This two-story limestone house was constructed around 1882 by the
owner, Johann Heidgen, a stonemason by trade. The house stands on
the eastern edge of the central business district in an area once
known as the Irish Flats neighborhood. This neighborhood was
originally settled by Irish and German immigrants.
A side gallery with an exterior stairway spans the front of the
house. This house is one of the few surviving examples of a
two-story, stone, I-plan house. The Acequia Madre, the first
irrigation canal built by the Spanish to supply water to Mission San
Antonio de Valero (now the Alamo), runs along the west property
line.
Charles A. Zilker acquired the property in 1909. His estate donated
the house to the San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation in
1968. In 1970, the Society deeded the property to the Alamo Council
of Campfire Girls, Inc. for use as their headquarters. The deed
included a preservation easement on the house and the acequia,
binding on all successive owners. When the local council disbanded
in 1987, it conveyed the property back to the Foundation, which sold
it to new owners. The Heidgen-Zilker House received listing on the
National Register of Historic Places in June, 2004. |
