1916 - Arno Schwethelm Building - Comfort, TX - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

Per its original Texas Historic Marker application:

"Comfort Public Library May 1981

The Arno Schwethelm Building, located at the intersection of Seventh and High Streets, Comfort, Kendall County, Texas not only stands as a landmark in its own right but serves as an imposing memorial to an early Comfort merchant and his family. Built in 1916 in the heart of Comfort's business district, the Arno Schwethelm Building served for 60 years as one of the town's principal business structures. Designed by L. Harrington of San Antonio, for the Arno Schwethelm Mercantile Company, the building is of native pitch-faced limestone, quarried locally. The purchase price of one dollar per perch for the 320 perch used was paid to Louis Wiedenfeld. (A perch is a masonry measurement for 24 3/4 cubic feet.) Because of a shortage of working space at the construction site, many of the rocks were finished as well as cut at the quarry. Crude derricks and winches were used both at the quarry and at the construction site to lift and place the limestone. An old Model T Ford truck was rigged to haul these huge rocks. Because of their enormous size, no more than three could be hauled each trip. Integrated into this building were the handmade 8" x 16" concrete blocks from the tin and block structure that had formerly stood on the site. The antique blocks (hand made in 1909 by Henry Wallace, Albert Schladoer and Daniel Spenrath, Sr.) are on the east side and part of the south side of the building. The coursing of the stone is equal to a double course of these concrete blocks.

Exterior features reflect the conservative German culture that is typical of the community. The building is a good example of early Twentieth Century commercial structure with four large plate glass windows centered with double doors. Above the doors and show windows are six wood casement glazed windows. At the upper level, four vertical windows are capped with arches composed of two arcs and a keystone of tool-faced limestone, as is the central arch on the parapet. The key-stone of the central arch is approximately 18 inches high. In charge of construction was Otto Bartel, a stonecutter and mason. His helpers were Charles Bartel, Walter Pankratz, Alfred Doebbler and Willie Wetz, who carved the 1916 date stone on the front parapet. The west side of the building is one of the larger expanses of limestone wall in the Hill Country. Ninety feet long and 21 courses high, the courses vary in height from 12 to 18 inches and 16 inches in thickness. The sparse fenestration allowed for more wall space inside the store. At the first floor level there is only one window, next to the back door. At the upper level, five smaller windows admit light to the interior. The original structure contains approximately 3400 square feet of unobstructed space with a floor-to-ceiling height of approximately 22 feet. [...]"

Year of construction: 1916 Cross-listed waymark: [Web Link] Full inscription: Arno Schwethelm 1916

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