| La Villita Historic District | |
| Nrhp Type: | hd |
| Nocat: | yes |
| Coordinates: | 29.4203°N -98.4889°W |
| Locmap Label: | La Villita Historic District |
| Built: | 1845 |
| Architecture: | Mission/Spanish Revival |
| Added: | January 20, 1972 |
| Refnum: | 72001350 |
La Villita Historic Arts Village is an art community in downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. There are art galleries, stores selling souvenirs, gifts, custom jewelry, pottery, and imported Mexican folk art, as well as several restaurants in the district. La Villita connects to the San Antonio River Walk and its outdoor venue, the Arneson River Theatre. It is close to the Alamo, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Rivercenter Mall, and HemisFair Park. It is within walking distance of most downtown hotels.
Located on the south bank of the San Antonio River, La Villita was one of San Antonio's first neighborhoods. In 1939, as ground broke on the San Antonio River Walk development, city officials led by Mayor Maury Maverick acted to preserve this part of San Antonio's history. It was a Native American settlement and then a collection of primitive brush huts, called jacales, for the Spanish soldiers (and their Indian wives and children) stationed nearby at the Mission San Antonio de Valero (an active mission from about 1718 to 1793, now better known as the Alamo).[1] After a flood in 1819 washed away most of the huts, more substantial adobe houses replaced them.
Late in the 19th century, European immigrants from Germany, France, and Italy moved into the area and soon became active in business and trades: retailers, bankers, educators, and craftsmen. The variety of architectural styles seen in La Villita's buildings reflects the cultural mix, from the one-room homes of the poor to the larger houses of the prosperous.[2]
La Villita deteriorated into a slum in the early part of the 20th century. During the Great Depression, work began on the River Walk, a make-work project funded by the Works Progress Administration which came close to La Villita. The project, led by Mayor Maury Maverick, sponsored a companion effort in 1939 by the National Youth Administration to restore and preserve this colorful part of San Antonio's history. The NYA offered classes in arts and crafts as part of its program.
Today La Villita is an arts community, and is included in the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas. The galleries and shops found in one city block offer art by local and regional artists featuring oil paintings, sculptures, watercolors, metal art, rock art, textiles, copperwares, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, and regional folk art.
During four nights of the Fiesta San Antonio each April, La Villita is host to a Night in Old San Antonio with dozens of booths grouped to offer fifteen areas for various kinds of food, such as Sauerkraut Bend, China Town, Irish Flat, and the Mexican Market. The outdoor festival, with its narrow streets decorated with paper flowers and papel picado (cut paper banners), typically attracts 85,000 celebrants, many wearing costumes and unusual hats.[3] The event is a major fundraiser for the San Antonio Conservation Society.[4]
Twenty-seven houses or buildings are listed as notable in the district. Some of these are also notable individual listings.[5]
| width = 25% | Structure Name | width = 5% | Image | Address | width = 5% | Date Built | width = 5% | RTHL | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aldrete House | 323 East Nueva | c1818 | 1966[6] | ||||||||
| Aldrete House (rear house) | 323 East Nueva | c1818 | 1966 | ||||||||
| 231 South Alamo | 1847-1855 | Currently Little Rhein Steak House[7] [8] | |||||||||
| Canadian House | 206 South Presa | ||||||||||
| Caxias House | 416 B Villita | ||||||||||
| Cos House | 503 Villita | Bldg. 18 | Pre-1835 | 1965[9] | Home of Mexican general Martín Perfecto de Cos, who herein signed the Articles of Capitulation on Dec. 9, 1835, ending the Siege of Béxar.[10] [11] | ||||||
| 515 Villita | 1962[12] | Aka Casa Villita[13] | |||||||||
| Diaz House | 206 Arciniega | ||||||||||
| Elmendorf House | 220 Arciniega | c.1811 | a.k.a. Elmendorf-Taylor House | ||||||||
| Faville (Florian) House | 510 Villita | Bldg. 14 | Currently River Art Group Gallery (14), B.Link Gallery (14B), and an upstairs event rental venue Florian Hall (14c) | ||||||||
| German-English School | 419 South Alamo | Bldg. 10 & 11 | 1859,1869 | 1962[14] | Consists of two buildings erected a decade apart; Currently Bird & Pear (10) and Copper Gallery (11) | ||||||
| Gissi House | Plaza Nueva | c1854, rebuilt 1969 | |||||||||
| Louis Gresser House | 225 South Presa | Owned by the San Antonio Conservation Society[15] | |||||||||
| Jack Hays House | 212 South Presa | c1847 | 1962[16] | John Coffee Hays was a Texas Ranger | |||||||
| Henshaw House (former Martinez property) | 515 Villita | ||||||||||
| House | 420 Villita | ||||||||||
| House | 514 Villita | ||||||||||
| House | Arciniega and South Alamo | ||||||||||
| Kuhn House | 218 South Presa | ||||||||||
| Little Church of La Villita | 418 Villita | 1876 | 1962[17] | Currently non denominational[18] | |||||||
| McAllister Building | 301-303 South Alamo | ||||||||||
| Anton Phillip House | 422 South Presa | a.k.a. Staffer House | |||||||||
| William Richter House | 419 South Presa | c1868 | |||||||||
| San Martin House | 416 A South Presa | ||||||||||
| Walter C. Tynan House | 401 South Presa | mid-1880s | |||||||||
| Yturri House | 327 South Presa | ||||||||||
| Manuel Yturri House | 325 South Presa | ||||||||||