Navarro, Jose Antonio, House Complex
a.k.a. Navarro House
228--232 S. Loredo St., San Antonio, TXThe three stuccoed limestone buildings that make up the Navarro House Complex, in San Antonio, were the home and business place of Jose Antonio Navarro, a significant figure in Texas history. Navarro was born in San Antonio, February 27, 1795, and was one of the two native Texans who signed the Texas Deer claration of Independence, March 2, 1836. He was an active proponent of independence for Texas in his youth against the Spanish, and later against the Mexican government. He was a friend of Stephen F. Austin, a representative of Texas in the Mexican State Legislature in 1824, and assisted in colonization projects of Milam, Wavell, and DeWitt. Navarro had land grants in five counties, operated a general store, and practiced law. Frequently elected representative of Bexar County before and after independence and a member of the committee of twenty-one which drafted the constitution of the Republic, he was also delegate to the Convention which voted for Texas annexation in 1845.
Navarro was a commissioner on the ill-fated Santa Fe Expedition in 1841, and was sentenced to death by Santa Anna; later the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Navarro did spend three years in the dungeon of San Juan de Ulloa before his parole and escape.
In 1846 Navarro County was created in North Central Texas, its county seat, Corsicana, named for the birthplace of Navarro parents — Corsica. As late as 1861, Jose Navarro was still politically active and attended the Austin meeting to encourage secession. All four of his sons fought in the Confederate Army. Navarro died in San Antonio in 1871.
The Navarro House Complex is significant not only as the residence of an important Texas patriot, but architecturally significant as examples of San Antonio buildings of the 1850s. The complex was purchased by the San Antonio Conservation Society in 1960 and restored in 1962. Brooks Martin, architect for the restoration received the Texas Architectural Society Award for Restoration in 1970 for his work on the Navarro Complex.
The main dwelling and the other buildings have been furnished with antiques of Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico, known to have been in use in San Antonio during Navarro's lifetime. The office contains an exhibit of pictures and documents telling the Navarro story. The kitchen is used for social functions of the San Antonio Conservation Society.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964.
Bibliography
San Antonio Conservation Society files, 1971
Texas State Historical Survey Committee marker files Webb, Walter P.,ed. Handbook of Texas. (Austin,1952) San Antonio chapter, American Institute of Architects, Historic San Antonio. San Antonio, 1963.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.