Ainsa Residence
El Paso, Texas

Description: Ainsa residence
Other Names:
Address: North Mesa Avenue, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: domestic: home
Original Client: Ainsa
Historic Inventory: on El Paso Historic Register
Date: after 1903; before 1907
Condition: demolished

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation:
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: stone
Wall Materials: brick
Roofing Materials: shingle
Other Materials Used:
Remodeling and Additions:

Present Owner:
Location of Drawings:
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Aultman 442, folder Residences-Ainsa, Frank S.

Bibliography: (1) Trost & Trost, Architects (El Paso, Trost & Trost, 1907), page 21 (photograph, perspective view)
(2) El Paso Times, December 29, 1980, page B-1 (description of the interior)
(3) Harriot Howze Jones, editor, El Paso, a Centennial Portrait, El Paso: El Paso County Historical Society, 1972), page 54 (exterior photograph)

Remarks: A two story porch on the west side of the house has been removed, and the west porch, facing North Mesa Street, has been greatly enlarged. A pergola has been added to the south. The authors recall the house as being red brick with white trim; it is presently painted buff with brown trim. The remodeling has retained much of the character of the home.

The front solon features a large fireplace with a white marble mantel. Behind the fireplace are stairs leading to the second and third floors. The unusual floor is a pebble terrazzo tile with black checkered boarders that resemble rug borders. ( kitchen and bathroom floors the same) Some of the original features remaining are period bathroom fixtures, an early wall-installed vacuum cleaner system in the basement, and a large refrigerator with wooden doors. In the garage is a turnable for turning cars around.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990