2015 Update on Los Laureles Ranch House at Mittie Cultural Park

The Los Laureles Ranch House project is expected to be complete by the end of 2015.  It will serve as a museum to interpret the history of south Texas ranching families and community-use building for special events during the day or evening.  The wraparound porch provides shade and protection from rain all year round.  Because it sits well above the ground, visitor's are given a wider vantage point for views of the park.

You might recall when the house arrived from Los Laureles (King Ranch) and sat for a period of time it sparked controversy from a few well-meaning but very misinformed individuals.  Check this blog for the most accurate information and updates on Los Laureles Ranch House.

 The house did not originally have brick porch steps and air conditioning.  A significant amount of attention is being paid to it's reconstruction, design, purpose and overall functionality.  Original cedar roof shingles have been replaced with modern long-lasting and durable asphalt roofing shingles.

A 1930's aerial photo of Los Laureles shows the original ranch house with added structures surrounding it.  The house was built c1852.  The house is being restored as close to it's original form when it was a stand alone house in the 1850s.  Charles Stillman did not spend as much time as other families that lived there after the 1860s.

Here's a closer look.

 The house and surrounding buildings will be painted in blue with green ceilings and white trim.

Ricardo Carlos and Pedro are installing original shutters found by chance in San Antonio while Larry Lof was visiting that city.  Hinge hardware was purchased online from antique restoration supply stores.

 Overview sketch of ranch house to show landscape pattern which allows for functionality and beauty.  Sketches by Alexander Stillman.

The trees to be planted within the fencing surrounding the ranch house will include Goldenrain trees, jacaranda, royal poinsettia, pecan and laurel (two of each).  When these trees mature they will add lively color to the surroundings.

Miniature storage and stable building (bell housing not included in sketch)

The storage building will hold gardening tools and artificial horses.  Bell installation photos courtesy of Oscar and Ana Duran.

The bell will be an implement that can be rung and heard throughout the park.  The rope will hang low enough for small children to ring it unassisted.

Restrooms will be separate from the ranch just like outhouses would have been and will be ADA compliant.  The rectangular design will allow user to use commode on one end and sink on other.  The sink will be baseless so users with wheelchairs can have easy access to it.

The aim (purpose) is to have easily accessible restrooms at the park.  The only recourse at present is for park visitors to use the Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts restrooms.  Hopefully this will work out as a feasible solution to that problem.  

Thank you for your interest.  Please share this information with anyone who may want to have an update on Los Laureles and please check Bronsbil Estacion blog for more updates on this and other news happening in Brownsville, Texas.  Photo courtesy of Gilbert Velasquez.

Stephen Fox Visits Brownsville, Texas

Stephen Fox at Los Laureles Ranch House at Mittie Cultural Park in Brownsville, Texas

When I first became interested in the old buildings of Brownsville I read several articles on the historical heritage of architecture in the Rio Grande Valley by this man - Stephen Fox of Brownsville, Texas who now teaches at Rice University and is a leading expert in his field. It was like meeting a rock star.

---> Scholarly Interest Report on Mr Fox <---

Texas Historical Commission event draws from around the Valley

BY STEVE CLARK | STAFF WRITER     Posted: Sunday, May 3, 2015 9:17 pm  The Brownsville Herald online

A daylong symposium on historic preservation in Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley drew more than 100 people to the Texas Southmost College ITEC Center on Friday.

The audience included property owners and preservationists, real estate professionals, educators and students, architects and designers, local government and economic development officials, business owners, museum curators, private citizens and others from across the Valley and even the state.

Central to the event, the first of its kind in Brownsville, was a discussion of a new 25-percent Texas Historic Preservation Tax Credit, which preservationists hope boosts efforts to save historic but neglected buildings. The tax credit went into effect in January.

Valerie Magolan, tax credit program specialist with the Texas Historical Commission, and Sara Ludueña, South Texas project review for the THC, led the tax-credit session, providing information on state and federal tax credit programs and how together they can offer significant incentives for the rehabilitation of historic properties.

The two also discussed details about eligibility, historic nominations and designations, architectural guidelines and project planning.

The symposium’s first presentation was from Stephen Fox, an architectural historian and lecturer at the Rice University School of Architecture, who gave an eye-opening overview of historic architecture along the Lower Rio Grande border.

He noted that Brownsville was one of the state’s largest cities only two years after being founded in 1848, and had the first operating bank in Texas before the Civil War. It was a metropolitan city as evidenced by buildings such as New Orleans-style merchant houses, and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, built in 1856, Fox said.

He said Brownsville shared a strong historical architecture connection with New Orleans and Matamoros. After World War I, developers built California mission-style structures here as a way to market the “MagicValley” to Midwestern farmers by creating a “myth of romantic Spanish identity,” Fox said.

A more complete version of this story is available at www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com

Los Laureles Ranch House at Mittie Cultural Park

Reconstruction of building which was moved from Nueces County which was first owned by Charles Stillman and other ranching families that followed in the King Ranch legacy.

I'll back up on this story later maybe get to the history part of it later.

No one believed anything would come of this.

And it sat on blocks and stilts for a while.  

Just look at all that shade around it.  4/2015

King Ranch cowboys maybe?

 Marco Rodriguez laying down the ceiling green 4/2015

 Ricardo Carlos of Rival Builders shows us contrasting exterior wall blue 4/2015

Surface preparation and paint.  I do not know about paint but guess this is water based as it would have been originally and it's supposed to have a faded weathered look to it.  4/2015

[more updates later]