Whitaker-McClendon House, Victorian house museum in Tyler, United States.
The Whitaker–McClendon House is a two-story Victorian house with touches of Italianate and Eastlake architecture, built 1878–1880 of cypress and pine on a brick foundation. The first floor holds the foyer, living room, one bedroom and bath, kitchen and dining room; four bedrooms and two baths are upstairs. Ionic columns and a second-story bedroom with its own porch were added in 1910.
The house was built between 1878 and 1880 on land that once belonged to James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas. It emerged during a period of economic growth in Tyler and became a notable example of late Victorian residential architecture in the state.
The house is a living history museum, also called the McClendon House or Bonner–Whitaker–McClendon House. Its exhibits display artifacts and documents from the Antebellum period of Texas history through both World Wars. Sarah McClendon, a White House correspondent, was born and raised here.
The house operates as a living history museum in Tyler, Texas, and its exhibits draw on artifacts and documents from the Antebellum period through both World Wars. It is a private historic property rather than a state-run site, so confirm visiting arrangements directly with the museum before travelling. The two-acre grounds once belonged to James Pinckney Henderson, Texas's first governor.
Sarah McClendon, born in this house in 1910, went on to become a White House correspondent who covered twelve presidential administrations from Roosevelt through Bush. Her notable career connected the house to decades of American political journalism at the highest level.
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