Society Properties

Louis Gresser purchased property with a small house at the corner of Presa and Nueva Streets from Maria Concepcion Gonzales y Casas for $1,000 in 1861. The Gressers built several structures on the property, including a house adjoining the original Casas House on Presa Street. These two structures appear on Koch’s 1873 Bird’s Eye View Map of San Antonio.

According to legend, the famous Texas Ranger, Colonel John Coffee “Jack” Hays, once lived on the property, which passed from the Gressers to the Foutrels, and finally, to the Tschirhart family. The San Antonio Conservation Society purchased this building in the La Villita Historic District from the Tschirharts in April of 1976 and completed restoration the following year. The house has four rooms across the front; each room with a door to the porch.