Garza House, 1009 East Thirteenth Street, Brownsville

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,31-BROWN,11-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Built before East Street resembles creole cottages in New Orleans which were once closely associated with Brownsville through shipping. The steeply pitched roof punctuated by dormers and canted over a porch as well as the interior chimney are characteristic of creole cottages in New Orleans in the early PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: The house appears on the Sanborn Map (the earliest map of the area in which the house is located.) Accord- ing to the Deed Records, a dwelling was on Lot 13 in but it is unlikely that this refers to the present structure. 2. Architect: Unknown. # 3.

Original and subsequent owners: East Street, the Garza House, is located on the northeastern portion of Block Lots 13 and 14 of the Original Townsite of Brownsville, The front por- tion of the house is located on Lot 14. References to the title of these lots are found in the Cameron County Clerk's Office, in Brownsville, Texas, and were traced by Pat Footer of the Browns- ville Historical Association. Lot 13 Mortgage Lien dated September 30, recorded in Supple- ment B, page Charles Nebitt granted a Mortgage Lien to J. C. Richard.

In condition of the mortgage agreement the record shows that Richard was indebted to Nebitt "in- debted to grantee in sum of $75 and for which Richard "do in 3 equal installments of $25 each due 20, 40, and 60 days from date and do give lien upon my dwelling house and all improvements belonging to me and situated on Lot 13, Block Sheriff's Deed dated February 11, recorded in Supple- ment 3, pages shows that Samuel Belden acquired Lot 13 from the Cameron County sheriff for GARZA HOUSE HABS No. (Page 2) Warranty Deed dated September 1, recorded in Supple- ment, G, pages 337 Thomas Carson sold Lot 13 to Refugia S.

de Marquez for CThomas Carson and Samuel Belden were both, agents for the Stillman interests in Brownsville which eventually became the New York Brownsville Improvement Com- pany.) Warranty Deed dated December 18, recorded in Supple- ment G, pages The New York Brownsville Improve- ment Company sold Lot 13 to Refugia de Marquez for Warranty Deed dated June 27, recorded in Supplement H, pages Caledonio Garza bought Lot 13 from Refugia de Marquez for Mexican. Lot 14 Warranty Deed with Vendor's Lend dated February 1, recorded in Supplement B, pages Dolores Rodriguez bought Lot 14 from Charles Stillman by agents Samuel Belden and W. G. Hale for and $50 due in six months.

Warranty Deed dated March 17, recorded in Supplement G, pages Caledonio Garza bought Lot 14 from Dolores Rodriguez for Lots 13 and 14 remained in the Garza family until Warranty Deed recorded October 29, in Volume pages The Estate of Fidela Garza de Garza (widow of Caledonio Garza) deeded Lots 13 and 14 to the Home Owner Loan Corporation. Warranty Deed dated September 9, recorded in Volume page 387 and following. Manuela Longoria acquired Lots 13 and 14 from the Home Owners Loan Corporation. Warranty Deeds dated July 22, and August 24, recorded in Volume pages Pedro Longoria et al. , Elena O'Leary et_ al., and the Estate of Evangelina Vera sold Lots 13 and 14 to Jaime and Angelica Martinez. 4. Builder, contractor, suppliers: Unknown. 5.

Original plan and construction: The earliest Sanborn Map of Block 120 is the Map which shows the house facing southeast on East Street. The house has a front porch and a dogleg extending northwest from the northern corner of the house. It is designated a one story dwelling in and also in on a later map. # GARZA HOUSE HABS No. (Page 3) 6. Additions and alterations: The house does not appear to be altered on the Sanborn Map, but the Sanborn Map shows that the front porch has been extended around the. southwestern side of the house- By this date the house is listed as 1 and 1/2 stories. The porch on the southwestern side of the house has since been enclosed; the lattice work, of that porch is still visible, A toilet is located within this enclosure.

Indoor plumbing is cur- rently being added to the building Changes and alterations shown on the Sanborn Maps are not in evi- dence in the physical fabric of the house. According to John White, Project Supervisor, neither the roof nor the front porch show any sign of having been altered. This suggests that both the roof and the porch may have been completely replaced at one point. B. Historical Events and Persons Connected with the Structure: 1. It is thought that Caledonia Garza may have been the builder of the house. In his property in Brownsville was assessed at (Chatfield, p. It is difficult to date E. Street because of the number of structures on lots 13 and 14, and because of the lack of sup- porting information in the Deed Records.

