This house was built in the Victorian style by Austin gambler, Richard S. (Dick) Coon, with handmade local bricks and high-quality lumber from New Orleans; Coon allegedly refused any lumber with knotholes. Coon was apparently unable to complete construction. The two-story house was purchased in February of 1900 and completed by Cornelia and Phillip Bosche, partner in the Bosche-Troy Laundry on Congress Avenue. The Bosches lived there from at least 1900 until 1911.

The house was purchased in December of 1911 by Dr. Joe M. Gilbert, whose family resided there until 1947. Gilbert’s mother was Mandana Hornsby of Hornsby Bend. He received his medical degree in Galveston, where he met and married Daisy Thorne. Their wedding was the first held in Galveston after the 1900 hurricane in which Daisy became a heroine. Gilbert served as the City Physician in Austin for a time and was Austin’s first Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He was a Longhorn team physician and the Gilberts frequently entertained players and coaches at their home. He practiced medicine for 52 years and was the founder of the original, privately owned St. David’s Hospital. They raised three children in the home. In the 1920s, architect A.O. Watson oversaw extensive remodeling of the house. Victorian features, including a turret, wraparound gallery and gingerbread, were removed and simpler white columns added to reflect a Colonial Revival style. Oil operator Franklin Stacy bought the residence in 1946, after WWII, and sold it in 1955.

A mysterious fire burned the roof and damaged the second story of the house in 1957. Dentist Lloyd A. Doggett and his wife Alyce bought the burned and vacant house in 1960. They and their two sons tackled much of the restoration work. Dr. Doggett designed and built from old lumber the gazebo north of the house. Lloyd Doggett Jr., who shoveled out much of the debris as a young student, now serves in the U.S. Legislature as a Congressional Representative from Austin.