Did anyone look up 'dowry house'?  I found several links:
http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/jb6/archives/ascpaper/ascfamc18.html

http://era.anthropology.ac.uk/Era_Resources/Era/Ascoli/marriage/marriage
.html

They apparently occur in the UK, Cyprus, Canada...and TX (but I didn't
find anything online about them there).

- - -
And..in my Sat. post about named houses in Spainish towns...I meant to
add that if such tradition took place in Europe, those folks may have
continued it here...naming houses. ??

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Carol McDavid [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 8:31 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Houses with Names?
>
>
>In some of Houston's inner city neighborhoods, with older (75 
>yrs or so) brick houses, there are, or were, many houses with 
>women's first names written in over the front entrances -- 
>usually in a tile panel embedded in the brick. We were once 
>told that these were called "dowry houses", but never did find 
>out more. My husband has a small database (with pics) which 
>lists as many as he could find as of about 10 years ago -- 
>many are no longer standing. If someone wants to see that, let 
>me know off list.
>