This ambitious book tells a richly detailed story of Houston home life and culture from the settlement of Harrisburg and Houston in the 1820s and 1830s to World War I, when rapid economic development and modernization began to spell demolition for many notable nineteenth-century houses and public buildings. The large section of illustrations shows examples of cabins, cottages, bungalows, and mansions, inside and out, from the Ashbel Smith house, built in 1830, to the mansions on Courtlandt Place, Houston's first enclave subdivision.