Thiele House and Thiele Cottage
Why it's listed
Two neighboring houses on Sixth Street in San Antonio's Irish Flats district show how local building changed across half a century. The earlier, at 415 Sixth Street, is a simple double house of stuccoed limestone with a salt-box roof and a front gallery, built in phases from about 1860 in the Settlement style. Next door, the Thiele Cottage is a raised brick Victorian completed in 1890 for August Thiele Jr., a sporting figure in the city, to designs by architect J. Riely Gordon. Its porch has a horseshoe arch with radiating spindles that may echo bicycle wheels. Gordon, best known for courthouses, left few small residential works that survive. The Thiele family owned the properties for decades, and the older house served as rental property. Both buildings were rehabilitated after 1978 and became city landmarks in 1980. They were listed for their rare architectural survival and their record of changing styles.
Significance in brief: The two buildings are rare survivals in one of San Antonio's oldest neighborhoods, showing the shift in architectural style, materials, siting and form during the second half of the 19th century. The cottage is one of few surviving small residential works by architect J. Riely Gordon. Both were owned for an unusually long time by a German-American family.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83003092, listed March 3, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 411 and 415 Sixth St., San Antonio |
|---|---|
| County | Bexar County |
| Listed | March 3, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83003092 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899 |
| Architect / builder | J. Riely Gordon (411 6th) |
| Architectural style | Settlement style (Thiele House); late Victorian (Thiele Cottage) |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Restored after a recent rehabilitation; the cottage is used as an architectural office and the house as an interior-design shop. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 29.42986, -98.48275 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83003092.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q110001630
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.