A historic San Antonio home once owned by a tobacco heir is now for sale

A stately home recently listed in Dignowity Hill for $530,000 comes with deep San Antonio history.

The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath residence was built in 1890 in an architectural style known as Folk Victorian, characterized by its simple construction and decorative trim. The approach was intended as a less-pricy alternative to more ornate Victorian dwellings.

Hiram Shaw Liggett, the heir to a tobacco empire, purchased the home in 1892 as he attempted to expand his family's business, Liggett & Myers Tobacco, into the San Antonio market. However, within the year, Liggett died of an illness and left everything to his wife Laura Coleman Liggett, whose father happened to be the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

Later, a conductor of the Southern Pacific Railroad named Thomas Weatherly Beck purchased the property and turned it into a boarding house for railroad workers.

The sellers uncovered much of that history doing research for the Conservation Society of San Antonio. Interior designer San Juanita Preciado uncovered more of during her restoration of the home, which she detailed in an interview with The Word, an online publication put out by the University of the Incarnate Word.

Indeed, when Preciado demolished a wall inside the house, she discovered documents from the lumber company involved its construction. The paperwork included business' phone number — 3132. Phone numbers were only four digits long at the time.

Like many great Victorian residences, the 2,252-square-foot Liggett home features gorgeous hardwood floors, eight-foot-tall windows and vaulted 11-foot ceilings throughout.

Even so, renovations have given it a decidedly modern feel thanks to bright-blue subway tile in the kitchen, an open floor plan, contemporary light fixtures and a walk-in shower in the primary bedroom's en suite bath. Rather than the typical transom doors that usually appear in Victorian homes, the main level features contemporary barn doors.

Outside, the property is lush with pecan, peach, loquat and pomegranate trees. It also has a detached guest suite with its own private bathroom and entrance, which listing agent Natalie Salas suggested could provide short-term rental income.