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When I found the Berclair Mansion, it was a 10,000-square-foot landmark built in 1936 from 60 tons of concrete, brick, and structural steel, seeing four to ten visitors a month and running in the red. No website, no brand, no way to buy a ticket online. Today it’s a Best in Texas Regionial for 2026, nominated as a museum and guess what? It isn’t even a museum.
Where It Started
The mansion’s entire marketing plan was a quiet Facebook page, the occasional ad in the local paper, and a small sign 30 feet off the highway. If you caught the phone number at 55 miles an hour, you could call and ask when it was open.
Tours were paid for on paper credit card slips. The one big event each year sold tickets through a system so confusing that most people just sent checks and hoped the food would stretch, while the treasurer stared at them asking, “What is this for?” Times had changed, and the mansion had been left behind.
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How I Got Here
I visited, fell in love, and joined the art association that cares for the house. I gave tours, decorated for Christmas, and paid attention. One of the most remarkable homes in Texas, with all of its potential just sitting there waiting.
I was quickly promoted to 3rd Vice President. Then, after one more meeting about one more month in the red, I shared the plan I’d been building in my head. It changed the conversation, and a role was created for me to carry it out.
Finally, a Way In
There was no brand to refresh. No logo, no look, no voice. I built all of it from scratch, so for the first time, the website, the social media, and every event felt cohesive.
Then the mansion needed a real website, one that finally did it justice. Where it was, when you could visit, how to reach us, and everything waiting beyond the gates: monthly tours, legendary events, nearly a century of history, and a home you could actually book. Weddings, private fundraisers, photo shoots, and dinner parties at a literal king’s table. Stunning, more affordable than anywhere in South Texas, and almost no one knew any of it was possible.
Tickets for monthly tours and events moved online. No more card slips like it was 1980. No more mystery checks.
I brought the history back too. When it was completed in 1936, the mansion was one of the largest steel-framed residential houses in the United States, splashed across magazines and newspapers from the day the plans went public to the parties that became legendary. A portion of those archival photos now live on the site, all within the insurance company’s strict rules on what can be shown inside the home.
Press, Paranormal, and a “Ludicrous” Ticket Price
Now people needed to know it existed in a big way. I gave the local paper a real tour instead of a 50-word ad, and they wrote a real story. Texas Monthly added the mansion to its places to visit.
But monthly tours and two fundraisers a year still couldn’t pull the house into the black, so I stepped into fundraising. I knew a spooky fall event was the answer, even with a ticket price people called ludicrous: eight times a regular tour.
While I was touring a city paper through the home, strange noises started. I shared the stories left out of the regular tours. That led to a televised paranormal investigation with KRIS 6’s South Texas Haunts, and the investigators came back to work our haunted event for free.
It became the highest-grossing event with the lowest overhead, and brought in the most press of all.
The Voice of the House
I took over social media and all outside communications, becoming the point of contact for every question and every announcement. I shot the b-roll myself. Other art associations started reaching out to ask how they could do the same.
And through all of it, I kept my board seat and my volunteer shifts. Giving tours at events. Decorating rooms for Christmas, and the entire mansion for Halloween.
A house most people had driven past for years, now in the paper, on TV, and in Texas Monthly.
Still Handling It
Then I moved across the country. I couldn’t give tours anymore, but I didn’t walk away.
Today I consult with the board every month on where to go next, and I’m their first call when something goes sideways. And occasionally we jump on the photo just to chat about what weird things have happened at the mansion at night.
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2026 Best in Texas Regional Winner
Out of the red, after month after month of losses
The highest-grossing fundraiser with the lowest overhead
Online ticketing and card payments, replacing paper slips and mystery checks
Coverage in The Victoria Advocate, on KRIS 6, and in Texas Monthly
Entirely new demographics at tours and events
New vendors at holiday events
Other art associations asking how to do the same
A new sign on the highway, with lights this time
A sexy mystery novel it apparently inspired
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