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Robert Scott Dilworth was born September 24, 1868,
in Gonzales, Texas. R.S., or Scott, as he was called, was
educated at the University of Virginia, returned home
and went into the banking business with his father. Scott
was a very astute businessman and in 1900 he joined
C.T. Rather, Madden Fly and T.F. Harwood to build the
Gonzales Cotton Mill which prospered until the 1950s.
When his father died in 1911, Scott and his brother, Coke
E. Dilworth, owned and operated the Dilworth Bank.
In 1906, the Dilworths sold their home on Hamilton
Street and employed noted architect, J. Riely Gordon, to
design their elegant Greek Revival house. Construction
began about 1908 and was completed in 1911. Built of
St. Louis pressed brick, without a foot of pine lumber,
the house has three floors and a full basement. It rests
on terraced grounds with a brick wall, wrought-iron
gates, a wide terrazzo walk leading to marble steps and
terrazzo-floored piazza flanked by white Corinthian
columns extending the full height of the second floor.
The entrance opens into a spacious reception hall
with walls finished in mahogany paneling and tapestry.
Massive mahogany beams run across the ceiling in the
entry hall and the hardwood floor is oak, bordered in
walnut, birch and maple. An immense fireplace is finished
in Rookwood tiling of dull olive green and old blue. To
the right of the front entrance, double doors open into
a parlor that extends the entire length of the house and
into a conservatory. Walls are paneled in quarter sawn
old English oak. At the far end of the hall is a graceful,
R.S. DILWORTH
HOUSE
903 St. Lawrence Street
Photograph by Albrecht Photography
Historic Photo courtesy of the Gonzales County archives.
