Born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, Alfred Giles (1853-1920) was the son of Thomas Giles and Sophie Brown. After attending the Proprietary School at Gravesend, Kent, he began an apprenticeship with the Giles and Bivens architectural firm in London, while also taking classes at King’s College, University of London. In 1873, Giles immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Texas, where he worked for a building contractor in San Antonio. Three years later, he established his own architectural firm in San Antonio, which designed a number of notable buildings throughout Texas and Mexico, including the Gillespie County Courthouse in Fredericksburg and the Banco Mercantil in Monterrey. In 1881, Giles married Annie Laura James, with whom he had eight children. The couple purchased land near Comfort, where they built a ranch and raised horses, mules, Aberdeen-Angus cattle, and Angora goats. In addition to serving as the chairman of the Texas State Association of Architects, Giles was a member of the Texas Cattle Raisers’ Association and helped establish the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association.
Source:
George, Mary Carolyn Hollers.
The Alfred Giles Building Specification, 1903, consists of Giles’ architectural plans of a building for Laura M. Graves in San Antonio, Texas. The document contains a detailed report of materials to be used, measurements, and costs. Additionally, the specification includes plans for how to handle bids from contractors.
This collection is open for research use.
Alfred Giles Building Specification, 1903, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s