Full Steam Ahead!

Although it appeared that much was not going on, we were busy with the final pieces before we could start building back. We will be pouring the last of the slabs very soon, yeah!!!!!!!!

Problem Solving at Phillip Manor has gone smoothly. Although, one does not truly enjoy problems, you learn a lot about those you work with and how well you work as a team by the manner in which you solve problems together. I would give thumbs up for teamwork and “So far So Good!” in regards to problems that Phillip Manor, our grand lady, unveils to us. She is ready to be back on the social scene and is demanding that her look is immaculate. What the grand lady wants, the grand lady gets. Her goal is to make her reemergence in the spring of 2009. Her attire will include chandelier earrings and spiral staircase shoes.

I am looking forward to watching the progress of...

The Lamar Room- This has turned out to be a major project but I believe well worth the effort. We have re-designed the entry into the basement from the courtyard. Not only will it be much improved from a safety point of view but it will be absolutely intriguing. When you enter the courtyard, your eyes will glance to your left and you will notice a limestone lined staircase with stone steps softly lit. I hope others will have the same sense of intrigue that I do every time I pass through the courtyard “I wonder where that leads to?”

The Suites –

The suites are all named and designed around explorers from the “Golden Age of Exploration” . It all began with a piece of Phillip Manor’s folklore that was told to me. The story goes.. “a cotillion was arranged for Teddy Roosevelt at Phillip Manor while he was in the area recruiting Rough Riders”. Hmmm, I thought that is cool if it's true. Not knowing until much later I had just taken my first step into becoming an amateur history detective.

In January of 2007, I committed to begin a life of adventure in the outdoors. I've spent a lot of time in Africa and other parts of the world but never with a backpack and a "hiking" tent for a "hotel room".

My "hotel" room while hiking in Patagonia

At the age of 48 I pitched the office keys to 2nd in control at my company and said "it is now or never ,it is time for me to take a different journey". Off I went to Patagonia with my professional outdoor guide, a backpack, two changes of clothes, camera, hiking boots (never worn) and disappeared for 6 weeks from my company during the busiest period of the year. Something I had never done in my 25 years of business. I was determined to live that life of adventure I had dreamed of since childhood. I was going on my first hiking trip and was a “learner” and chose Patagonia as the first step into my new life.

On the way to my "hotel room" in Patagonia

I had never carried a backpack and the technique of hiking and camping was to say the least foreign to me. I spent my leisure time thinking about Phillip Manor and reading about some of the great explorers of the era. I discovered through my thoughts and readings about the Golden Age of Exploration that the time coincided with the Golden Age of Phillip Manor. Phillip Manor during the time of the great explorers was flourishing as a luxury outpost on the edge of the American Southwestern frontier. I, to my surprise, had purchased a piece of history, a building that had filled a niche to those like minded souls that were inspired by the era of the Golden Age. They like me wanted to try their luck in a frontier and see what is out there. Standing on a mountain near the tiny village of El Calafate Patagonia, surrounded by glacial vistas is where I had my first Epiphany of what Philip Manors soul was to be. Phillip manor would re-emerge to be what it once was, an adventurers outpost, a base camp but one with all the luxuries of a proper expedition. Freezing inside my tiny damp tent I longed for fine sheets, a fireplace, fresh coffee and staff. I wondered if that thought ever crossed Shackleton's or Teddy's mind when they were in their tents. It was at this point that my second epiphany occurred. What would the rooms be....

My hotel in Patagonia

We are busy finalizing the design elements of each of these suites:The Shackleton Suite, Teddy Roosevelt Suite, Speke and Burton Suite, and the Matthew Hensen Suite. An overnight stay at Phillip Manor will be like stepping through a worm hole and stepping back into the Golden Age of Exploration. You choose your adventure, a journey with Teddy Roosevelt down the River of Doubt, Shackleton on a failed Antarctic exploration that turned into the greatest survival story to this day, Speke and Burton chasing the source of the Nile and last but not least, the life of Matthew Hensen who had to fight for his rightful place in the discovery of the North Pole.

Living in the Manor-

I am very excited to finally be working on my personal space. It will be the upstairs section over the kitchen with a balcony overlooking the courtyard and also a screened porch off the back. The staircase in the courtyard will become the main access to my apartment. A certain lady in town who is very vivacious told me a story about the space that will now become my home. A very long time ago, her father loaned the family car to her so she could drive to a football game in Kerrville. On the return, she spent the night in this space and they stayed up late into the night playing a game of poker! At that time, this space was used to sequester jurors and it seems it was also used for ‘Girls Poker Night!” I look forward to completion of the restoration so I can invite this certain lady back for a friendly game of cards and hear all her great stories about Boerne and Phillip Manor.

Just a note to say Thank-you.
We would like to thank the members of the Phillip Family that sent us emails and contacted us by phone. We appreciate the words of encouragement and the enthusiasm for the project they shared with us. We look forward to seeing you at the opening!

The Beginning of the Build Back

After a meticulous pull down to insure that every little beam, plank or block has been refurbished we are finally starting the build back.

Here are some pictures of what has been happening in the last few weeks.

The Lamar Room

The one room that can stir the Rebel in all of us is the basement. If ever there is a space that clandestine meeting would have been held during the planning of the Texas Republic, this room could have been it had it been around during that era.

How did it become the Lamar Room???

Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar,2nd President of the Republic of Texas, gives Johns Small a Land Grant (HEADRIGHT) of 1280 acres of land of Survey #183 section 3 on Oct 11, 1841, in reward for serving under the Republic of Texas.

Debbie Gracy, the current owner, purchased the property from Howard Calder, the great-great grandson of Mirabeau B. Lamar!

