Veramendi Palace video is now online

Nice job Valerobowie. Where did you get the information for the floor plan of the building? I'm asking about the one at the very beginning when it begins "built in 1740..." Any idea what the various rooms are? SA Light 1909 [/i]- "On the north side of the zaguan was the long sala or parlor. ...East of the north end of the sala ran a long tier of apartments...first came the bedroom, then the long dining room and then the kitchen. South of the zaguan were the bedrooms. First was the room corresponding exactly (italics mine) to the sala. On the east were the servants' quarters and the stables."

Last Will of Maria Josepha Granandos 1787- The house was described as follows: "...the house, which consisted of a parlor, store, zaguan (corridor with 2 rooms above and 3 below) a store-room, kitchen and patio, all of stone, the main building enclosed and the sides of brick with windows of iron doors and keys, all new."

One thing that struck me is how much the building was changed over the years. Doors appeared and disappeared. Who knows what was going on inside. What date is the diorama intended to represent? Model was intended to represent 1835-36. I don't believe there had been any appearing and disappearing doors up to this point.

There is a slight dog-leg in the street that seems to be shown on the Sanborn map. Does anyone know how this came about? Was the Veramendi Palace also "bent" to accommodate it or does the bend appear right after the VP? The bend on Soledad St. can be seen (from my interpretation) on the 1764 Menchaca map (George Nelson's 2nd edition, page 36). At that point, the Veramendi home was a simple rectangular building as were most of the dwellings in Bexar. My theory is that the south side of the zaguan was the original home built in 1740ish, not including the southern most room. When the Veramendi was expanded to "palace proportions", around 1780, the northern addition (the bend) just followed the path of the road and the northern wing followed in line with the property line heading east towards the river.

What is the little building in the southeast part of the compound? It looks to big and fancy to be an outhouse. Most likely it was the servants quarters and/or kitchen.

The Warren Wolf Merrick drawing of the back of the VP has only one door visible and no windows. The main entrance is hidden by the northeast wing. It seems that there should be more doors and windows as there is in the diorama.
The problem with Morgan Merrick's sketches, as wonderful as they are, is that he had a tendency to leave off doors, windows, etc. especially on the facade of the Veramendi. The drawing in which you refer to is tough to interpret. Some doors and windows may have been filled in with stone OR they may not have been there at all. I placed doors and windows on the detached building based on where they made the most sense.

Questions, questions, questions. Always there are questions.
Of course there are. That's what makes this stuff fun! Please understand, this was a mock-up model for a larger project. So before I tackle another Veramendi house, if I do, it will require an enormous amount of additional research. But I think Valerobowie is on the right track and doing a fantastic job. Can't wait to see his model.

Thanks
Mike


- Paul Meske

HunterMike, Bore me to tears?!?!? Bore me to TEARS!?!?!?!? You're gonna have to try a LOT harder than THAT!

Quote: The bend on Soledad St. can be seen (from my interpretation) on the 1764 Menchaca map (George Nelson's 2nd edition, page 36). At that point, the Veramendi home was a simple rectangular building as were most of the dwellings in Bexar. My theory is that the south side of the zaguan was the original home built in 1740ish, not including the southern most room. When the Veramendi was expanded to "palace proportions", around 1780, the northern addition (the bend) just followed the path of the road and the northern wing followed in line with the property line heading east towards the river.

That sounds like a rational explanation. You talk about it expanding to "palace proportions". What determines if a house is a house, or in this case, a "palace"? There was also the Spanish Governor's "palace" in town. Of course I'm not looking at this through 18th century Mexican eyes.
Well, the term "palace proportions" is certainly not anything that I created. I actually found it in two separate references, one probably copying the other. I'm sure they just meant proportionately larger in comparison to the other homes in Bexar.

Actually, the description in the will of the widow's personal belongings was equally as interesting as the description of the property. If I can find the time today, I'll try to transcribe the article for those of you who may be interested. Even if you're not interested in Veramendi, it will give you a glimpse into how the better half lived in 18th century Bexar.

Are there any actual measurements of the building?
I used the measurements or scaling from the Sanborn Map, and included the laundry area on the south end of the property as the southern most room of the VP.

It's a shame that the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) didn't do a better job of documenting it.
Someone check me on this, but I don't think the HABS organization existed at the time of the home's demolition or butchering as I like to refer to it. So, in their defense, I'm sure they did their best to collect whatever information was out there.

Mike