San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-21
Rock Mansion, Built 60 Years
Ago on Medina, Still Stands

/
However they met, they were mar
ried. and / was after this that Mr..
Jones bought the land to the south of
town. where his home stood over
looking the Medina river and the 40
Spanish leagues of land lie owned.
Six Years In Bu..ding.
The house was begun in 1856 and
work was continued on it until 1862,
but it was never entirely finished be-
cause some of the material intended
TO be used in its construction. could
not be got through from the North in
the troublous days of the Civil War.
Among the details left incomplete is
the fountain intended for the front
yard, which Mr.. Jones had ordered
made Of wrought iron, which never ar
rived owing TO the difficulties of trans
portation.
Mr.. Jones made use of his ewn en-
cheering skill in designing and plan
ming his home. Material for the house.
which is built in two stories raised
high enough for a commodious base
ment beneath. was all gathered and
prepared right where it is built. Its
walls, nearly three feet thick. are
made of red and gray sandstone quar-
ried from the excavations that were
made for the basement and the foun-
cations. The stones are jointed with
cement and are undressed in any way.
There are four stone pillars fully
| three feet square. which reach only
to bannister height on the second floor
all fashioned of the same solid print
tive material. The four porches 10 the
house-thosc in the rear are made of
wood-are at least Is feet broad. and
| stretch across the entire width of the
house. The roof is sunk beneath and
behind flat stone coping and except
| for cistern perch-l high on the roof,
the skyline is as solid and uncompro-
missing in appearance as the stone of
which it is built.
From the broad porches TO the front
of tie house. on1 looks away over
| illimitahle distances Of gently rollin:
lard. green and shining in the sun
light. accented with occasional big
Spanish oak and mesquite trees. with
ia away in the distance. the tiny oil
well derricks in the Somerset Field.
making gossamcr breaks in the sky
lire. Except for these and the insist
ent message they convey of modern
progress and development, one might
slip back sixty years in the history
of San Antonio and be none the wiser.
The rear porches of the house offer
a very different view and picture. The
ground in less than fifty yards from
the house, begins dropping in series
OF short precipitous lodges down to the
hollow where the Medina river ran
when the house was built. These
abrupt natural terraces. are heavily
wooded with pecan and cypress trees.
and standing on the porch. il is hard
TO realize that the Medina. after the
fashion of Texas rivers, has changed
| its course to some distance away. Be
yond the old river bed, mile or so,
is seen the flourishing little town OF
Won Ormy. and still beyond that. the
country rises again and again, into the
blIe Boerne hills.
Like Feudal Banquet Halls.
Inside the house is built on the
| time honored colonial plan of great
hail straight through the middle of the
| house, and two rooms on either side.
The rooms are "a feet square, with
ceiling 16 feet high, but SO perfectly
prCrortioned that they seem smaller.
| The two rooms on each side are con-
nected by the carernous arches of pan
nelled sliding doors. and with the
Ccep-sct pannclled windows 10 or J.
feet tall and the two big fireplaces,
seem more nearly akin to feudal ban
of the present day.
The beautifully designed duplicate
glass doors in the opposite ends of the
hall join with the staircase with its
hand turned walnut balustrade, TO
b. ~ n,,t %, htal tho tk-sNpI
noble" presents itself as most suit
able descriptive adjective. Except
the walnut for the stair-railing, which
was found a few miles away, all the
lumber used in the house is hand-hcwn
cypress cut from the river banks be-
low the house, and the floors and
woodwork which was originally COW
ered with white egg-shell enamel are
Just as good today as they were WREN
| the house WAS completed go years ago.
The hard. white plastering is also in.
tact, everywhere except in one or two
ceilings.
A striking feature in the house.
considering the date of its erection is
the complete system of water-piplng
and drainage. There is a bath room
on the second floor, i'll which there are
several modern fixtures. but the show
or bath arranged in the roof in the
center of the room and the slOping
cement floor with its perforated vent
in the floor are as old as the house
| itself.
he kitchen in the basement. which
is among the most interesting and pic
turesque features in the house. has Il
| hydrant and sink in one corner, and n
drain in the center of the cement
floors, which have been in almost CON
slant use for sixty years. Another
room in the basement. which is large
| and well lighted, has fireplace IN
| one side. and a curious old zinc bath
tub on the other side. mounted high
on solid sheets of iron. which screen
| the piping underneath. Apparently
/ this tub has not been used for many
years. and the original enamel on its
| surface is worn thin. and is stained
and discolored. but it gives evidence
that the Jones mansion was probably
| the first house in this part of the
world. that made any provision ut all
| for bathing. To one side of this base
ment rub there is the delicate frag-
ments of n discarded rattle-snake skin.
whose owner probably enjoyed the last
bath in the quaint old tub.
4 Stone Smoke House.
The drainage water from the bath
rooms is carried out under the house
and empties down the side of a hill
on the brink of which is perched the
smoke house that was considered an
essential part of any country place in
that day. 1t also is two stories high.
one room in which the fire was built
being sunk in the side of the hi and
the second floor on level with the