Welcome to 1414 E. 15th Street

Known as the “Salmon House” as listed on the Collin County Historic Assets Survey and approved for historic designation by the City of Plano in December 2003, the house was built in 1898 by the Salmon Family.  The Salmons, a branch of the Haggard family, had a large farm east of Plano.   It was typical in this era for farmers and ranchers to have a second home in town that was closer to schools, churches, businesses and social events and this was the Salmons city home.

This two-story home is exemplary of the Queen Anne style and is a “Painted Lady” (Victorians painted in three or more colors that highlight the architecture’s ruffles and flourishes).  It features a hipped roof with lower cross gables, elaborate surface decoration on the gables including a fish scale pattern and radiating sunburst motif, an elaborate bay window, half width porch with turned posts and lathe-turned “spindle work” gingerbread, patterned masonry chimney and a diamond-shaped window.  The gables also feature elaborate painted decoration. 

The Salmon House has unique significance in the City of Plano as the oldest continuously occupied residential building, the only remaining “Victorian Painted Lady” in town, and one of the two last Victorian “Stick-Style" buildings and is an integral part of a historic neighborhood in Old Town Plano. 

The Queen Anne style was named and popularized by a group of 19^th century English architects led by Richard Norman Shaw.  The earliest American examples followed Shaw’s early, “half timbered” designs, but during the 1880’s, the inventive American spindle work interpretation became dominant.  “Half-timbered" refers to the frame construction of the medieval and Tudor periods in England and was popular design motif revived in Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles.  “Spindle work” refers to the decorative “gingerbread” treatments used on Queen Anne houses that consist of spindles turned on a lathe and put together in a railing or spandrel element.

Over half of all Queen Anne houses have a steeply hipped roof with one or more lower cross gables.  The form of this type is among the most distinctive Queen Anne characteristics and occurs in examples ranging from modest cottages to textbook high style landmarks.  About 50 percent of Queen Anne houses have delicate turned porch supports and spindle work ornamentation, which most commonly occurs in porch balustrades or as a frieze suspended from the porch ceiling.  Spindle work detailing is also used in gables and under the wall overhangs left by cutaway bay windows.

The Queen Anne style uses wall surfaces as primary decorative elements.  This is accomplished in two ways: (1) by avoiding plain flat walls through such devices as bays, towers, overhangs and wall projections and (2) by using several wall materials of differing textures wherever expanses of planar wall do occur.

The house is located on the east side of downtown Plano in the area now called “Old Town”.  It is one of four historic homes existing in a cluster in the 1400 block of 15^th Street.  

• Five minute walk to Dart Train
• Parlor area upstairs
• 5 Burner cooktop
• Butcher block island in kitchen
• Double shower and dual sinks
• Bay windows
• Guest quarters with seperate entry
• Sprinkler stystem