The main portion of the house is located at the eastern corner of Lot 14 with the rear dogleg extending into Lot 13. It is tempting to state that the house was built by Caledonia Garza around when he consoli- dated the two lots. However, the usual price for an unimproved lot in the Original Townsite of Brownsville was in the nineteenth century. Lot 13 was sold to Garza for Mexican money in and Lot 14 was sold to him for It is possible that other commercial buildings on Che property (shown on the San- born Map) account for the added value, but this cannot be stated with any certainty. At any rate, the house was constructed by when it appears on the Sanborn Map of that year. C.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS TEX,31-BROWN,11-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

1. Primary and unpublished sources: Brownsville Historical Survey Files in the City Planning Office, Brownsville, Texas. 2. Secondary and published sources: Chatfield, W. H. The Twin Cities of the Border and the Country of the Lower Rio Grande. Originally published in reprinted in by the Harbert Davenport Memorial Fund, the Brownsville Historical Association, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley Historical Society. GARZA HOUSE HABS. No. (Page 4) Sanborn Maps of Brownsville, Texas, dated and available at the Hunter Room of the Brownsville City-College # Library, Brownsville, Texas, and at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Prepared by: Betty Bird University of Virginia Project Historian PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement: 1.

Architectural character: This is an example of a modest frame residence built in Brownsville in the late nineteenth century. 2. Condition of fabric: Fair. B. Description of Exterior: 1. Over-all dimensions: This L-shaped, one and one-half story house, with a five-bay front, is approximately fifty-two feet across the front, by thirty-two feet deep, with a twenty-four feet by thirty- six feet ell or wing. 2. Foundation: Foundations are brick throughout. 3. Wall construction, finish and color: Wood siding appears on most of the house, with board-and-batten siding on the northwest and northeas t sides. 4. Structural system, framing: Construction is wood frame throughout. 5. Porches, stoops, bulkheads, etc.: There is a porch extending across the principal southeast facade.

It has a concrete floor and founda- tion, a wood ceiling, a pent roof with hipped ends covered with asphalt shingles, and six simple wood posts. There is one concrete set of steps at each of three entrances across the porch. 6. Chimneys: There is a large brick chimney on the front side of the gable, just by passing a dormer on the northeast end of the house. There are several projecting brick courses at the chimney cap. 7. Openings: a. Doorways and doors: The principal entrance into the original house is in the center bay. This doorway leads into the stair- hall. The wide doorway has a wooden panel door with sidelight on each side. The lower panel of the door has carvings in it, t and the large top glass panel is surrounded by engaged half- GARZA HOUSE HAES No.

(Page 5) spindles, a carved head* and a water Cable at the sill of the glass. There is a wood panel beneath each side light composed of a square panel above a rectangular one. At the head of the doorway is a three-panel,, glass transom with segmental arched top. The wooden surround extends across the head horizontally. There is a wood sill, wood threshold, and a wood-framed screen door. There are two other doorways on the principal facade that have been installed in floor-to-ceiling window openings. The wood panel doors, with one-light glass transom, have wood surrounds, wood sill and threshold. Numerous doors on the rear are of wood paneling and solid flush wood. All have wood surrounds. b.

Windows and shutters: Wooden windows on the first floor and in second-floor attic rooms have six-over-six light, single-hung sashes, wood surrounds, and sills, and protective window bars. Some first-floor windows have wood louvre shutters. Windows across the front and openings inside to the closed-in porch were formerly floor-to-ceiling, double-hung windows that extended up into the head. This is evidenced by the metal pulleys and head slot still existing in the opening. 8. Roof: a. Shape, covering: The gable roof, with hipped end on the south- west, covering the enclosed porch, is covered with wood shingles. b. Cornice, eaves: There is an open cornice, except at porches, which have boxed cornices. c.

