Emil Elmendorf House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, San Antonio in 1884 was a city on the rise, and a man who meant to be part of that rise needed a house that said so. Emil Elmendorf was that kind of man.

Businessman, civic leader, part owner of Elmendorf and Co., which was no small operation, mind you, a large hardware firm right there in San Antonio. Emil Elmendorf, born in 1850, gone by 1898, but he left something standing. In 1884, he had this residence constructed, and he didn't just hire anybody to draw up the plans.

He hired Alfred Giles. Noted architect. The kind of name that meant your building was going to turn heads.

And Giles delivered something worth turning your head for. The house blends Greek Revival and Victorian styling, two traditions that don't always agree with each other, and yet here they are, shaking hands on the same property. But here's the part that really makes you stop and look twice.

The plan of this house is what they call a raised cottage plan. Now think about that for a second. The basement sits above ground.

Not below it, above it. And the main floor, the floor where life actually happens, that sits up on the second level. It is one of the few remaining examples of that plan left anywhere in the city.

Most of San Antonio moved on. Most of those houses came down. This one didn't.

Emil Elmendorf built it in 1884, and it is still here making the argument that some things, if built right and built with intention, simply refuse to disappear.

What the marker says

Businessman and Civic Leader Emil Elmendorf (1850-1898) had this residence constructed in 1884 while he was part owner of Elmendorf and Co. a large San Antonio hardware firm. Designed by noted architect Alfred Giles, the house incorporates both Greek Revival and Victorian styling. It is one of the city's few remaining examples of the raised cottage plan, which features a basement above ground with the main floor on the second level.