A three-story brick, Gothic structure with a low standing seam tin roof and crenellated parapet. Situated in the center of a block with lawn, scattered large tree and a rose garden with gazebo. The plan is roughly a Latin cross, with the arms toward the front. There is a second smaller rectangular structure partly connected at the rear.

The front (west) facade is in the long axis of the building and consists of three bays. The central main entrances on the bay formed by the upper end of the cross and consists of a double wooden door with glazed upper panels, and molded lower panels. The entrance is flanked by two one-story brick buttresses with limestone stone drips. There is a single window above, with a one over one double hung and a segmentally arched cast iron lintel There is a gabled and crenellated parapet on this bay and at each side of the gable there are chimney-like vertical terminations with small battlements. These plain brick pilasters mark all of the outside corners of the building. The second element of the front facade is a two-story three-part bay window to the left (north) of the entrance. It has brick corbels, a molded wooden cornice, and a low pitched tower roof with a "cat-tail" finial.

The side (south) facade is up of the projecting arm of the cross, with a double door framed by buttresses supporting a crenellated brick canopy at the first story and with one window above. The longer back section has a third door with one floor length window to the east and two to the west. There are four two-over-two light windows above in the second story. All of the windows are capped with the same cast-iron lintels on the front. The rear and north sides have molded brick lintels and secondary doorways. The building has four fireplaces with unobtrusive chimneys. The interior has wainscoting and molded reveals, ornament mantels and a staircase in the front entrance.

There is a two room, two-story brick structure at the rear, slightly off-set from the main building and connected to it by a wooden second story bridge. The openings have brick segmental arches and there is a matching crenellated brick parapet.

Northeast of the main building there is a fine carriage house. This building is a handsome two-story brick structure with a shingled gable roof and very interesting openings. The first story is open, with two large arched openings on the long sides. On either side of the openings there is a small arched window, to have brick lattices, two have wooden bars. On the school (north) side there is a single large arch with a segmentally arched loft door above. Large S tie bars support the second story and there are two arched windows with vertical louvers or board shutters on each of the remaining three sides. At the first story of the back (south) there are open brick diamonds. The main house is also studded with tie bars, some as stars but all smaller than those on the carriage house.

The history of the Gothic Revival Hammond House in Calvert Texas reflects the varying events of Robertson County. Built to be the Robertson County Courthouse, Hammond House became a private home after the county seat was moved to Franklin. More recently, the house has reflected Texans' growing awareness of their unique history: Since 1966, Hammond House has been the property of the Robertson County Historical Society. It will serve as a museum, after restoration.

Broad lawns and scattered large trees frame the dark red brick building and heighten the romantic quality of the crenelation ration of the house and its semi-attached dependency at the back (once the jail). Ornamental buttresses, cast iron hood molds, and a front bay window catch the eye. The independent carriage house is particularly handsome with four large arched openings with pleasing proportions.

The history of Robertson County began in 1825, when Robert Leftwich, agent of the Tennessee Colony, received a commission to bring 800 settlers to Texas. Adjustments were made which allowed Sterling C. Robertson (17851842) to become impresario of the large tract.

Robertson's land was organized as the Mexican municipality of Viesca in 1830. However, after the death of Ben Milam at San Antonio in 1835, the citizens of Viesca voted to rename their municipality Milam. A final change of name occurred December 14, 1837, when the Second Congress of the Republic of Texas created a large county out of Bexar, Milam, and Nacogdoches counties, and named it Robertson, for the early impresario.

In the course of forty years, Robertson County had five county seats: Old Franklin, 1838-1850; Wheelock, 1850-1855; Owensville, 1855-1869; Calvert, 1870-1879; and Franklin, 1879 to present. Each town built a courthouse as it was selected as the county seat, but Calvert erected one of the most elegant. Indeed, the Calvert Courthouse reflected the wealth of a town which was a railroad center, and the site of the largest cotton gin in the world (1871).

Early in the 1870s, Calvert was notified that it was to become the county seat of Robertson County. June 1, 1875, A. Groesbeck and F.A. Rice, trustees of a parcel of Houston and Texas Central Railroad land transferred the land to Robertson County for use as a courthouse site. The same day, plans and specifications for the courthouse were accepted by the county. The architect was W.T. Ingraham of St. Louis, Missouri.

Shortly before the courthouse was completed, Franklin was named the county seat. and Calvert was left with a useless building. In 1885, however, Robert A. Brown, merchant, investor and banker, saw other possibilities for the courthouse: December 1, he purchased the building from A. Faulkner and converted it into a handsome house.

John Henry Brown has characterized Robert A. Brown as "one of the most progressive and enterprising men in Calvert. He invested large amounts in Brazos Valley farming and Calvert city realty." Brown was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, February 22, 1833. In 1851 he came to Texas and worked in Galveston as a salesman for General Ebenezer Nichols. After a brief interlude in Virginia during the Civil War, Brown returned to Galveston and became a partner of his uncle, John Shackelford, in Shackelf'ord and Brown, cotton factors end commission merchants. In 1867, Brown married Lucy Herndon, daughter of Joseph E. Herndon, Brazos River Valley planter and investor. In 1885, the Brown family moved to Calvert,where they lived until Brown's death.

On August 23, 1909, the heirs of Robert Brown sold his home to Fannie Hammond for $2,600. Mrs. Hammond, in turn, sold the home to her daughter, Susie Hammond Norton, for $3,494, July 1, 1919.

The property remained in the hands of the Hammond family until 1966 when it was presented to the Robertson County Historical Society. The home, with its jail annex and carriage house will be made into a county museum.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

SOURCE: TEXAS HISTORIC SITES ATLAS, TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION, http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us