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901 Lisbon
1874
This history of Lot 1, Block 6, Range 3, in the City of Castroville, also known as the Georges Emile Tondre homestead, begins with the arrival of Henri Castro, the individual who established Castroville on his arrival to what was then the Texas frontier in 1844.
Initially, Castro established his ownership of the property upon which he proposed to establish Castroville by purchasing the property from John McMullen. Castro engaged John James, deputy surveyor for Bexar County, to survey his proposed town site, thus effectively establishing the town.
Castro and his wife Amelia Mathias Castro deeded the land including the town of Castroville to Volney Erskine Howard. In April 1877, Georges Emile Tondre purchased Lot 1 Block 6 Range 3 in Castroville from Russell Howard, a brother to Volney Erskine Howard.
The property might be unique in that it has been in the hands of one of the members of the descendants of Georges Emile Tondre since he purchased it in 1877.
Family tradition has the beginning of the construction of the Georges Emile Tondre homestead as being within six months of the time of the birth of the first-born member of Georges Emile and Pauline Gully Tondre, which would become a large family. This indicates that Georges Emile wasted no time constructing a home for them. Albertina was born May 11, 1877 in Castroville. Though no definite date is known for the beginning of construction of the Georges Emile Tondre homestead, that would place the approximate date of the beginning of the construction of the house that stands today as approximately October or November 1877.
Deed records (volume 10, page 574) show the deed from Russell Howard to Emil Tondre was recorded April 13, 1877. Georges Emile Tondre and Paulina Gully married in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in San Antonio on August 2, 1876. This appears to indicate that the couple had every intention of making their home at 901 Lisbon.
This union resulted in 15 children, 13 living to maturity, all of them raised at this modest home.
All known property owners:
The home at 901 Lisbon Street was two individual structures. This construction method was based on the theory that wood frame homes at the time were constructed in this fashion to avoid complete destruction in the event of a fire. Thus, the kitchen portion of the home, located farther from Lisbon Street, was separate from the residential portion, which was closest to Lisbon Street.
As time went on it is thought that the two structures were joined by the construction of a roofed portion between the residential portion and the kitchen. By the time I reached relative maturity, somewhere between 1945 and 1950, there was a latticework breezeway there, providing an area where the family could enjoy the fresh air in the days preceding air conditioning. Today, this entire portion is enclosed with walls containing windows. Two doors now allow access to Mexico Street on one side, and the remaining portion of the spacious yard on the other.
As the family grew, the Tondre homestead did as well. The need for additional living space resulted in the addition of what has come to be called “the boys’ room,” added to the kitchen portion of the home to the northwest, away from Mexico Street.
In time, a porch was added to the north of the original kitchen, eventually resulting in a closed-in area. As Tondre family members matured and moved away, a bachelor brother, Paul Louis Tondre, remained as the only remaining resident of the boys’ room, at which time an additional bathroom was added onto the porch area for his personal use after indoor plumbing came into general use. Similarly, a full bathroom was enclosed in the residential portion.
The existing standing seam metal roof appears to have been added as the original roof deteriorated. It is thought that some of the original roof underneath may be river cypress wooden shingles, a traditional early-day method of roof construction.
– Prepared by John Glyn Wernette, whose grandfather Georges Emile Tondre, who built the home.
More Information to come
