Christian-Matern home opens doors for Victorian Christmas
An open house is 6-8:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Christian-Matern home, 603 Seventh St. in Marble Falls. The historic house will be decorated in Victorian Christmas style. File photo
MARBLE FALLS — The door is open Dec. 6 at the historic Christian-Matern home for an annual Victorian Christmas event.
The free open house is 6-8:30 p.m. at the house, 603 Seventh St. at Avenue F, and is sponsored by the Falls on the Colorado Museum. Refreshments will be served. The home will be decorated for the holidays with a 12-foot Christmas tree in the front bay window, a gingerbread church in the kitchen and a Victrola in the bedroom.
“Caryl Calsyn owns the old home and has hosted this museum event for several years,” said museum board chairwoman Fran McSpadden. “We hold this open house every year to say ‘thank you’ to the community for their support of the museum.”
The late Victorian-era house with Queen Anne-style influences was built in 1892 for George Christian and his wife, Juliet, according to a museum news release. Christian was one of the owners of the Texas Mining and Improvement Co. that helped develop Marble Falls. His wife was the daughter of town founder Adam Rankin Johnson.
In 1908, merchant, rancher and future Marble Falls mayor Ivo B. Matern and his wife, Mina, bought the home. Other owners followed until Calsyn purchased it in 1992 and started restoring it.
The home received a Texas historical marker in 1997.
For more about the open house, call Calsyn at (830) 693-4791.
Although it is a free event, donations to the museum will be accepted. The Falls on the Colorado is located at 2001 Broadway St. in Marble Falls. For more about the museum, call (830) 798-2157.