This room has been named in honor of the great men and women whose courage and spirit created a country called The Republic of Texas from 1836-1845.


What is so special about this room??

It has been a determined mission from the start to keep this space from becoming a storage room for mechanical equipment and has required a team effort to deal with code compliance issues and restoration issues. When faced with the code issue of being 6 inches short in height, the answer was..Lets just excavate 6 inches!

Firstly, the wall is inscribed with 1875; the beams are from very old cedar taken in the area. Based on the size of the exposed cedar beams, it is apparent that the Cedar Tree was alive and well in Texas prior to independence. There are many stories of how the cedar invaded our hill country and these cedar beams can shed some light on at least when they did not arrive in Texas! It is our hope that a dining experience in this Private space will not only spark a debate about the origin of the cedar tree but inspire people to be inquisitive of the history of the great State of Texas.

We hired the services of a designer to help create an authentic feel of what this space could of looked like during this era.

Proposal from the Designer (July 15, 2008)
“The goal is to create an atmosphere of a clandestine Rebel meeting room in the 19th century Texas Root Cellar. As much as possible every aspect of the rustic nature of the space will be maintained and little if any post era items eliminated or very well concealed. Great attention must be given to everything incorporated into the design and must be contemporary to Mirabeau Lamar’s era.”

Why the “Great Wall” of Phillip Manor?

When complete the Great Wall of Phillip Manor Square will surround an acre of gardens. It is our desire to avoid a “commercial” atmosphere in the garden and to create the feel of a Secret Garden. One of the garden elements will be a water feature that can be viewed while taking a stroll in the gardens as well as from a window table in the main dining room or from an outside porch dining space. The plant selection will highlight the change of seasons.
To accomplish the feel of a Secret Garden we had to come up with a solution of how to fashion an intimate space and disguise the fact that Phillip Manor Square has been encroached upon by noisy Highway 87. Click on images and position the photo where you can see the front door entrance in the middle of your screen.

Old photos of Phillip Manor reflect a time in South Main Street’s history when walls were not required to create a peaceful setting. The task was to build a wall that did not create the feel of a barrier but one that would compliment the Grand Old Hotel and initiate a curiosity to explore what exists behind the wall.
The limestone was quarried in Sisterdale and the technique (the beveling) was the same used by master stone masons during original era of Phillip Manor. All stones were hand beveled using hammer and chisel.

The Sun Room is Returning!

I am sure, for most, the removal of the Sun Room (room with the big glass windows) set off alarm bells so we will address that issue. Firstly, the Sunroom was dismantled, not demolished. It is our goal to re-use as much of the original wood as possible to include the windows with the old cylinder style glass. Although it s façade looked sturdy, the decision was made to investigate for structural integrity. The beams in the ceiling that supported the weight of the upstairs porch were far from adequate. The outside wall was not engineered as a structural wall and it needed to be as it supported the weight of the upstairs balcony.. We had a soil sample done so the structural engineer could determine the sub-surface structure of the soil to help him determine what footing he needed thrown to support the structure. We also had a concrete breakage test done on all the piers in the buildings to determine that they were code complainant and again structurally strong even if they only had superficial weight on them. The original beams used in the pier and beam foundation were salvaged and will be re-milled and used in trim and finish out work as they were long leaf yellow pine which is no longer harvested.

Re-pointing the Stone Walls

Re-pointing is an arduous process where all of the old mortar holding the stones together is chiseled out by hand and then replaced with new mortar. Our craftsman spent weeks removing the old plaster and in some areas sheetrock that covered the rock walls on the interior (except what will be the lobby) they then re-pointed the interior walls then moved on to the outside where they repeated the process on all of the exterior walls. This was a necessary process as the old mortar had almost become powder and re-pointing and replacing the crumbled rocks has insured Phillip Manor can be around for another 150 years!

When the old plaster was removed we could see the structural changes add-ons etc. from the past and learned much more about the buildings construction history. We also replaced lintels over several doorways (new stones) and used original stones from a stone lined pit that was built in the 19th century to replace crumbling stones in different sections of the walls.

We had no idea how beautiful the old stonework was until we removed the plaster. Gaining a new appreciation in the old craftsmanship we decided to leave the stone exposed on the interior walls so visitors will be able to see the century’s old masonry skills and gained an appreciation for the old techniques of the past. It is fascinating to see the different quarry styles in the stonework as well as the architectural changes that emerged in the re-pointing process. The oldest room, which possibly dates back to 1851, used field stones where later additions used cut stones.

We uncovered what was once an old window from the original one room house (now the lobby) as well as the old lines of the back wall of the original structure. This opens up the question “Was there an existing structure prior to the Phillips arrival?”

Restoration Phase

The full restoration of one of Boerne's most historical buildings is underway. We are restoring the Manor from top to bottom and take pride in the responsibility that we have in preserving the historic structure. Phillip Manor Square is not just a commercial shell it is a Grand Old Mansion that will be shared with the public and for this period in Phillip Manor's history we are privileged to be her curator. The attention to detail in the restoration could be compared to that of taking a fine antique and restoring it while keeping as much of the natural patina and pieces that are possible. When Phillip Manor re-emerges in spring 2009 it will be another stage in the centuries old evolution of a historic building that has reflected the personalities and vision of its proprietors.
The photos in this posting are an example of how we are going about the restoration. This series of photos show the reconstruction of the original kitchen entrance. The old entrance was hidden by additions done in the 20th century. When we peeled back the 20th century attachment we discovered the 19th century entrance. Once exposed we also discovered that the wall had deteriorated and it was a structural rock wall that helped support the second story of the 1903 north wing addition. We dismantled the wall and used original stones to reconstruct the entrance.