Historic house gets new chance
A historic house near the Alamodome, designed by a noted architect who led the early-1900s restoration of San Antonio’s treasured missions, has gotten a full makeover and a second chance.
The 125-year-old Queen Annestyle house, in disrepair and threatened with demolition two years ago, has been restored, upgraded, declared a historic landmark and is listed for sale at $649,000.
The city intervened during the pandemic to save it. Investors bought it a few months later, then spent 14 months restoring its exterior and remodeling the interior.
“Whoever’s buying it now can truly have a historic home. When you’re inside … it feels like you’re in a brand-new home,” said Jessie Vazquez, co-founder of Matchhouse Real Estate, which listed the house early this month.
In 2020, the house was mostly boarded up and tagged with graffiti, with trash in the back and a foundation that was sunken in on one side. Still, the city’s Office of Historic Preservation recommended it be designated historic as a protection against demolition. The preservation staff said it met landmark criteria for its distinctive architectural features, contribution to a historic East Side neighborhood and ties to two community leaders.
The house at 403 Montana St. was built for Nicholas Lee Petrich, founder and first president of the Petrich-saur Lumber Co., which operated from 1907 to 1976 and contributed to construction of local neighborhoods in a 1920s
construction boom.
But the home’s most intriguing link to history might be its design by Frederick Bowen Gaenslen, who later crafted plans for the chapel at Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake Convent and other local Catholic church structures. Gaenslen, who was born in San Antonio, died in 1941.
After the church bell tower at Mission San José collapsed in 1928, Gaenslen worked with architect Atlee B. Ayres on its reconstruction.
“Fred Gaenslen, architect in charge of repairs on the mission for several years, will supervise the work,” the San Antonio Light reported that year.
A 1917 report in the Light noted Gaenslen also was “in charge of restoration plans” at Mission Espada, having developed “a special study” of “these community buildings.”
The city’s Historic and Design Review Commission supported a landmark designation for the house in September 2020. Chairman Jeffrey Fetzer said there was “significant historic fabric still intact,” and Commissioner Matthew Bowman called it “a really interesting building” with a lot of detailing.
The Conservation Society of San Antonio supported the designation as a “fine example” Gaenslen’s early work in San Antonio.
Del Rio-based Zamarripa Real Estate Investments LLC and M&T Investment Property LLC purchased the house and stabilized its foundation with concrete piers. Then they worked with the preservation office to restore its characterdefining exterior features, including a Dutch hip roof, one-over-one wood windows and columns and other porch elements, along with its second-story covered front porch, lap siding and shingle cladding.
To qualify for historic tax credits, the city required the seller to install a new front door with an oval-shaped window in the Queen Anne style.
Inside, the sellers removed some walls and installed new flooring, appliances, cabinets, drywall, electrical wiring, heating and cooling systems, plumbing and sewer lines.
“They wanted to modernize the floor plan for the buyer today. So they opened all this up and they relocated the kitchen, which used to be back there where the stairwell is,” said Vazquez, who underwent training as a historic home specialist through the preservation office a few years ago.
Jaime Aguilar, a San Antonio native and co-founder of Matchhouse, said the five-bedroom, 2,853square-foot house has zoning that allows for conversion to light commercial use — perhaps a restaurant, coffee shop, art gallery or law office — in a small, potential historic district known as Alamodome Gardens.
He believes the asking price would be higher in the Dignowity Hill Historic District just a few blocks north.
“If you were to plop this house over there, you’re adding an extra hundred or two hundred thousand” to the price, Aguilar said. “If you take it to Lavaca or King William, this is a million-dollar house.”
He said he’s seen inexperienced investors “get stuck in these projects for two years” because they don’t know how to work with the city on a historic home restoration. In this case, the city took the first step toward saving the home once it was placed “on the list to be demo’ed.”
“It’s crazy to think that it was on the list,” Aguilar said.