The Many Lives of Neill-Cochran House

Read the story

Can a single home serve as a suburban estate, a school, a war hospital, and a museum? In Austin, the Neill-Cochran House did exactly that. Built in 1855 on seventeen-and-a-half acres on the outskirts of the city, this Greek Revival masterpiece was designed by master builder Abner Cook for Washington and Mary Hill.

With its grand Doric columns and "sheaf of wheat" balusters, the limestone rubble home was leased almost immediately to the state to house the Texas Institute for the Blind. Later, it was occupied by Lieutenant Governor Fletcher Stockdale, and after the Civil War, it was converted into a Federal War hospital for Union troops during Reconstruction. As you continue your stroll, consider how this quiet landmark stood strong through the state's most turbulent eras, adapting to whatever Texas needed most.

Updated June 2026