With its six chimneys, two wrap-around porches and Victorian charm, this 133-year-old home looks relatively similar from its Mason Street view in Government Hill now then it most likely did when it was built in 1887.
Army Colonel C.C. Gibbs, who after the Civil War got into the land and railroad business in San Antonio, built it. He owned about 10,000 acres of land and built his home as one of the first in the now historical Government Hill neighborhood.
“He was instrumental in the development of San Antonio,” Logan Fullmer, owner of Asset Resolution Partners said. “He built the Gibbs building, the hotel downtown. Which at the time was the tallest building.”
Fullmer said the home was a prominent social symbol where Gibbs loved to host social gatherings.
“We think several of the presidents from the time had been here but we can’t confirm that yet,” Fullmer said.
But after many different owners, the home hit some hard times. It was nearly condemned in the late 1990s.
“So we heard it was a twelve-plex, rent by the week or month at one point,” Fullmer said. “We heard there were some criminal activities going on here at one point. Those are probably the ones we should talk about.”
The home was bought in early 2000 and the inside was renovated into offices and modernized. Then the home was foreclosed on in 2018. Just two days later, the Fullmer’s purchased the home to restore it and use it as their office.
“Gibbs was a land guy, we are land people and it’s a new tradition to carry on,” Fullmer said.
Logan and Lisette Fullmer have converted the residential property into a commercial one using it for their real estate company Asset Resolution Partners and other offices throughout the home, but it took them a lot of money and time to restore it.
“The big issue was the wood,” Fullmer said. “We love it but the wood rot and some of the structural stuff was a huge project.”
The inside is mostly modern office space now but the Fullmer says they believe it was important to preserve the outside of the home.
“The Gothic revival and Victorian design theme, you don’t see that today. As buildings get demolished, there are fewer and fewer. But we have what’s a pretty good representation of that. Everyday we drive out of here and we look at it and we are so thankful that it happens to be our office now,” he said.
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