La Villita Historic District - San Antonio, Texas
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 29° 25.292 W 098° 29.332
14R E 549581 N 3254797
Historic district now made up of small shops in San Antonio.
Waymark Code: WM39H9
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/01/2008
Views: 12
"The La Villita Historic District is located four blocks from the Alamo
and adjacent to downtown San Antonio. The contemporary, lush landscaping, curved
bridges, and serene walks of the meandering San Antonio River form the north
boundary of the district. The river front is the "backyard" for the buildings on
the north side of Paseo de la Villita, the block-long street of restored
structures that is the core of the district. The Hemisfair Grounds, with
scattered restored buildings mixed with permanent modern fair structures, forms
the eastern boundary of the district. Between Villita Street and Durango Street,
the southern boundary of the district, much has been cleared, but several
priceless buildings remain...
There are twenty-seven significant buildings in the district, principally
of a simple vernacular masonry type which is a marked contrast to the elaborate
Victorian mansions of the King William Historic District south of Durango
Street.
The vernacular structures of the La Villita District are, generally, of
two types. The older Mexican houses of stucco-covered brick or caliche block.
These modest structures have little architectural decoration and are often
rigidly geometric. A small house of the once common palisado method of
construction (consisting of closely set vertical posts with nogging between) has
been reconstructed on a lot south of La Villita Street. The buildings
constructed by Germanic immigrants possess similarities to those vernacular
structures in other early Teutonic settlements in Texas. In their simplified
architectural detailing, masonry construction and modest geometric shapes, they
show a strong relationship to the earlier vernacular architectural style of the
Mexican-Spanish period.
In the early twentieth century the area deteriorated and became a slum.
The city of San Antonio, the San Antonio Conservation Society, and the National
Youth Administration combined in 1939 to accomplish a two-year restoration
project. The restoration of the buildings along La Villita Street preserved for
San Antonio a vignette of the type of buildings that were once typical
throughout the city. The San Antonio Conservation Society restored 511 Paseo de
la Villita as its headquarters.
The restoration and development of La Villita was undertaken to preserve
early Texas and Spanish culture, to foster arts and crafts and to provide a
community center. The area has become a favorite of tourists and establishes a
permanent visual record of simple vernacular building types in early Texas
architecture of the nineteenth century." ~
Texas Historical Commission