A historic landmark in itself, the French Legation Museum is actually the only structure in Austin that existed during the Texas Republic as well as being the oldest of the city’s extant frame structures. The museum is housed in a two-floor house styled after Louisiana bayou architecture. Also existing at the site are life-scale replicas of a carriage house and an early design of a French outbuilding kitchen.

Completed in 1841, the house was originally owned by an emissary of King Louis Phillipe of France, Count Alphonse Duboise de Saligny. In 1949, the property came to the possession of a non-profit organization called the Daughters of the Republic of Texas or DRT. The museum’s collections include a permanent exhibit of more than 700 historical artefacts belonging to the 1700’s till the 1800’s.