By Shelley Roff, PhD.
The four houses that comprise a corner block at South Presa and Arciniega in downtown San Antonio were built in 1903 by a Swiss cabinet maker for himself and his family. The houses are similar in plan and share a unique, eclectic combination of styles seen in Texas around this time.
These urban townhouses portray a certain elegance in their design due to their proportions and efficient arrangement of space, differing from the more rambling single-family house found in the nearby King William neighborhood.
The plan of each house follows the layout of the French Creole townhouse, popular until around the 1850s (fig. 2). Typical of this plan-type, the single entry door, to one side of the front elevation, enters directly into a corridor which then leads directly to a single flight of stairs (fig. 3). Adjacent to the staircase are two parlors that can be entered separately from the corridor (fig. 4).
A servant’s staircase and kitchen facilities would typically have completed the rear of the house’s narrow plan. Also inspired by French colonial revival design are the two tier verandas, the full-height casement windows found on the second stories (fig. 5) and perhaps the louvered shutters shading the upper porch of 109 Arciniega, which may have once covered the windows (fig. 6).
French colonial influence in residential construction can be found in 19th century neighborhoods in this area and in nearby Castroville, founded in 1844 by Henri Castro and a small group of colonists mostly from Alsace, France.
‘Eclecticism’ was the tenor of residential construction of this period. Early 20th-century carpenters could build directly from plan books and substitute whole elevations or roof configurations at whim. When considering the design for the elevations of his homes, this cabinetmaker chose to borrow architectural details from several popular styles.
The houses facing S. Presa are made Italianate with their boxy form, flat roofs, large eave brackets, and unfluted Tuscan columns (fig. 7). The paired columns of 339 S. Presa are a 20th century novelty, not found in American residential construction before the 1890’s.
109 Arciniega is differentiated from the S. Presa residences with a few Queen Anne details in the veranda, such as porch posts turned on a mechanical lathe (giving the appearance of furniture of the period), the simple spindle balustrade, and scalloped eave trim (fig. 8).
111 Arciniega serves as a stylistic transition between the other houses by incorporating the spindle balustrade with Tuscan columns on both tiers of the veranda, such as seen only on the upper porches of the S. Presa residences (fig. 9). Also notable to all residences is the Dutch-type front door with raised, molded panels and transom light overhead. 109 Arciniega demonstrates an extra Beaux Arts detail on its front door, a raised floral swag ornament (fig. 10).
The original weatherboard siding of all four homes is a noteworthy historical detail (fig. 11). These weatherboards were sawn and tapered at the top for a tight overlap, creating strong horizontal shadow lines. These differ from the more familiar clapboards, which are often confused with weatherboards. Clapboards, more commonly seen on early 20th- century buildings, are shorter split boards and are susceptible to leakage since they were not as highly tapered.
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