by Robin Black
Welcome to San Antonio, a colorful, bi-lingual, bi-national and bi-cultural city. Notice immediately the strong Mexican and distinctly Texas influences in home design. How do you go about adapting this new design vocabulary into your own personal style and integrate it into existing furnishings to make a successful interior? Where do you go to find these Texas and Colonial Mexican furnishings?
The Mexican Influence on San Antonio Architecture
What sets San Antonio apart from other Texas cities and strongly influences the lifestyle and design? It is the proximity to Mexico. The architecture, materials and furnishings used here reflect the Colonial Spanish neighbor to the south. This can be seen in the older houses in Olmos Park and the architecture of the Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, which embody Spanish forms, interior details and furnishings.
The downtown library, nicknamed “The Red Enchilada”, was designed by an architect from Mexico, Ricardo Legorreta, and is a contemporary statement on the skyline of San Antonio. Someone joked, “San Antonio is the largest northern city in Mexico”. It is stunning and reflects the ethnicity and rich fabric of our city perfectly.
The search for our Mexican roots has created a demand for primitive Mexican colonial furniture, found in furniture shops. Bookshops report brisk sales of books on Mexican Colonial Interiors and furniture.
Early Texas and German Craftsmanship
Another enormous influence in style came from the early settlers to this area. Some of the finest cabinetmakers were the Germans who settled in the hill country, bringing inimitable old-world quality and color to their crafts and lifestyle.
Anything Early Texas is always timeless, whether it is in dress, furnishings, or houses. The Witte Museum has displays of this walnut, cypress, pecan, and first-growth pine furniture in its collections. Local woodworkers are carefully duplicating those pieces not found in antique shops or private collections to fill the need for tables, chairs, and cabinets that hold televisions and storage.
The Dream of Hill Country Limestone
Everyone’s dream is to find a large block-cut limestone house in Fredericksburg, Comfort, or New Braunfels and restore it and fill it with Early Texas pieces and comfortable upholstered seating. An Interior Designer and her husband, who are formerly from Houston, have done just that. They found a pair of Early Texas houses in bad need of restoration on some acreage near Fredericksburg. They restored the Smokehouse without using nails, adhering to the original construction techniques. They are now working on the large limestone house. They will fill both with their rustic French and Texas antiques and accessories.
The Horse of A Different Color at 140 Sunset in San Antonio has furnished ranches and city residences for the past few decades. The owners collect Texana and Mexican Colonial furniture and accessories and display them handsomely in their compound of shops. On any day of the work week one can bump into ranchers and their wives, designers, and just plain folks in their shop looking to add Texas design and nostalgia to their interiors.
Blending Tradition with Contemporary Design
Recently, on an AIA house tour, in a circa 1953 home handsomely updated by Don McDonald AIA, early Texas furniture and cowhide rugs were combined with contemporary furnishings. These included a Mies van Der Rohe leather tufted sofa, Marcel Brewer chairs, a Corbu lounge, and classic Knoll table and chairs. Contemporary art and sculpture were used throughout the clean spaces. The effect was stunning. The two distinct styles complemented each other and gave a distinctive Texas stamp in this very contemporary, cantilevered house overlooking the Olmos basin.
Many designers use Mexican and Texas furnishings in another big influence in design in San Antonio, referred to as the contemporary California look – large-scale upholstered pieces, clean lines on wooden case pieces, and tables. Rooms open out to patios with lighted landscaping, bringing the outside into the interior spaces. Contemporary art and lighting are prevalent in these houses. Hard surfaced floors made of marble or travertine are used with sleek granite counters in kitchens and bathrooms.
Another popular San Antonio design approach is to fill a traditional home with English furniture with patterned upholsteries and oriental rugs. Inevitably, a longhorn chair or some Texas piece will be part of the interior, even if it is a carved limestone star found in an antique shop in Comfort or a watercolor by Brad Braune, a local artist known for his cows and cowboys.
In a home in King William done by Alfred Giles in 1888, the owner has filled this two-story limestone home with contemporary art, oils from the 18th Century, fine American antiques with comfortable upholstered seating, on oriental rugs. His collection includes Texas chairs with rawhide seats. A lasso is draped on the back on one of these 19th-century chairs. His home reflects his Texas and American heritage.
Adapting to the South Texas Climate
San Antonio style is influenced by the climate. Because of the torrid heat, the lifestyle, dress, and furnishings are more casual. Fabrics are cottons, linens, and chenille. Leather for upholstery is used as well. Outdoor fabrics are acrylic and sun-resistant. Since the sun bleaches, dark paint colors on the exterior are not as used as the sun quickly bleaches them to a powder version of their once brilliant hue. Interior colors are usually soft and reflect the natural light and materials used on floors, counters and other surfaces.
The abundance of indigenous building materials such as limestone, cypress, and mesquite makes for beautifully finished regional houses and furniture and sets San Antonio apart.
So this is where all these influences on design and style in San Antonio evolved. Have a good time on your search for your own part of Texas.
About the author:
Robin Black, ASID, IIDA, has been in private practice since 1980, doing commercial and residential design.
Her office is located in Alamo Heights.
