Norton-Polk-Mathis House, Historic house museum in San Antonio, United States
Norton-Polk-Mathis House is a historic house museum in San Antonio, United States. The building has a flat roof and a decorative Italian Renaissance style tower, and its interior holds period furniture and artwork from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The house was first built in 1876 by merchant Russel C. Norton as a small home, then expanded with a second story and a tower under later owners. Walter Nold Mathis bought it in 1967, restored it, and named it Villa Finale because he intended it to be his last residence.
The home is cared for by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which keeps its role as the only National Trust Historic Site in Texas alive. Inside, the display of Napoleon-related objects and Texas decorative arts shows a local collector's taste more than a typical family household.
Plan to move through the home’s rooms and garden at an easy pace, as the collection is dense with small objects. The property is best explored on foot with comfortable shoes, since some areas have narrow doorways and uneven garden paths.
During the 1920s, one owner used the basement for making illegal alcohol while his wife ran a bar upstairs. The garden also keeps columns saved from another home, topped with a metal dome that Mathis created himself.
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