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Walter Mathis and now, the National Historic Trust, operate the site, Villa Finale in San Antonio's
King William Historic District. For both local history and European artifacts, culture and art, the
house is worth an afternoon tour.
With much oral history, facts are scarce.
The land that Villa Finale sits on was part of an original Spanish land grant to the Canary Island
pioneers. In the not too distant history, the land was arable agrarian land for The Alamo. The
Mission de Bexar. Yes, that Alamo.
The street that runs a few blocks east of Villa Finale is South Alamo. Runs in front of The Alamo,
then follows a course that runs north-south, then east-west, then turns north-south again. The
local joke is that cattle paths were used to choose streets. In this case, though, it was a waterway.
The strange twists and turns of the local topography was dictated water sources, both natural and
manmade.
Walter Mathis would trace part of his family lineage back to the Canary Island pioneers, proving
that Villa Finale was destiny.
Standing in the front, looking at the house itself, the style is mid-1850 Italianate. The stylized front
porch and tower were not added until the decade between 1895 and 1905.
The fun part, for me, I heard two different salaried curators claim the house was built in 1863 and
1873, and from the material, the accepted date was 1873, built by an Englishman named Norton.
It was four square, just 4 rooms with a fireplace in each room, the typical quarried limestone with
an unfinished surface. Mr. Norton had the front door shipped over from England, intact, a huge,
carved door frame and door, with an imposing look. In a neighborhood that was largely - named
King William - mercantile German class, he was the solo English holdout.
Norton lost the house to foreclosure, and it changed hands two more times, with the last family in
the 1890s not leaving without a fight.
During that time, the back section of the house, a large kitchen and cellar, was added.
And we haven't even stepped inside yet.
There are two magnificent lions flanking the front walk. Walter Mathis was a Leo, but no, those
were Victorian affectations, as were two ceremonial cannons. Mr. Mathis told tales about the early
days when the neighborhood was rough, he would wake to find his cannons dragged across the
2. yard, resting against the fence, as they were really too heavy to lift over.
Standing in the front yard, on the front walk, it is near-impossible to imagine that it was a seedy, or
"bad," neighborhood. One of my clients, grew up maybe two miles south, as he was growing up,
he was admonished to "Stay out of trouble, stay out of King William!" Looking a the stately trees
and elegant mansions, it's hard to believe.
San Antonio has two primary industries, military and hospitality. At the end of World War One, the
name for the district was changed, the King Wilhelm was none too popular. Returning troops were
frequently billeted in the grand mansions, and Villa Finale itself was cut up into 8 apartments.
By the early 1960s, the neighborhood was in a sad state. In the ensuing interval, facts are sketchy,
but Villa Finale had been a bawdy house, an illicit casino, a speakeasy, and a bordello. Walter
Mathis denied the bordello to his dying day, but I heard it from a sweet little old lady in the
neighborhood. She was instructed never to walk on that side of the street - her parents were afraid
she would be pressed into service.
In the mid-sixties, Mr. Mathis could tell his then-current home was in the path of the city's first big
freeway project, 281. He moved his nascent arts and architecture collection into storage and
began searching for a new home. The 'Villa Finale' name was chosen because he wanted it to be
his last home. It was.
He bought the place in 1967, starting renovations immediately, but he lived downtown in a hotel
until partway through the project.
The "Fire & Casualty" insurance companies often did plats of the land. In one from 1894, Villa
Finale had no porch and no tower, while both did show up in the 1905 plat. The porch and tower
were added were added in the interim, but not enough data surveys to be more exact. The
insurance companies did the plats so there was a map for ingress for the volunteer fire
departments, in the event of fire.
At the front porch, the Norton entrance is marveled, then guests are instructed to pull on booties,
durable yet protective slippers to help preserve what Walter Mathis built. The ceiling on the front
porch is painted sky blue, and while it is patent folklore, the reason is to keep the mosquitoes
away. Allegedly.
The entrance, the hall and entrance is marked by an overwhelming amount of art. It was his wish
that everything be left where he placed it. There are over 12,000 objects in the collection. For the
last few years of his life, a National Historic Trust person acted as a personal curator and carefully
noted most of the tales associated with the various collections.
On December 8, 1941, Walter Mathis went over to Randolph Army Base and signed up as pilot.
He went on to fly (purported) 96 mission over occupied Europe -WW2 - facts and myths.
One of the most famous collections is the Napoleon Collection. Entering the hallway, then leading
to the first door on the right, careful not to touch anything, under the tower, there, is the beginning
of the collection.
3. It's worth noting that Mr. Mathis wanted a home filled with music. To that end, in the middle of the
front room, under that tower, there is a, forgive my bad German, "Bechstein-Weltz" reproducing
piano.
"Like a player piano?"
