DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, San Antonio has seen its share of grand homes come and go, but every now and then one holds its ground long enough to make you stop and take notice. The Sartor House is one of those.
It was built in 1881, and the man behind the design was Alfred Giles — a prominent San Antonio architect, and if you know anything about the craft that was going up in this city in those years, that name carries some weight. Giles drew it up, and the home was built for Alexander Sartor, Jr. Now Sartor wasn't a Texas native.
He'd come from Germany, made his way to San Antonio sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, and he set himself up in the jewelry business right here in this city. So by 1881, when this house went up, he was a man with deep enough roots and enough standing to commission something worth commissioning. And commission he did.
Wide front porch. Italianate detailing. The kind of home that says something about who you are without you having to say a word.
Sartor held onto the place for nearly three decades before selling it in 1909. After that, well, the house had what you might call a long and varied second life — a medical office at one point, a literary studio at another. Different purposes, different people, different stories walking through the same front door under that wide porch.
That porch is still there. Alfred Giles drew those lines back in 1881, and they're still standing. Some things in this state were built to last, and some things just did.
What the marker says
Designed by prominent San Antonio architect Alfred Giles, this home was built in 1881 for Alexander Sartor, Jr. A native of Germany, Sartor came to San Antonio in the mid-nineteenth century and established a jeweery business. After he sold the house in 1909, it was used for a variety of purposed, including a medical office and a literary studio. Outstanding features of the home include its wide front porch with Italinate detailing.