THE NIX HOUSES        

Innovation and Style in Texas’ Oldest Historic District

by Roy R. Pachecano

This is the story of three prominent South Texas players in real estate in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. The characters profiled are true-life individuals who shaped the skyline of San Antonio: Atlee B. Ayres, Joseph Madison Nix and his wife Birdie Lanier Nix. This fledgling architect and the Nix partners set milestones in the development of the city and left a permanent imprint from the old King William District to the modern South Texas Medical Center.

The architect/author’s restoration of the twin Nix houses as certified green historic residences involved delving into the social, economic, and political histories of these houses in the state’s oldest historic district. The effort to maintain the integrity of design and material of the original structures while observing modern standards of environmental honesty and energy conservation was a challenge which Pachecano met with flying colors. The many illustrations show the processes from start to finish.

6 x 9, cloth with slipcase, 152 pages        

ISBN-13: 978-0-934955-71-3