Yes, and no. It is a German machine that looks like piano, has mechanical innards, and ran - runs
- on an air compressor that Mr. Mathis located in the basement.
I've been told that the piano still runs, think of it as a steam-driven piano. The difference is that a
great composer or pianist would sit down and record a performance on a roll of paper, and that
was played. Cabinet, far left, stage left, over in the corner, had scroll and rolls of paper for the
piano. Turn of the century iPod. The paper rolls were the mp3s.
Asked what single object he would grab, if the house was on fire, Walter Mathis was proudest of
his "genuine" Napoleon death mask. "One of six," is the party line.
Apparently, there is a History Channel special about the cottage industry of Napoleon Death
Masks. Worthy of some attention. Seems like there might be more than just a half-dozen. It's
worth noting that this was one of the few originals, probably less than a dozen like it - provenance
with museum curators is tricky business.
Napoleon was a favorite, and towards that end, Villa Finale is now part of the Franco-Bexar group,
as there are more Napoleon memorabilia here than in most museums. As a military man, Walter
Mathis admired Napoleon's tactics.
The cabinets, the table-tops, the furniture itself, most, if not all, Empire-Revival. French, from
around 1840. The "Egyptian" flavor is woven into the art, after all, Napoleon did "conquer" Egypt
and some of the Pan-Arab world.
Because I was being trained when the house was being restored, I got to see a few things off the
wall, like a ceremonial sword and scabbard arrangement that hangs high, like an Xmas tree star,
over one set of Napoleon lithographs.
"Sheer panic in the curator's eyes when she pulled that one down; it really is held together with
twine."
The windows now have UV coating the prevent fading. New paint, and everything has been
cleaned and replaced in its original pace, per the behest and bequest.
Most of the furniture in the front rooms has been recovered, by Mathis, with one exception, there's
a green ottoman/footstool that is in the original material from the 1840s. Note the large mirror over
the mantle. Next room, more Napoleon collections, mirror over the mantle, odd military objects, a
collections of dog figurines, various tokens, souvenirs, and my favorite, a pair of ivory-carved
triptychs, which unfold and show Napoleon's victories and his wife, which shows her greatest
accomplishment, marrying Napoleon.
"I hope you find the humor there," I add.
5. complete silver cladding. I can't tell, don't recall, if they are Russian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox,
or Greek Orthodox. One of them. All look about the same, to me. The sliver cladding was to
protect the icons from constant touching, part of that faith's belief.
The floor of the library has the most unique persian rug I've ever seen. While it's background motif
is sky blue, the language across the top of the rug is Farsi (Persian), and the images depict Adam
and Eve getting expelled from the garden of Eden.
Mr. Mathis was quite fond of religious art; however, he was not allied with any church, not after his
Episcopal tore down a building that he wanted to save. Paved it for a church parking lot. He never
went back.
The dining room has a several notable collections. There is a huge amount of silver, two upright
wooden urns for place settings, as well as three separate chests, full. There's a stand-up display
that has a number of cow-creamers. My name's Kramer, cow-Kramers, I like them. All silver.
On his mother's side, he was related to the Bell Family, the great silver dynasty in San Antonio. Up
on one shelf in the dining room there's a favorite piece, it's a shell-shaped piece of silver with a
tiny model of a sailing ship, at the pinnacle. It's a gravy boat.
The art hanging at one end of the dining table is 'Sybil and the Tarquin,' the last of the pagan
roman emperors, and she was a seer.
I like to point out that I'm not known for my good tastes, and when I pass judgement, keep my
tastes in mind. Frequently, I shouldn't be allowed to dress myself.
The centerpiece setting is mismatch of color and culture. It is burgundy cut-glass, inlaid with semi-
precious gems, gilt gold and silver with camels and lions. The story is, this is the very centerpiece
that rode through the Suez Canal, on its opening, with Queen Victoria, in her barge.
Finally, there's selection of painting along one wall, and they include a rare Julian Onerdonck from
Williamson County. In his era and to this day, he is still widely regarded as a premier Texas
Impressionist painter.
The mirror hanging in the dining room looks like the same frames as in the Napoleon Parlour and
sitting rooms. The tale told, passed on to me in training, is that the mirrors were gifts. Mr. Mathis
was marching through recently liberated France, and he happened upon a bombed out mansion,
owned by the town's mayor. Mathis was digging around in his pickets, scraping together a few
dollars, to pay for the mirrors, and the mayor begged Mathis to accept them as a gift for freeing
their country from Fascist German oppression.
The mirrors showed up in Houston, a few years later, with freight due. Unclear on what it was, Mr.
Mathis reluctantly accepted the bill, and he was overjoyed to find his treasures - the people of
France remembered him. The last mirror was left un-re-silvered, possibly just for the telling of the
tale.
