Phillip Manor Square is undergoing extensive restoration and is set to be completed in the spring. Photo by David Basarich

By Linda Byrne
Editor

After a hundred years, polo ponies are returning to Boerne’s Main Street.

They may only be in a painting, but polo ponies will set the tone for an enterprise that is reminiscent of a refined era of history.

The Phillips House, one of the oldest buildings in Boerne, is being restored and renovated into high-end hotel suites and a destination restaurant. A full-service bar will occupy a room whose theme is polo.

Located at 706 S. Main St., across from El Chaparral Restaurant, Phillip Manor Square will be “coming full circle” next April, owner Debbie Gracy said.

Gracy decided to bring Zimbabwe-born Charl Beukes, from Zambia, to Boerne to oversee the restoration project.

According to Beukes, the building is being restored to the late-1800s era, “the golden age of exploration.”

Featuring stone walls, wood floors and fine German craftsmanship from days gone by, the building has 10,000 square feet of space. It’s a gem that has a strong presence in local folklore and should be returned to the eminent position it occupied in its heyday, Gracy said.

“You have to love it to buy it,” she said. “This is a building that makes people dream about it. It should be shared with the community.”

Owner Debbie Gracy and construction supervisor Charl Beukes show off the pump to a large underground cistern that will capture rainwater for reuse on the property. Photos by David Basarich

Expansions in subsequent years added a theater, meeting hall, bowling alley and dance floor. Entertainers, polo players and the land-owning gentry of the area flocked there for food, spirits and fun.

The facility later became a hotel and sanitarium, Beukes said. In recent years, it housed several local small businesses before Gracy bought the property in 2005.

Beukes has the delicate task of preserving as much as possible of the structure while updating it for its future clientele.

“Without damaging the historical value of the building, you have to now comply with the code,” he explained.

Some demolition was done to remove rotted wood. Craftsman are repointing the inside stone walls, digging into the caliche soil and putting in new piers to replace the old cedar posts on which the building’s framework rested.

Beukes said workers were astonished to find that while the old building was no longer level, it had shifted only one inch in more than 100 years.

A large underground cistern, rumored to hold 30,000 gallons of water, will capture all rainwater as in the past.

Extensive landscaping is planned, including water features, to create an oasis along busy Main Street.

Construction dust covers one of the most beloved staircases in all of Boerne. Many brides had wedding portraits taken here over the years, owner Debbie Gracy has learned.

An elegant staircase, where many Boerne brides of the past posed for wedding portraits, will be in use once again.

According to Beukes, the property was part of a 1,280-acre land grant from Mirabeau Lamar, president of the Republic of Texas, to John Small, and Lamar memorabilia will be incorporated into the historic artifact collection.

Gracy said the idea is to offer a community spot where people can interact comfortably as in the past.

“We are hoping to encourage people to be a little more adventuresome,” she said.