DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Gustav Blersch House in San Antonio's King William Historic District. Now settle in, because this limestone story goes back a long way. We're talkin' 1860 — before the Civil War had even drawn its first breath — and a German immigrant by the name of Gustav Blersch decided he was going to build something that would last.
And friend, he was not wrong. Blersch was an importer and retail dealer, a man who knew quality when he saw it, and he enlisted designer Gustave Freisleben and contractor John Hermann Kampmann to raise him a two-story limestone home right here in what would become the King William Historic District. To this day, that house stands as one of only three Antebellum structures still standing in the entire district.
Three. Out of everything time has taken, only three remain — and this is one of them. Now that right there is a reason to slow down and look twice.
Blersch held onto the property until 1871, when he sold it to a banker named James T. Thornton. The Thorntons, apparently, looked at that already-impressive home and thought — we can do more.
And so they did. They enlarged the house, adding a two-story rear wing and a bay window, giving the old girl a little more presence, a little more reach. Then came a stretch of years, 1883 to 1905, when the home passed through the hands of numerous families — names that have drifted from the record, each one leaving their season in the walls.
In 1905, a man named William Clarkson purchased the property and settled in for his own chapter. Then, around 1920, porches were enclosed and a sleeping porch was added — the kind of practical touches that tell you somebody was actually living in this house, breathing in this house, watching the neighborhood change from behind that bay window. And then 1948 arrived, and with it the Watson family — cousins, the marker takes care to mention — who purchased the home and, to hear it told, have been caring for it ever since.
More than a century and a half after Gustav Blersch and his limestone ambitions got the whole thing started, the house is still standing. Still watched over. Still one of three.
What the marker says
This house is one of three standing Antebellum structures in the King William Historic District. Gustav Blersch, a German immigrant, importer and retail dealer, built this two-story limestone home in 1860 with designer Gustave Freisleben and contractor John Hermann Kampmann. Blersch sold the property to banker James T. Thornton in 1871. The Thorntons enlarged the house, adding a two-story rear wing and bay window. From 1883 to 1905, the home was owned by numerous families. In 1905 it was purchased by William Clarkson. Porches were enclosed and a sleeping porch added c. 1920. In 1948 the home was sold to cousins, the Watson family, who continue to care for this historic structure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2011