Out the dining room door, into the hallway, again, peek around the corner at the base of the
magnificent stairwell, and there's the Violano Virtuoso. This was from the old Pearl Brewery's bar,
6. the Buckhorn Saloon, from 1883. By the sixties, this unusual piece had made its way to Walter
Mathis's collection. I've seen it work, more than once. It has two player-violins, and a player piano,
all in a single case. Plays a waltz. Either disturbing, musically, or amusing, from a gadget point of
view. Wind up and listen to it play a waltz.
Up the stairs, in the stairwell itself, the downstairs is primarily European while the upstairs starts
the Americas collections. The first is the art while climbing the stairs. It's from South America, a
centuries old school, the combination of the Spanish masters and the local color shows up with the
amount of gold gilt used, throughout. Some strange interpretations, too.
Upstairs...
Turn the corner and there's another piano, under a display - along the wall - of more South
American santos as well as relics gathered in Mexico. Starting in 1910, much of the Catholic
church's hold on the land was released during revolution, and the relics eventually found there
way here. There was one intern, summer before the Villa Finale opened, all she did was polish the
silver that on top of the upstairs piano.
From the hallway, it's a left into the Periwinkle Room. The color is available from Lowe's, just ask
for 'Villa Finale Periwinkle.'
Among artworks and other items, there are two cases of note. Along one wall, there's a collection
of over 300 stick-pins. Walter Mathis got his first stick-pin from his grandmother, and that started
his life-long obsession with collections and preservation.
Walter Mathis, especially with his huge collection of religious artifacts, he wasn't a church-goer. He
was until his downtown Episcopal Church tore down a historic structure, an old house, historic
house, to make way for a parking lot. He resigned and never went to another church. Never
looked back, as they say.
There's a huge assortment of watches and timepieces, but more interesting, to me, is the
collection of shaving mugs. Started when he was fifteen, the mugs capture the essence of a time
gone by. The mugs are displayed in a pair of custom-built cabinets that were designed to reflect
the architecture of his manse. As ephemeral data points, the mugs are marketing from a day gone
by, and the shaving mugs differ from, like, a coffee cup, since there is a little shelf for a bar of soap
and the shaving brush.
One of the curators worked at a site in California, talked about the importance of the historical
value of the shaving mugs.
It's a two-step into the Yellow Room. Artwork, a throne, stairs to the tower, and a set of columns,
rescued from his home in Monte-Vista. There's an odd collection of Staffordshire figures, and one
is more curious, looks like Ben Franklin but it's labeled, "Geo. Washington."
Staffordshire ceramics was likely produced by child labor.
Shaving stands, sewing kits, Walter Mathis bemoaned the fact that he was a Victorian, born a
hundred years too late.
7. Tucked against one wall, there's a set piece that is identical to one in Maximilian's palace in
Mexico City. Another guide posited the connection - downstairs, Napoleon - upstairs, his
illegitimate son -
The master of the house, Walter Mathis, in an apparent humorous display, he had a gold cherub
with its chubby little butt pointed towards the center of the room.
The valences, over the windows, when the restorer was working, she'd heard that the valences
were from a plantation in Mississippi. Or near Houston, never got the straight story on that, but
they were removed for the new paint, and it turns out, it was bit of a puzzle to put them back on, as
they were different sizes.
The sketch up on the wall is an Edouard Leon study of a Mounet (?) - best part of that? It was a
'lady of substance,' and that caused quite the scandal. A 'lady of substance' wasn't supposed to
pose for a common artist's works.
Back into the hall, and it's painter time. One of the most exquisite paintings is one of the
Onerdonk's of Prickly Pear in Bloom.
There's another painting, at the bottom, and it's one of the few that was done while Onerdonk was
in studying in New York, mentioned in his letters. There are the usual amazing bluebonnet
paintings, too. What he was a famous for.
There's one painting, inscribed to Walter Mathis's mother, 'From a little friend, to a little friend, in a
little friendly way.'
Passing around the corner is another bedroom, there's a wooden-press. Flower press? Probably a
blanket press, since there's was a strong tie with Rockport, and the Rockport Quilt Guild.
The small bedroom has his parents' wedding bed. It came from St. Louis, down the Mississippi
River, where it was loaded on another boat and delivered to Rockport. According to the myth, one
or more of his brothers and/or sisters was born in that bed.
More interesting, though, is the array of the family tree, mother on the right side, father on the left,
tracing back through the generations.
In the front room, visible from the bedroom, has an array of Victorian memorabilia, Bristol Glass, a
peacock, beaded purses, antique calling cards and Victorian card clips. There is a large carved
ivory 'china' boat, and an allegedly working Victrola, hand-crank type of record player.
During the great flood of 2007, this room suffered water damage. Like many men of similar
vintage, Mr. Mathis insisted on doing his own maintenance, and that suffered towards the end.
Hence the water damage.
