The Bookshelf, The Parlor, The Young Texas Reader, and the Monthly

The Texas Bookshelf is different from the The Texas Parlor, http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/ . The Texas Parlor carries "general" bookish information and non-book information and even different Texana news and notes of use to the bibliographically challenged and other nosey folks intersted in historical, literary, and cultural observations. Will's Texana Monthly may carry material from either blog, but extends itself beyond those, especially for longer compilations or treatments. The Monthly, the Bookshelf and the Parlor are all companions. So, is the Young Texas Reader http://youngtexasreader.blogspot.com/ which specialized on books and such things for the youngest to the teenagers.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Nix Houses - Roy Pacheacano


The Nix Houses:

Innovation and Style in Texas’ Oldest Historic District.

By Roy R. Pachecano. Foreword by Felix Almaraz.

San Antonio: Watercress Press, 1007. 6 x 9, cloth with slipcase, 152 pages, photos, plans, drawings, facsimiles, notes, bibliog. ISBN-13: 978-0-934955-71-3 $25.00 http://www.watercresspress.com/

According to Pachecano, the eventually prominent South Texas architect Atlee Ayres’ first two works were the Colonial Revival houses for the Nix family in San Antonio’s downtown King William’s District. The works are “some of the first examples of the New England-style frame homes in South Texas.” Built in 1899 as part of the City Beautiful Movement, the houses’ simplified presentation contrasted with the previously popular complex Victorian style domiciles. In addition to the usually architectural explication, Pachecano supplies the finances of the deal and related social, economic, and political history. The architecture exemplifies social and economic change. The 2005 restoration was very “green.”