Rose

We named her Rose, this old house that somehow captured our hearts. When we first saw her she was a vision of neglect although some foundation work had been done she still needed so much work. At some point she had fallen off her pier and beam foundation and posts had broken through the flooring, the porch was missing most of its decking, there were holes in the ceiling and old wall paper hung from the walls like shredded streamers....but as they say, she had good bones.




The pictures pretty much tell the story of Rose's transformation. It took almost a year to totally restore her. We were blessed to have Gino, a carpenter and craftsman who cared enough to worry about the details to bring this house back to life.

What the images don't tell is about the people, besides Gino, who saved Rose from winding up a pile of 100 yr old lumber. You see, Rose had been scheduled to be demolished by the city because they had decided that house was an unsafe structure and most likely she was. But three people with a healthy dose of vision, guts and good business instincts thought that Rose was worth saving. Byron and Betty, who are married to each other and partner Bill had recently bought and restored several homes in the area. Some of these restored homes were former "crack" houses or had been used by the homeless to get out of the weather. They were in pretty bad shape. But get this, they all moved into the neighborhood. They lifted stakes from what most folks in San Antonio would consider some of the most affluent parts of town to a neighborhood that real estate agents would say was "in transition". What's even more amazing is that these folks were all in their 70's when they got into this! Talk about looking forward and taking on some pretty daunting risks at an age when most people are just coasting along waiting for the inevitable to happen. So here I am, 55 yrs old, looking ahead to retirement and these people are out there trying to change the world at 75.....unbelievable! These guys are my heroes!