Dormers, cupolas, towers: There is a dormer on the southwest end of the house, two single dormers across the front near each end, and a dormer in the center at the rear. Each has wood sid- ing walls and gabled roof with wood shingles. There is one window in each dormer except the one on the rear, which has a double window. C. Description of Interior: 1. Floor plans: a. First floor: The principal entrance, in the center of the main or southeast facade, opens into a stair hall. The rear of the hall has been walled in. The stair leads to a second-floor apartment. On each side of the center entrance are entrances to apartments. The apartment on the southwest has a room on the front, with a window to the right of a door whic opens to the front porch.

A doorway to the stair hail on the northeast has been blocked up. GARZA HOUSE HABS No. (Page 6) These openings were formerly full-length, floor-to-ceiling windows, leading to a small room that is part of the enclosed porch. An opening on the northwest of this room leads into another small room, with bath, that is part of the enclosed porch.. An opening leads back, into a room on the rear of the main house. This room has an opening in the center of the northwest wall leading to the exterior. An opening on the northeast wall, that is blocked up, leads to the walled-in part of the stairhall, which is now part of the northeast apartment. The northeast apartment is similar to the one on the southwest. The front room has a large projecting fireplace on the southwest wall.

The large, square brick chimney, which was exposed in the room, extends up from the wood-paneled fire- place. The wood paneling extends around three sides of the fire- place. A wood mantelshelf extends around three sides, and there is a concrete hearth. The rear wing is divided into two apartments. b. Second floor: The second-floor attic has three rooms across the length of the house. The stair hall leads directly into this apartment. 2. Stairway: The wooden dog-leg, open-string stairway leads up to the second floor. At the landing is a half-wall with wooden handrail on top. The simple wooden balustrade extends from a large newel at the first floor, curves at the landing, and continuing to a newel at the second floor , there turns and ends at the wall. All the wood has been painted.

A wooden band extends around the stairwell at the second-floor level. 3. Flooring: Flooring is wood throughout, in some rooms covered with linoleum and vinyl asbestos tile* 4. Walls and ceiling finish: Some rooms have wood wall paneling and wood ceilings with cornice molding. Many have been covered with gypsum board, and painted. The ceilings on the second floor have sloping sides. 5. Doorways and doors: Wood panel doors have wood surrounds. The trim on the doors and windows on the first floor, in the front part of the house, have bull's eye blocks at the head. 6. Mechanical: a. Heating: Heating is by natural gas space heaters. b. Lighting: Modern lighting fixtures. GARZA HOUSE HABS No- tPage 7) D. Site: 1.

General setting and orientation: The house faces southeast in the center of the block, next to the alley on the northeast. There is commercial property across the street facing the house, and resi- dential property around the other sides. The house sits very close to the street, with a concrete sidewalk across the front. There is a wire fence extending across the rear of the property and along the alley side, very close to the house. The rear yard has grass and two large trees# Prepared by. John P. White Texas Technological University Project Supervisor PART III.

PROJECT INFORMATION At the suggestion of a national preservation consultant, Ellen Beasley, this project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, in cooperation with the Brownsville Historical Association and the Brownsville City Planning Depart- ment. Under the direction of John Poppeliers, Chief of HABS, the project was completed during the summer of at the Historic American Buildings Su field office, Brownsville, Texas, by John P.

White (Associate Professor, Texas Technological University) Project Supervisor; Betty Bird (University of Vir- ginia) Project Historian; and Student Assistant Architects Scott Deneroff (University of Maryland) , Susan Dornbusch (University of Virginia), Matthew Lowry (University of Pennsylvania), Eduardo Luaces (University of Florida) , and Alan Willig (the City College of the City University of New York). Special assistance and support were provided to the HABS team by Mary Simmons, Sally Fleming, Miss Theresa Champion, and Mr. Calvin Walker of the Browns- ville Historical Association; and by Mr. Mario Moreno, Mr. Richard Waldman, Graciela Salinas, and Mr. Larry Brown of the Brownsville City Planning Department.

Archival photographs of the project were made in February by Bill Engdahl, of Hedrich-Blessing, Chicago, Illinois. Editing and final preparation of the documentation was carried out in the HABS Washington office by Lucy Pope Wheeler of the HABS professional staff.