San Antonio Day 2

 On Friday we woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel, then took the bus back to the King William District.  We toured two historic houses that day.  

The first house was called Villa Finale, which was owned by Walter Mathis, a late civic leader & preservationist.  The tour started at 10 o'clock and Susan and I were the only people which was awesome.  Our guide was a very funny girl who knew lots of history about the house, the area, and the former owner.  We still managed to stump her, though, with a few questions, most of which had to do with gardening. Ha ha.  Susan asked her what the state flower was and she had to Google it.  By the way, it is the Blue Bonnet, not the yellow rose.

Back porch and patio

This house was huge! The history was very interesting.  It was originally built by a hardware merchant named Russel Norton in 1876 as a tiny 4 room house which was then added to several times over the years.  It was severely damaged by a huge flood in 1921.   The entire neighborhood then fell into disrepair and ended up being inhabited by some very sketchy people.  Walter Mathis bought the house in 1967, which was being used as a boarding house at the time, after his own house in another historic area was razed for a highway project.   He ended up purchasing 14 houses in this neighborhood & pretty much was responsible for the turnaround and historic preservation of this area!!!  Now it is one of the most sought over areas in San Antonio.  In fact, we saw one house that was for sale for $3.5 million! There were a few others undergoing renovations.

Anyway, back to Mr. Mathis.  He named it Villa Finale because he planned it to be his last home, and that is precisely what happened.  He was a bachelor and lived out his days there before passing away at the ripe old age of 86 in 2005.  After that the house became a museum at his request.  He had no children so most of his belongings stayed with the house.  In fact, the historic society has not changed a thing inside. It remains exactly as he left it.

The inside of the house was beautiful, but it was really hard to see past all of Walter's collectibles.  And that man liked to collect!!!! Holy cow! There was not ONE spot that did not have something on it.  You wouldn't think a house with that much stuff could be clean, but to his credit however, it was surprisingly well organized and neat.  He had a fascination with Napoleon and had hundreds (maybe thousands!) of Napoleon inspired items including an original death mask which was extremely creepy. He loved music so had various musical instruments around such as player pianos and an instrument that had two violins and a piano that played together.  It had a collection of waltzes to choose from.  He was an entertainer, and used these musical items to entertain quite often.

He also had a huge collection of shaving mugs, paintings, books, and much MUCH more!!  In the bathroom was a collection of hotel soaps in a case.  We had to be very careful not to knock anything over.  We couldn't take pictures so unfortunately you can't see for yourself, but believe me, it was packed to the gills!  Good thing there aren't earthquakes in San Antonio cause breakable items on high shelves abounded there.  The entire collection including the artwork had to be worth millions.

The gardens were beautiful!  Many a bride and groom get their wedding pictures done here.

We were fascinated by these Japanese Yew bushes that were trained into trees.

Beautiful arbor with pillars that Mr. Mathis brought from his previous house

The next house we toured was the Steves Homestead.  This 3 story house was built in 1876 for German immigrant Edward Steves, the founder of the Steves Lumber Company.  It contained the first indoor swimming pool in San Antonio.  This house was quite the contrast from Villa Finale without all the clutter.  You could really see all the cool architectural details.  It was very elegant.  Also, all the furnishings were representative of the era of the house.  This tour was self guided.

Cool shaped hedges in front yard

Lots of pretty furniture pieces

Beautiful arched doors that slide into the wall

There were beautiful paintings on the ceilings and walls throughout the house

Edward's room: The beds were short because it was believed that propping yourself up with pillows was healthier for you, so they didn't ever lay completely flat.

Johanna's bedroom
I've always been curious why upper patios often don't have a door going out to them.  With this house, I made the discovery that they had floor to ceiling windows that they would just lift up to step out on the balcony.  Some of these balconies were called sleeper balconies because they didn't have air conditioning and it was too hot to sleep inside in the summer.

Beautiful furniture pieces were throughout this house

Side of house

I love the details of these arches on the front porch

Luckily, as we were leaving the house a lady came by to ask for a walking tour map of the area, so we asked for one, too.   We spent a good hour walking around the neighborhood reading aloud to each other about the history of each house before heading to lunch at the Guenther house, which was recommended to us by our bus driver earlier that morning.  And I'm so glad he recommended it, because it was really good & very affordable.  We ate outside under the covered patio right by the river and enjoyed the lovely breeze.  I think this was my favorite spot in San Antonio.  We toured the Guenther house afterwards before heading back into downtown.

Other houses in the King William historic district:

Hugman House: 

Plaque for above house

Built in 1895 facing Alamo Street.  In the 1970's it was lifted and turned around to face Madison Street. (I love the gate)

This house is listed for sale currently at $3.5 million!!

I really loved this house

The knockout roses along the fence were breathtaking!!!

Susan was fascinated by the little historic houses.  She is ready to get her kids out of the house and DOWNSIZE!!

Many houses such as this one began as a small one-story with a second-story being added later.

Built in 1884, this house was constructed for less than $6,000!!

This front door was amazing!

Notice the change from original limestone to concrete rock-like siding on this house

Built in 1887, this house was truly beautiful.  It was currently under renovation.  The first time we walked by and took pictures, there were 5 construction workers on the front porch eating their lunch seemingly pleased of their newfound fame.  Luckily, we happened to walk by later and they were back to work, so we retook our pictures. :) This picture really does not do it justice.  The trees hide much of its grandeur.

A huge house!!!

This is where we had lunch!  An excellent recommendation by our bus driver.

We sat out on this balcony with a lovely breeze blowing along the river while we ate lunch.  It was a wonderful atmosphere!

Side balcony of the Guenther House

Top level of the Guenther House can be reserved for events such as wedding receptions, showers, or parties.  It was BEAUTIFUL! Windows lined the whole side wall.

After lunch, we spent some more time walking around the river walk.  We did a little bit of shopping and I got some coconut gelato from a place called Justin's which was so delicious we both ended up getting some again the next day!

Yellow rose of Texas

More gardens along the river

Unique look at a tree growing out of the wall

I really love Jimmy Johns.

Susan next to the boot tip

  

Susan was able to include more of the boot in my closeup. :)

Hotel lobby where we enjoyed our free breakfast and evening snacks

  With the help of Susans phone's navigation app we found the nearby Jimmy John's where we got some sandwiches to go before high tailing it back to the hotel so that we could score some drinks and snacks before the manager's reception closed.  We made it with 5 minutes to spare!  I have to digress and mention that on the bus ride back to the transit center we got roped into a conversation with a couple of drunk cowboys.  Susan mostly kept quiet and made me do most of the conversing!!! :)  Riding the bus sure was interesting!