Back in the hall, opposite from the piano, there's a large sideboard with a glass front. It's 'Century
Glass,' souvenir glass from the St. Louis worlds fair, circa, 1904. Another grandmother gift. The
collection was embellished when the McNay (museum) asked to display it. Walter collected some
9. Down the stairs, it's a narrow staircase, certainly not ADA-compliant, and potentially dangerous for
the loose carpets, there is the most magnificent collection of paintings and prints.
The bulk of the collection, from what I've gathered, came from the purchase of the Mary Bonner
Estate. What I was told, Mary Bonner went to Paris to study painting, and one teacher told her that
she din't have the strength to be a painter so she should look at print-making instead.
Relying on her native San Antonio background, her prints of cowboys and similar Texas-themes
became the toast of France.
It happens. They love Texans. You do know, Texas is bigger than France?
The Mary Bonner collection, alone it that back stairwell is enough to render the whole trip
worthwhile.
There are several sketches of the missions, again, later Mary Bonner works.
The stairs unwind into the kitchen. This was a working kitchen. Rumor has it, the refrigerator still
has frozen foods, left over from before the Historic Trust took over.
There's all kinds of flatware, cookware, Wedge Wood, and China. The story is, one plate was used
for serving until Walter Mathis found out the value of the platter. Now on the wall.
The woodwork itself was rescued and repurposed from the Sullivan House, another casualty in
San Antonio's growth.
Because it was a real, working kitchen, the spices that were "pretty," and had "eye-appeal," those
spices were displayed. The shuttered cupboard, now and office, held the unattractive spices.
There are jars of pasta and candy, sweets and so forth, and they haven't been changed, at least
not yet. Probably won't be touched, looks fine, seems preserved.
The chandelier in the kitchen, kind of a hideous pastiche of glazed, colored glass, wood and
brass? The story is, it was in the front room, originally. Walter Mathis had taken it to a
consignment shop, and some guy offered him $500, on the spot, for the chandelier. When queried
why, Walter was going to sell it for $50, these are 1969 Dollars, so that was a great deal of money,
then the prospective buyer pointed out that the lamp, chandelier, was signed by Tiffany. A real
Tiffany Lamp.
(Provenance on this is suspect, too. Very suspect.)
It now hangs high overhead in the kitchen.
Adjacent to the kitchen is the Butler's Pantry, with a full wet-bar, the wood work more of the
rescued cabinetry.
Finally, the Pewter Room. At this point, I'm out of energy, having talked for the better part of 45
minutes or so, and quite tired. Pewter Room. Lots of pewter on the shelf, beer steins, and the
10. Rhine Maiden.
Another gloriously hideous chandelier, actually, an antique Bier Garten. candelabra, from the old
country. Came from a German Saloon with German immigrants, perhaps a little before the Villa
Finale was built. By the turn of the century, it wound up at the Buckhorn Saloon, open during
Prohibition, to make it's way to Walter's back den. Ride of the Valkyries? Yes, that kind of Rhine
Maiden, cf., Wagner's Ring Cycle, first and last opera. She was supposed to guard the gold in the
Rhine.
The other bizarre piece is a very art nouveau lamp. The threesome. Kind of hard to tell, but looks
like two naked women intertwined with a single topless guy. Story was, he bought this as a
tabletop lamp, and at close to five or six feet tall, it doesn't really set well on a tabletop, but that's
what it is now.
Out the back door, onto the back porch. It's easy to see, while getting off the booties, where the
new stuff had been added on the original building. Underneath the back portion, a cellar was
added.
One of the owners, owned the Casino when it was located n downtown San Antonio, and when
the Prohibition hit, moved his operation to his cellar. Unverified. Gambling operations, bawdy
house, speakeasy, all by reputation, but not substantiating facts support the allegations.
Once the booties are off, there's a small arc around the building Walter Mathis's ashes are interred
under a small flag, the small gatehouse and the big carriage house serves as onsite offices for
some, plus a bathroom and lockers for over-sized purses.
The original plan for this section of the RiverWalk was to carve through the Villa Finale property,
imminent domain and all. Mr. Mathis, as a civic leader and patron of the arts, fought city hall - and
won. Look a the aerial plat, and the river's course bends around his property.
There are three friezes, set in the southern wall, borders the property. Same artist as the
Cenotaph for the Alamo, downtown.
The tour concludes in the wrought-iron gazebo, cupola. Walter's niece was married there, in the
spring of 1970, and the hose has been, like a museum, ever since.
Family members have toured Villa Finale, and the most common comment, "Wow, just like he left
it, except now, everything is so clean...."
As a labor of love, BexarCountyLine.com is homage to the visually rich tapestry of San Antonio,
TX.
It's town, the county, it all predates Colonial America, and this is a single attempt to catch the
exciting and the mundane, all in one place.
http://www.BexarCountyLine.com
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