The Mansion of Daisy and Violet Hilton, the Sensations of Vaudeville
Periodically, I enjoy exploring interesting sites in the areas just outside the boundaries of Monticello Park. For a number of years, every time I traveled Vance Jackson between Fredericksburg Road and I-10, I wondered why the apartments at the North East corner of Vance Jackson and Gardina were surrounded by a beautiful brick fence with a vaguely Asian design. The fence looked nothing like the apartments and was clearly much older. Who built that fence? Was there some older, grand building once on that property?
What I found fascinated me. This property, 941 Vance Jackson road, was once the home of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who played the vaudeville circuit in the 1920s. They were jazz musicians, tap dancers, and even part of a comedy act with Bob Hope. Their earnings were used to build an amazing mansion in what was then considered the outskirts of San Antonio. The house was brick, with a slate roof, and was designed by noted San Antonio architect and preservationist, Harvey Partridge Smith. It contained a full basement, an Egyptian lily pond, fountains from China, and apparently, its own water tower!
Hilton Mansion on Vance Jackson
In 1931, the twins won control of their lives and their money from their guardians/managers, who until that point contractually controlled all aspects of their lives. As part of the settlement, the guardians gained ownership of the mansion. At the same time, vaudeville was in serious decline, and the fortunes of the twins declined with it. The twins turned their focus to motion pictures, and were featured in several movies, including Freaks and Chained for Life, but they never achieved the level of their earlier success. In a sad turn of fate, the twins passed away, penniless, in 1969 at the age of 60, after working for the last nine years of their lives as produce clerks in a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina
Hilton Twins Vaudeville Poster
The fate of the mansion was equally terrible. The twins’ guardians sold the house in 1941 to William P. Taylor, owner of the Mayan Guest Ranch in Bandera. The mansion was still standing in 1966, but some time before 1973 it was sold to developers, who razed it and built apartments, a very sad ending for a spectacular mansion which was designed by a noted preservationist.
The next time you drive by that corner, try to imagine how spectacular that mansion must have looked, high upon that hill overlooking the twinkling lights of the growing city of San Antonio.
