Behind oak trees and a curved driveway in Alamo Heights, a white stucco home sprawls across a 1.4-acre lot on a leafy street of grand houses a block from Broadway Street.
The 1922 residence is the latest among a growing number of century-old bungalows, cottages and estate homes in the wealthy enclave earmarked for demolition to make way for something new, a trend that is drawing opposition from some in the city.
Lisa Nichols, owner of custom home-building business Nic Abbey Homes, bought the simple Tudor Revival-style house at 231 Encino Ave. in April 2023. The property it sits on is platted into two lots and Nichols plans to build two homes there, she said.
The homebuilder recently submitted a request to the City of Alamo Heights for approval to raze the old house, which she said is in poor condition. On Tuesday, the city’s seven-member architectural review board (ARB) will consider the demolition request.
The home is in poor condition, Nichols said, having been unoccupied for a dozen years. “It’s really going to be tough to keep it and remodel it.”
It will be up to the board to determine whether the house is a “significant structure,” a finding that could delay demolition but can’t halt it entirely.
While area residents hope to convince the board that the house is historic and deserves to remain intact, state laws prohibit the city from denying the request.
Simple and elegant
The 7,000-square-foot house was designed by Adams & Adams, an architecture firm also responsible for Thomas Jefferson High School, the San Antonio Zoo and other prominent residences and structures in San Antonio. Four other homes featured on the San Antonio House Registry, in Olmos Park and Monte Vista, are said to have been designed by Adams & Adams.
The Encino house was featured in a 1926 edition of the predecessor to Architectural Digest.
“That’s a rare thing for a house from San Antonio during that period to be published nationally,” said architect Michael Imber, who lives near the house. He described the architecture as unique, simple and elegant, and a “significant part of the character of Encino Avenue.”
The home was built for Frank Lewis, a man known as the “father of Texas golf,” according to newspaper reports at the time.
Today, the value of the Lewis house, which sits among other stately homes in one of the oldest parts of Alamo Heights, is estimated by real estate site Zillow as $2.3 million and by tax records as $1.85 million. A neighboring home recently underwent a full-scale renovation, its assessed value nearly doubling between 2022 and 2023.
Margaret Block, an art patron, preservationist and most recent occupant of the house, lived there for decades. Deed records show ownership was transferred to her son in 2004. Block died in 2012 and her husband, Dr. William Block Jr., in 2007.
“She loved that house,” said Alamo Heights resident Suzanne Mathews. “It was very, very important to her, that home,” and she took meticulous care of it.
Mathews, who lives in a 1929 house next door to the Lewis House, said she opposes the demolition, but not because she’s concerned about what could be built adjacent to her home.
“That’s not what this is about,” she said. “It’s an important building, it’s an important edifice, and it would be really tragic for it to be gone. It’s irreplaceable.”
Another Alamo Heights resident, disappointed by plans to demolish the house, but who wanted to remain anonymous, compared it to knocking down the Argyle, a 165-year-old ranch home now used as a private dinner club.
No historic district
Last year, area resident Sarah Reveley told the City Council that research she conducted for the city’s centennial celebration yielded 200 homes over 100 years old.
In the past five years, following the passage of new state laws restricting a municipality’s authority to regulate teardowns, 75 homes of varying ages in the neighborhood have been demolished. Reveley and others dismayed by the trend have called for establishing a historic district to preserve more homes.
Architect Imber, who has not been in the house, said the exterior appears to be in good condition; inside, it still contains some of the original furnishings, he said.
Nichols declined to provide the inspection report and is not required to submit an assessment to the city with her request, she said.
As for the home having any historic significance, Nichols said she relies on the city to make that determination.
Demolition applicants also are not required to submit plans for replacement structures at the time of the demolition request. That’s despite city code stating that the ARB should consider whether or not “the replacement structure is compatible with other structures in the adjacent and immediate block area,” in its recommendations regarding demolition.
Those plans will come later, Nichols said, with a required ARB review. “I’ve got a lot to work to decide what we’re going to [do] and how that’s going to unroll next,” she said, adding, “I purchased the property and own the property.”
The architectural review board’s recommendation will go to City Council, which has the authority to approve or delay demolition, said Phil Laney, assistant city manager of Alamo Heights.
“They can delay it for up to two 90-day orders — for a total 180 days — but after that, by state law, any property owner that wants to demolish a structure, can do so,” Laney said. “There are no other protections that are in place for the structure.”
