Marnoch Homestead

Scottish surgeon Dr. George Frederick Marnoch (1802-1870) purchased more than 1500 acres at this site in the fall of 1858, and in January 1859 commissioned San Antonio architect and builder John M. Fries to construct this house near Helotes Creek. Fries had previously designed the Menger Hotel and City Market House in San Antonio. Dr. Marnoch and his wife Elizabeth (Wilson) reared six children, and besides practicing medicine in the Helotes area, he also raised livestock. After his death, the property passed to his children. His eldest son, Gabriel Wilson Marnoch (1838-1920), was also closely associated with the homestead; like his father, he practiced medicine and was a noted naturalist and rancher. Gabriel was a founding member of the Scientific Society of San Antonio, an early observer of the Balcones Escarpment, discovered two amphibian and two reptile species in the Helotes Hills, and served as postmaster of Helotes from 1904 until 1919. The homestead remained in the Marnoch family until 1947. The two-story rectangular house is built of rough coursed limestone with blocks about eighteen inches thick, and features a hipped roof with gabled dormers, stone chimneys, two half-octagon bay towers, a central hall and stairwell on both floors flanked by single rooms, keystone arches, stone lintels above doors and windows, and pine floors and interior woodwork. In 1914, an existing stone kitchen behind the house was dismantled and rebuilt as a rear addition with the original materials.

Helotes, Texas · United States