History of the Alois Walter House

The Alois Walter House was constructed in approximately 1852. It is a fine representative of  Alsatian style cottages built at that time by the early  settlers of Castroville. The house is constructed out of hard limestone and wood. Much of the wood is cypress cut from the Medina River area and milled locally. On the outside of the house the limestone walls are stuccoed. On the inside some of the stone walls are stuccoed while others have been left as uncovered limestone. The back inside and outside wall is of wood since the currently enclosed back portion of the house was once an outdoor porch.

After the house passed out of the hands of the Walter family in 1868 it was owned by other owners in the years that followed. In the 1990s Gene Schwinge and Juli McCrary purchased the house and set about restoring it. Over a four year period ending in 1999 Gene restored the house maintaining many of the original features of the house and adding many new features but taking great care in keeping them within the historic context of the house. The Alois Walter House maintains the original 19th century floors and doors in the front two rooms of the house as well as an original stair case and bi-fold door entry to the loft area of the house. The front, side and several of the back windows are old features of the house as well a part of the wooden back wall which is old locally milled cypress some of which are planks up to 17 inches wide.

In 2013 Gary and Mary Irish purchased the house and began working on the landscaping. They removed many of the old declining plantings and began to plant Texas native plants to turn the  landscaping of the Walter House into a "Texas Cottage Garden". The developing Texas Cottage Garden along with the historic features and 19th Century feel make the Alois Walter House a unique property in South Texas.

About the Texas Cottage Garden

The Texas Cottage Garden was initiated by Gary and Mary Irish at the Alois Walter House in 2013. The Texas Cottage Garden is intended to create a lush, but water conserving landscape to be enjoyed by both the Walter House residents as they live in the  house and neighbors and tourists as they pass by.  An important thing for potential residents to be aware of is that the development of the Texas Cottage Garden is an on going project. This means that the owner will continue to add plants to the landscape over the next several years. The owner will maintain the tree, shrub and any large perennial plantings and the residents will be required to maintain the lawn and grass strips as well as water the landscaping as weather conditions require. The owner, during their maintenance and development of the Texas Cottage Garden, will also occasionally take seeds or small amounts of cuttings or other plant propagation material to reproduce certain species of plants planted at the Texas Cottage Garden. As the Texas Cottage Garden grows and develops the Alois Walter House residents will be able to enjoy not only a unique house and property but also a distinctive and unique landscape reflective of Texas and its wonderful native flora. 

While the landscape of the Alois Walter House is devoted to Texas Native Plants there is a formal vegetable garden area in the back available for any residents who would like to grow their own vegetables or flowers.