The Norton-Polk-Mathis House in San Antonio displays a well-integrated design well suited for the primary purpose of the building: to impress. This is evidenced by the fact that the building was designed with the street it faces in mind. Only the South façade is architecturally interesting or involved – the sides of the building are flat, featureless, and uninteresting. The house was designed not only as a living area, but also as a structure to be seen from the street and awed. This intent is expressed through the use of typical Renaissance ideals of order and weight, and, while it is asymmetrical, the building is well balanced and stable. The choice of materials also reflects the "re-discovery" of antiquity prevalent in the Italian Renaissance. The white stone lends an elegant simplicity to the building yet it radiates an air of strength and mass reminiscent of the Parthenon or the Athenian temples – especially when juxtaposed with the other, seemingly fragile brick and wood homes of the neighborhood.