The balcony cantilevers out from the main house, supported by strong cedar joists and cross braces. The complexity of the building system has ensured that the balcony remains structurally sound for over 160 years.

Abner Cook incorporated the "x-and-stick" motif into his work starting in the late 1840s. The design is a play on the Roman fasces, bound rods that symbolized the ruler's power. Though the architectural style of the main house is Greek Revival, in reality this style was influence by both Greek AND Roman architecture and symbols.

The Neill-Cochran House Museum is about a ten minute walk from the west side of the University of Texas campus. When the University was founded, the area between there and here was open prairieland, but quickly a boarding community filled in the space between. Today you see tall residential buildings, but until recently we had a beautiful view of the UT Tower (main building) that reminded us of our proximity to the University and its importance to this area's history.