Villa Finale: Museum & Gardens, the only site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Tex
February 6, 2025
Sign up for our first webinar of the year happening on February 6th at noon.
Jane Lewis, Executive Director of Villa Finale, will conduct a presentation on “Villa Finale: Museum & Gardens, the only site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Texas.” Built in 1876 and purchased by preservationist and civic leader Walter Nold Mathis in 1967, Villa Finale’s history reflects the development of San Antonio in the late-19th and 20th centuries. Located in the King William Historic District, the property was formerly farmland for Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo). The Italianate mansion was home to an English hardware merchant, cattle barons, families of soldiers under the War Board’s ownership, and a saloon owner (who even operated a speakeasy in the basement during prohibition). Today, Villa Finale is an historic house museum, showcasing Mathis’ vast collection of over 12,500 objects of fine and decorative arts.