DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put on the marker at Alfred Giles's home on King William Street in San Antonio. Now, picture this. The year is 1873, and a young Englishman steps off whatever conveyance carried him to Texas — not chasing fortune, not chasing fame, but chasing something as humble and unglamorous as clean air.
Alfred Giles, born in 1853 in Hillingdon, Middlesex County, England, had already been apprenticed to an architect in London. He knew how buildings worked. What he didn't know yet was Texas.
And Texas, as it tends to do, was about to teach him a few things. He landed in San Antonio and went to work for a contractor named John H. Kampmann, and that partnership turned out to be one of the luckiest accidents of his life — because Kampmann taught him the local materials, the limestone and the caliche and the stuff this particular corner of the earth was made of.
By 1876, Giles had learned enough to hang out his own shingle. His own firm. And the work came.
Oh, the work came. He built residences for men whose names still echo through San Antonio history — Edward Steves at 509 King William, Carl Wilhelm August Groos at 335 King William, Alexander Sartor at 217 King William. King William Street, that elegant corridor, was becoming his canvas.
Then in 1883, he did something a little quieter, a little more personal. He constructed two small residences — 306 and 308 King William Street. Not grand commissions, not monuments to someone else's prosperity.
Just two modest homes, side by side. And for three years, from 1885 to 1888, Alfred Giles and his family lived at 308. A major architect, one of the most prolific in Texas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, living in one of the smallest things he ever built.
There's something I find deeply satisfying about that. Now, the story of 308 King William doesn't end when the Giles family moved on. Because years later, Alfred picked the house back up — remodeled it, shaped it with his own hands one more time — and gave it as a wedding present to his daughter, Beatrice Angela Giles, and her husband, Paul Dreiss.
The Dreiss family made it their home from 1914 to 1931. A house he built, lived in, rebuilt, and gave away with love. Then the decades rolled on, as decades do, and the house aged.
But in the 1980s, a King William resident named Walter Mathis took it upon himself to restore not just this house but 14 structures across the King William neighborhood. At 308, Mathis added a small porch on the west façade and converted the hayloft of the carriage house into living quarters. And what you see when you stand in front of it today is what Giles left behind — an L-plan, Folk Victorian-style house with a carpenter scroll-saw canopy, a king post truss over the front gable windows, dentil molding, and wood balusters on the porch.
The whole King William Historic District had been listed in the National Register of Historic Places back in 1972, and in 2015 the Texas Historical Commission made this address a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. A man came to Texas for his health. He picked up the language of local stone and local timber, built some of the finest homes in San Antonio, and left one small house on King William Street as a love letter to his daughter.
Not bad for a boy from Hillingdon.
What the marker says
Alfred Giles is remembered as a major architect who designed many edifices throughout Texas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1853 in Hillingdon, Middlesex County, England, Giles spent his early days as an architect's apprentice in London. For health reasons, he moved to Texas in 1873 and worked with contractor John H. Kampmann. This experience taught Giles much about local materials. During his time in San Antonio, he established his own firm in 1876 and built residences for many historic figures such as Edward Steves (509 King William), Carl Wilhelm August Groos (335 King William) and Alexander Sartor (217 King William). In 1883, Giles constructed two small residences at 306 and 308 King William Street. He and his family lived at 308 King William from 1885 to 1888. The house was later remodeled by Giles and given as a wedding present to his daughter, Beatrice Angela Giles, and her husband, Paul Dreiss. The Dreiss family lived in the house from 1914 to 1931. In the 1980s, King William resident Walter Mathis undertook the restoration of 14 structures in the King William neighborhood, including 308 King William. Mathis added a small porch on the west façade of the house and converted the hayloft of the carriage house into living quarters. The L-plan, Folk Victorian-style house features a carpenter scroll-saw canopy and a king post truss over the front gable windows, plus dentil molding and wood balusters on the porch. The King William Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2015