La Villita

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.

For the neighborhood in Chicago, see Little Village, Chicago.
La Villita Historic District
La Villita Historic District is located in Texas
La Villita Historic District
La Villita Historic District
La Villita Historic District is located in the United States
La Villita Historic District
La Villita Historic District
LocationSan Antonio, Texas
Coordinates29°25′13″N 98°29′20″W
Built1845
Architectural styleMission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No.72001350[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 20, 1972

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).[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] The event is a major fundraiser for the San Antonio Conservation Society.[5]

Contributing properties

Twenty-seven houses or buildings are listed as notable in the district. Some of these are also notable individual listings.[6]

La Villita Historic District Contributing Structures
Structure Name Image Address Date Built RTHL Notes
Aldrete House323 East Nueva c18181966[7]
Aldrete House (rear house)323 East Nueva c18181966[7]
Otto Bombach House231 South Alamo 1847-1855Currently Little Rhein Steak House[8][9]
Canadian House206 South Presa
Caxias House416 B Villita
Cos House503 Villita Bldg. 18Pre-18351965[10]Home of Mexican general Martín Perfecto de Cos, who herein signed the Articles of Capitulation on Dec. 9, 1835, ending the Siege of Béxar.[11][12]
Jeremiah Dashiell House515 Villita 1962[13]Aka Casa Villita[14]
Diaz House206 Arciniega
Elmendorf House220 Arciniega c.1811a.k.a. Elmendorf-Taylor House
Faville (Florian) House510 Villita Bldg. 14Currently River Art Group Gallery (14), B.Link Gallery (14B), and an upstairs event rental venue Florian Hall (14c)
German-English School419 South Alamo Bldg. 10 & 111859,18691962[15]Consists of two buildings erected a decade apart;

Currently Bird & Pear (10) and Copper Gallery (11)

Gissi HousePlaza Nueva c1854, rebuilt 1969
Louis Gresser House225 South Presa Owned by the San Antonio Conservation Society[16]
Jack Hays House212 South Presa c18471962[17]John Coffee Hays was a Texas Ranger
Henshaw House (former Martinez property)515 Villita
House420 Villita
House514 Villita
HouseArciniega and South Alamo
Kuhn House218 South Presa
Little Church of La Villita418 Villita 18761962[18]Currently non denominational[19]
McAllister Building301-303 South Alamo
Anton Phillip House422 South Presa a.k.a. Staffer House
William Richter House419 South Presa c1868
San Martin House416 A South Presa
Walter C. Tynan House401 South Presa mid-1880s
Yturri House327 South Presa
Manuel Yturri House325 South Presa

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "The Mission San Antonio de Valero". Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  3. "History of la Villita Historic Arts Village | la Villita Historic Arts Village in Downtown San Antonio". Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  4. Alarcón, Claudia. "Fiesta San Antonio Celebrates 127 Years Of Revelry, History And Culinary Traditions". Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  5. "NIOSA - Event Map". Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  6. "La Villita San Antonio". Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  7. "Aldrete houses". Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  8. "Little Rhein Steak House". Little Rhein Steakhouse. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  9. Gerem, Yves (2001). Marmac Guide to San Antonio. Pelican Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-56554-821-3.
  10. "Cos House". RTHL. Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  11. "General Cos House". Texas Historical Markers. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  12. "Articles of Capitulation Historical Marker". THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  13. "Casa Villita". Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks. Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  14. "The Dashiell House". Fig Tree Restaurant. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  15. "German-English School". Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  16. "Louis Gresser House". SACS. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  17. "Jack Hays House". Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Texas Historic Commission. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  18. "Little Church of La Villita". Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  19. "Little Church of La Villita". La Villita. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
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