Architecture From the Texas Historic Site Atlas of the Texas Historical Commission:

The W. A. Strain home stands on a hill at the southeast corner of the Lancaster city limits, facing northwest. Of the original outbuildings, including a barn, smoke house, wood shed, wash house and outhouse, only the smoke house and outhouse, southeast of the home, still remain. The two and a half story frame late-Victorian structure with gabled wood shingle roof and brick foundation has an asymmetrical plan. Its guttering system around the roof sends rain water through a charcoal bin to a cistern. The house was originally painted a deep rust color with cream colored trim. Some of the original metal roof cresting has been removed. There is a wide band of imbricated shingle siding between the first and second floors around the front and two sides of the house. The shingle siding is repeated on gable ends and around the third story of the turret. One-over-one double-hung sash windows are used predominantly on all facades of the house. There is a large central corbeled brick chimney with two evenly spaced brick belt courses encircling it, and a smaller, very simple brick chimney toward the southeast (back) of the house. The northwest (front) facade shows a ground floor gallery wrapping around the southwest corner of the house with a wide central pedimented entry, turned columns, spindled and cut-out balustrade and cut-out spandrels. The second story gallery directly above stops at the southwest corner of the house. Beside the gallery, three windows separated by muntins have a stained-glass transom above on the ground floor. A horizontal stained glass window is on the second floor with a low-pitched pediment above. Both triangular pediments on this facade are trimmed with dentils and applied serpentine wood moldings. The single-light casement window in the gable end above once contained stained glass. The peak of the gable end is spanned by a cutout bargeboard. There is a three-story turret on the north corner of this facade, its cone-shaped shingle roof topped with a metal finial at its peak. Circular windows on the third floor once contained stained glass. There is a carved wood medallion above the second story window on the turret.

The northeast (side) facade shows the turret and a two-story bay window with an arched stained glass window set in a projection of the ground floor of the bay. The gable end and pediment are identical to those on the northwest (front) of the house.

The southeast (back) facade of the house shows a hipped roof rather than a gable end. The two-story porch was enclosed and a one-story porch added around 1915.

The southwest (side) facade consists of a central projecting pavilion with gable end and pediment identical to those described on the northwest and northeast elevations, with enclosed porches to the southeast (back) and the wrap around gallery to the northwest (front). A small balcony above the gallery has been enclosed.

The four original Victorian mantels with beveled mirrors are still in the house. There is an ornate front and simple back staircase. An attic stair was added around 1915. Sliding paneled pocket doors open between the front hall and parlor and between the parlor and dining room. All the ceilings are 12 feet high on the ground floor.

The three-story smoke house has horizontal wood siding on the two lower floors with imbricated shingle siding around the mansard top floor which contains a cistern fed by a windmill.

This property is still occupied by the W. A. Strain heirs. They have replaced the wood shingle roof and have repainted the house. The floors and woodwork inside the house have been refinished. The family plans to continue to maintain the house and its original furnishings as they have in the past.

The W. A. Strain House near Lancaster, Texas, is an excellent example of late Victorian architecture, designed by J. E. Flanders & Moad of Dallas. This firm also designed the Trinity Methodist Church in Dallas, and the Shackleford County Courthouse, which is part of an historic district in Albany, Texas. Joe Lyon built the house in 1896. 

The 374-acre farm on which it is located has been designated one of 560 farms in Texas for the Family Land Heritage Program. This land has been farmed for over 130 years by the same family. The Strain family has shown pride in their old family home by maintaining it with few alterations since it was built more than 100 years ago.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

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