Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Schreiner Mansion

A historic site of interest in Kerrville is the prior home of early entrepreneur, Captain Charles Schreiner, and his family.  In 1869 he opened a general store in Kerrville, and later expanded into banking, ranching, and marketing.  By 1900 he owned 600,000 acres of land.  He had mansions built for each of his 8 married children as their wedding gifts.  Some are in Kerrville and are privately owned as homes or businesses.  Some of the homes built for his children are in Austin.
This is the Captain Charles Schreiner home.  Note the turret on the right front corner of the home, and the matching porch and balcony.
The porch is beautiful!
The elegant entry!
To the right as you enter the home is the sitting room.  There was also one to the left of the entry way.  It is presently being used as a welcoming area for tourists.  In a nice conversation with the greeter, she told me that some volunteers believe the house is haunted and claim to have encountered an apparition.  I had to admit that historic homes we've been to before have felt empty while this one had the feel of a home being lived in!  
If upon entering the home you went straight ahead through the pictured doorway; on the right is an office area and to the left is the dining room.  The bedrooms are up the stairs. 
This is the office at the back of the house.  It is connected to the previously pictured sitting room.
This dining area is across the hall from the office, but is also accessed more formally through a second sitting room at the front of the house, and to one's left as you enter the front door.  I suppose one sitting room was for the men and one was for the women.
Since the Schreiner home became part of Schreiner University in Kerrville, most of the upstairs bedrooms have been taken out to create a large conference room.
This nursery was left available to view.
This is a play area upstairs near the nursery in the turret that can be seen on the front corner of the home.
This is looking downstairs into the front entryway. 
I thought this was an interesting handrail design.  The floor is hand laid parquet.
This building sits to the left of the mansion as you stand facing it.  The building is said to be an original building of the Schreiner Department Store.