[citation needed] The Carrington–Covert House was turned over to the Texas Historical Commission to serve as the agency's headquarters in 1971, together with the nearby Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

[1] Construction began in 1855 and was essentially complete when on July 7, 1857, the building contractor, John Brandon, settled his account with the owner, Leonidas Carrington.

Fields rented the house in 1893 to a charity sponsored by an Austin women's group, and from that time until 1898, it served as the "Texas Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital".

In 1856, Carrington hired John Brandon, a local architect-contractor, to build on this site a vernacular Greek revival home, constructed of rough limestone ashlar.

Fields leased the building, 1893–1898, to the "Texas Eyes, Ear, and Throat Hospital," directed by Dr. Henry L. Hilgartner (1868–1937), and in 1903, sold this site to Frank M. Covert (1865–1938), the head of a prominent Austin family, who lived here until 1936.