The Holden House on “Adobe Row” (which includes numbers 3105 and 3107) is an outstanding example of the Pueblo style. Although Spanish Revival of various permutations was a popular influence from California and Florida in the 1920s, the Pueblo style from New Mexico also won adherents in Texas. The Holdens built the house as “a reflection of their admiration for Native American culture.” The house is a one-story, U-shaped residence built of adobe (made on site by Mexican workmen), with adobe parapets, projecting vigas, and flat roofs. For subsequent structures, Holden used concrete blocks for the wall construction instead of adobe. Landscaping completed the Southwestern flavor, with saguaro cactus, piñon pine, red yucca, and wisteria.
The house lies in University Place Addition, a subdivision platted in 1925 as an (initially) unsuccessful investment by architects Noah Peters and S. B. Haynes. William C. Holden built the mixture of houses, apartments, and joining walls from 1930 to 1972. Holden, a professor of history and anthropology at Texas Tech from 1929 until 1969, organized numerous archaeological investigations in Lubbock (Lubbock Lake National Historic and State Archeological Landmark), West Texas, and New Mexico. He was the founder and builder of the West Texas Museum and oversaw the planning and construction of its successor, the Museum of Texas Tech University (see LK17.7).