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Built in 1950, the Hinojosa House is located within Los Ebanos, a subdivision named after the native Texas ebony trees that are common in the area. Developed in the 1920s by Los Ebanos Estates Inc., Los Ebanos was the first subdivision in Brownsville with curved streets to follow the lines of the Resacas, Ox-Bow lakes formed by the over-flowing Rio Grande during heavy rainfall. The Hinojosa House sits on lots 17 and 18, the final two lots developed in the subdivision. The house was designed by C. Lyman Ellis from C. Lyman Ellis & Company. Ellis later served as the supervising architect for many of Brownsville’s housing complexes, stores and public buildings. In 1949, Mr. Ramon Lassaurax Hinojosa and his wife, Consuelo Champion Hinojosa, purchased the lots from Mr. and Mrs. G. Rodney Robinson. The ground breaking ceremony took place on Mar. 23, 1950, and the Hinojosa family moved in on May 24, 1950. As community members, the Hinojosa family was involved in local civic organizations and entrepreneurial opportunities. The Hinojosa House’s architecture demonstrates a late example of the California-Monterey house style popular for southwestern, suburban houses from the mid-1930s through the early 1950s. As an unusual characteristic, the Hinojosa House was not built with a balcony like typical California-Monterey houses, but includes a cantilevered second story beyond the wall line of the house’s first story. In 1972, neighbors joined together to create the Los Ebanos association to preserve the neighborhood’s historic integrity and resident interests. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2013 |
