Details for Marnoch Homestead

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5507016488

Data

Marker Number 16488
Atlas Number 5507016488
Marker Title Marnoch Homestead
Index Entry Marnoch Homestead
Address 15350 Scenic Loop Road
City Helotes
County Bexar
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 530307
UTM Northing 3272937
Subject Codes houses, residential buildings; Scottish topics
Marker Year 2010
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Yes
Marker Location 15350 Scenic Loop Road
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Text Scottish surgeon Dr. George Frederick Marnoch (1802-1870) purchased more than 1500 acres at this site in the fall of 1858. In January 1859, Marnoch commissioned famed San Antonio architect and builder John M. Fries to construct this house near Helotes Creek. Previously, Fries had designed the Menger Hotel and City Market House in San Antonio. Dr. Marnoch and his wife Elizabeth (Wilson) reared six children. Besides practicing medicine in the Helotes area, Dr. Marnoch also raised livestock. Upon his death, the Marnoch property passed to his children. George Marnoch’s eldest son, Gabriel Wilson Marnoch (1838-1920), was also closely associated with the homestead. Gabriel, like his father, practiced medicine, and was a noted naturalist and rancher. He was a founding member of the Scientific Society of San Antonio, an early observer of the Balcones Escarpment, and also discovered two amphibian and two reptile species in the Helotes Hills. Gabriel served as postmaster of Helotes from 1904 until 1919. The homestead remained in the Marnoch family until 1947. The two-story rectangular plan house is of rough coursed limestone construction, with blocks about eighteen inches thick, and a hipped roof with gabled dormers and stone chimneys. Unique features include two half-octagon bay towers on each side of the house. Both floors contain a central hall and stairwell flanked by single rooms. Additional details include keystone arches and 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.
ATLAS_NUM=5507016488

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