(2015) Enlarge The House of the Seasons

(2015) Enlarge William Clark House
 
Many of Jefferson's homes and other buildings span more than the period in which they were built; one such is the William Clark House. Begun by Urquhart in the antebellum period as a two-room house, it wasn't completed until post-bellum with the addition of the three rooms which now make up the front. Note the current owner snoozing on the porch in the photo above!

(2015) Enlarge William Clark House

(2015) Enlarge There are many other Victorians around town, some stately like above; others more modest like that below. The two seen here are private residences.

(2015) Enlarge The other Victorian House mentioned in the narrative for the previous picture.

(2015) Enlarge Several are now businesses like the one above which was reportedly built ca. 1860 in another location and moved to its present site across Austin Street from the Excelsior House. This phenomenon was not unusual in Jefferson or other towns; one large two-story home here was moved from its original location by rolling it down the street on cypress logs!

Enlarge One decided oddity of Jefferson that can cause confusion to the visitor can be seen by the map above which I have adapted from a tour folder: note the cock-eyed arrangement of the streets, which abruptly change direction mid-town! This can be explained by the fact that there were originally two competing developers, Allen Urquhart and Daniel Nelson Alley. Urquhart received his land grant in 1841 and laid out his streets parallel with Big Cypress Bayou; this became the commercial "downtown" business district, with residences built on streets back from the riverfront. When Alley began his so-called "Alley Addition" it was not intended to compete with Urquhart's for commerce, but was rather intended as prime residential land. As evident from the plat, Alley's Addition was laid out with conventional north-south and east-west street orientation.

(2015) Enlarge This home is also another Antebellum structure, which is evidently still a private residence.