The giraffe stone architectural style got its name from the mortaring of sandstone in a multi-colored pattern that resembled a giraffe’s coat on a building’s exterior wall. Later, builders used limestone and, in some parts of the country, dolomite.
Prevalent throughout much of the 20th century, the style is concentrated in the Ozarks, a region defined by the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Migrants from the Great Plains and Southwest who were escaping the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930s carried the style to California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Called Ozark Giraffes, there are Giraffes in Texas in Jefferson, near Caddo Lake, and quite a few are in the towns of Karnack and Uncertain.
Structures from Wimberley’s historic era range from 1870 to 1973 and J. C. Lane’s 1937 building, the former Cypress Creek Café, falls well within that time frame. Lane’s home at the intersection of Wimberley Square and Oak Drive is another example of the style.
