Kelso House Capital Campaign

The Kelso House is a City of San Antonio landmark, a National Register-listed architectural treasure, and home to the Living Heritage Trades Academy and Rehabber Club community workshops.

Since acquiring the Kelso House in 2018 via a generous donation, Power of Preservation Foundation (PoP) has collaborated with The University of Texas at San Antonio to offer a hands-on component to the Construction Science curriculum. This innovative partnership between UTSA, the City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation (OHP), and PoP is planned to continue throughout the Kelso House restoration to provide critical trades training to students planning on entering the fields of construction science and administration, architecture, and historic preservation.

Additionally, with the help of our workforce partners - Family Services, NXT Level, and Restore Education - PoP has hosted nearly 30 Living Heritage Trades Academy students this year as well as multiple community workshops on heritage trades. The LHTA students participate in an intensive on-the-job training course by Master Craftsman Victor Salas and a paid 10-week apprenticeship which puts them on their way to becoming professional tradespeople. We are so proud that our programming will produce the future practitioners and responsible stewards of our built heritage for decades to come.

The Power of Preservation Foundation’s primary fundraising vehicle, PROM, was sidelined in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, we’re proud to report that we have nearly completed the exterior of the Kelso House restoration thanks to our amazing contractors Guido Companies and Victor Salas, as well as our generous community stewards. To continue this work into the interior, we are launching our fall 2021 capital campaign to get us closer to stabilizing this important historic landmark for decades to come. We can’t wait to get even closer to reopening the Kelso House doors for the first time in decades.

You can support our work in restoring the Kelso House and rebuilding our local pool of traditional tradespeople by making a donation via the link below!

Prefer to split your pledge into multiple payments? Click here and choose “make this a monthly donation.”