built this farmhouse on a portion of the original foundation, reusing the floor joists, which likely date back to the 1840s. The couple had 10 children, so as many as 12 Tinsleys might have shared the small space at one time.
After decades in the family, the house was bought and sold several times and, on two occasions, was moved within town. For most of that time, it was owned by the Lyles family, for whom the house is named. In 1979, it was donated to the City of Garland. Now the house must be moved a third and, hopefully, final time—within the next six months—to make way for the construction of a new town square.
This Old House readers have a track record of rallying to save Garland’s historic homes. In a previous Save This Old House listing, reader Louis Moore appeared before the Garland city council on the eve of demolition for another local farmhouse, armed with past issues of This Old House Magazine open to this very column. He helped convince the council to hold the wrecking ball and grant the home a six-month reprieve—the same window of time the Tinsley-Lyles house now has to find a buyer.
Shown: The house is approximately 1,200 square feet and is being stored by the town on a truck bed. Buildable lots in the area start at around $15,000. The city planned to restore the home but stopped after replacing the roof.
Oldest House in Garland
Why Save It? The Gothic-influenced 1870s farmhouse is the oldest home in Garland. The porch balcony spans the width of the house and is accessible from a door in the center dormer. Entrance doors on the front of the house open to two separate parlors—likely the original rooms for the male and female Tinsley children.
The Victorian-era farmhouse, as This Old House Magazine contributor Pamela Gwyn Kripke describes it, can be read “as a minimalist Queen Anne or Gothic Revival that has gone easy on the ornament,” blending “the plain vernacular, or folk, house forms of the rural landscape with decorative finishes and pared-down design elements found elsewhere on city dwellings.” The Tinsley house’s twin parlors and center-dormer balcony reflect exactly that mix of farmhouse practicality and modest Gothic flourish.
Shown: This 1970s photograph shows the house in its previous location, with different porch supports and no railing on the balcony.
Layout Decisions
What It Needs: Once moved to a new site, the house will require an overhaul of its plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. The second floor is an unfinished attic. The new owner will need to decide whether to return the house to its original 1870s layout or preserve a series of additions from the turn of the last century at the back, which includes two bedrooms. Either way, once the renovation is complete, you’ll have a restored relic of old-time Texas with room for a dozen of your nearest and dearest.
Shown: This simple wood mantelpiece was built by hand, possibly by William’s brother Jesse, a carpenter by trade, who lived nearby.
Access to The Unfinished Attic
A staircase near the back of the house leads to the unfinished attic.
Locally Milled Southern Yellow Pine
A view of the living room. Many of the homes walls, floors, and ceilings are locally milled southern yellow pine. Most of the planks have been painted but could be stripped to expose the wood grain.
On a recent episode of This Old House, master carpenter Norm Abram explained what makes the wood so well-suited to historic homes like this one: “It has a very tight grain and the level of pitch in it that dictates it’s very stable”—meaning, unlike regular pine, “it tends not to cup” or twist over time.
If a future owner chooses to strip the painted planks to reveal the grain, a light oil finish can preserve that warm, natural look. As Norm Abram noted of a similar yellow pine interior, the boards were finished with “probably a tongue oil”—”a very thin oil” that “really leaves that natural look.”
