Abner Hugh Cook (March 15, 1814 – February 22, 1884) was a self-taught Texas architect and

general contractor A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...

responsible for the design of several historic and notable buildings in Texas, particularly Austin, such as the Texas Governor's Mansion. He also designed the west wing of the original main building of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(since demolished) and the first state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Biography

Cook was born near

Salisbury, North Carolina Salisbury is a city in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, United States; it has been the county seat of Rowan County since 1753 when its territory extended to the Mississippi River. Located northeast of Charlotte and within its metropoli ...

, the son of William and Susanna (née Hill) Cook. He may have done a construction apprenticeship in Salisbury. At age 21, Cook moved to Macon, Georgia and found work in construction. When the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

brought building to a halt, Cook moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, but there was little work to be found in Nashville, and he moved to Texas in 1839. Cook settled in Austin and supported himself with private commissions for houses and furniture. Cook helped form the first

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

church in Austin and built the congregation's first log church with his own hands. On September 15, 1842, he married Eliza T. Logan, with whom he had four sons. During this time there was little building construction in Austin so he partnered in 1840 with Jacob Higgins in ownership of The Higgins Mill in Bastrop. Texas State Historical Association

Notable works

In 1847, Cook built a large residence for a wealthy Austin patron. Between summer 1848 until early 1850 he was at Huntsville, supervising the construction of the Texas State Penitentiary and served as its first superintendent. Cook then designed and built three large

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

homes in Austin which still stand: Woodlawn (1853), the Texas Governor's Mansion (1855), and the Neill-Cochran House (1855).

Later life

As more trained architects moved to Austin after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, Cook concentrated on construction. He built residences, commercial buildings and the west wing of the main building of the newly founded University of Texas.

Death

He died on February 22, 1884, in Austin and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

Gallery

File:Woodlawn austin 2006.jpg, Woodlawn (1853) File:Neill cochran house 2007.jpg, Neill-Cochran House (1855) File:Texas governors mansion.jpg, Texas Governor's Mansion (1855) File:Las ventanas 2007.jpg, Las Ventanas (1875) File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Arthur W. Stewart, Photographer November 27, 1936 SOUTHEAST ELEVATION. - Judge Sebron G. Sneed House, Route I-35 and Bluff Springs Road, HABS TEX,227-AUSTIN.V,1-3.tif,

Judge Sebron G. Sneed House The Judge Sebron G. Sneed House (also, Sneed House and Comal Bluff) is a historic former limestone Plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States#Plantation house, plantation house in Austin, Texas, commissioned by Judge Sebron Graham Snee ...

(likely designed by Cook)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Abner Hugh 1884 deaths 1814 births Architects from Texas 19th-century American architects