A 1909 Dignowity Hill Original. Pine Floors, Tall Ceilings, Walk to the Pearl.

The Hays Street Bridge was going up the year the first family moved into 904 Hays Street, and the two have shared the block ever since. What remains is a front-gabled brick cottage with a bracketed porch, a diamond-shingle gable that still wears its Dignowity District plaque, and the deep, unhurried proportions that builders of that era understood and later ones forgot. The seller will replace the standing-seam metal roof prior to close. Foundation work was completed in 2019.

The house sits on a 0.14-acre fenced lot, and the back is where it opens up. A stained deck runs the full width of the rear elevation, railed, hung with string lights along the eave, with room for a dining table and a second seating group. Three doors open onto it: kitchen, third bedroom, utility room. Steps lead down to a level lawn framed by privacy fence and a concrete walk to the side gate. Out front, a fenced yard and a straight walk to the porch.

Inside, the floors are the story. Original longleaf pine runs the length of the house, wide-plank and unbroken, the kind of floor that cannot be bought new. Ceilings rise well above what a modern plan allows. Windows are tall double-hungs set in casings with bullseye corner blocks, cut on site by a carpenter who expected them to last. The front door is an oval-lite entry with sidelights and a keypad deadbolt.

The plan moves front to back. A front parlor with two street-facing windows and a five-arm chandelier opens through a cased doorway to the living room, where a three-window bay catches the afternoon light. A full-height wall of stained shiplap frames a stacked-stone fireplace with a floating mantel on iron brackets and a wall-mounted TV location above. The stone wraps the hearth at floor level. This is the room where the house gathers.

Behind it, the kitchen: white raised-panel cabinetry, granite counters, a stainless undermount double sink under a pull-down faucet, and a stainless gas range set into the original painted chimney breast under a steel hood. A French-door refrigerator is built between two full-height pantry cabinets. Stainless dishwasher, satin nickel chandelier, wood-look plank tile underfoot, and a glass door to the deck.

The primary suite takes the corner of the house, windows on two walls, a stained plank door, and a closet. Its bath is the second thing a buyer will remember: a walk-in shower wrapped floor to ceiling in stacked ledgestone, two rain-style heads on separate controls, a built-in niche, frameless sliding glass. The double vanity is white raised-panel with an integrated solid-surface top, brushed nickel faucets, and mosaic-framed mirrors.

Bedroom 2 is a two-window room with a closet and its own door into the utility room, which was built out from the original rear porch and still shows the painted horizontal siding on every wall. Open shelving, full-size washer and dryer space, and a rear exterior door. Off the kitchen, a windowed flex room with track lighting leads to the second full bath, with a dark-stained vanity, a tub-and-shower in tan stacked tile, and a window. Bedroom 3 is the largest of the three, with beadboard wainscot on every wall, three windows, a ceiling fan, and its own door to the deck. 

Second-visit details: the bullseye casings are consistent room to room. The parlor and living room floors have never been covered. The kitchen alcove brick is original chimney mass, painted. The deck is stained, not painted, and the railing is post-and-rail. Every bedroom has a ceiling fan. The house was staged for photography, and all furniture in the home is negotiable. It can be bought and lived in the day it closes.

Dignowity Hill 

Dignowity Hill was San Antonio's first designated historic district, laid out in the 1850s on the rise just east of downtown. It is still a neighborhood that gathers. The annual Porch Parade moves house to house. Neighbors host wine nights. The Hays Street Bridge, 3 blocks from the front door, is where the neighborhood walks, runs, and watches the skyline at dusk.

Most of what you'd want is on foot. Cherrity Bar is a short walk down Hays Street. Alamo Beer Company sits under the bridge. Dignowity Park and Lockwood Park are a few blocks over. The Carver Community Cultural Center, the East Side's historic performance venue, is under a mile.

Ten minutes in any direction gets you the rest of the city. The Pearl for Saturday markets and the Hotel Emma bar. Southtown and the Blue Star Arts Complex for First Friday. The Majestic, the Empire, and the Aztec for touring shows and concerts. The Tobin Center for the symphony and the ballet. The Alamodome and Frost Bank Center for the big nights.

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Interior Highlights

Exterior & Systems

Schedule a private showing with the Forward Team. 210.438.1114.

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