SAN ANTONIO | Thompson Hotel and Residences | 314 FEET | 20 FLOORS | U/C

[Fryguy]

Damn! The details on the Milam building!

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by The Model

[IMG]Arts Thompson Construction by Raul Medina III, on Flickr[/IMG]

(like button)

[AwesomeSAView]

The Milam Building's art deco architecture is absolutely stunning!! Only a few American cities have beautiful buildings like these left in there downtown. SA is one!!!
Other cities have demolished old buildings and opted to erect glass skyscrapers.
There needs to be a mix IMO of the old and the new!

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView

The Milam Building's art deco architecture is absolutely stunning!! Only a few American cities have beautiful buildings like these left in there downtown. SA is one!!!
Other cities have demolished old buildings and opted to erect glass skyscrapers.
There needs to be a mix IMO of the old and the new!

Very few American cities ever had buildings from this era at this scale to begin with.

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView

The Milam Building's art deco architecture is absolutely stunning!! Only a few American cities have beautiful buildings like these left in there downtown. SA is one!!!
Other cities have demolished old buildings and opted to erect glass skyscrapers.
There needs to be a mix IMO of the old and the new!

If you had to pick one - and only one - building in downtown SA, what would it be?

Similar question: If you had to pick one - and only one - building worldwide, what would it be?

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Very few American cities ever had buildings from this era at this scale to begin with.

If my memory serves me correctly, only Chicago (some of the best architecture in all of world history; of course, that is purely subjective), New York, and San Antonio, have these types of buildings. What really bugs people in San Antonio (and anyone that visits and/or knows of San Antonio's history) is the very fact that San Antonio started off so strong, the likes of the former two cities previously mentioned. When it came to highrises, San Anotnio just stopped for some reason. One of the biggest excuses was that San Antonio was small, more cohesive, in which any new architectural inspirations would have overshadow existing structures. Yet that was never the case for Chicago or New York.

A lot of things are changing now. Unfortunately, it is not at the macro level (i.e., taller buildings, larger overall projects). On the one hand, San Antonio is finally addressing areas of downtown often architecturally overlooked (e.g., 601 N. St. Mary's Street) and areas that have been visablity dilapidated or abandoned for decades (e.g., the Solo Serve building on Solodad Street). On the other hand, San Antonio has yet to address the small town feel vs the big town feel that flows throughout not only downtown but other parts as well, frequently demonstrated in its short-term demands of business and residential buildings. It is no surprise that many developers of previously built structures in downtown wish they could have done things differently, often cited by a desire to add more floors to previously finished buildings and by adding more (or less) commercial space (see, https://saheron.com/the-vistana-apar...ng-to-be-sold/) and/or parking.

- CDM

*some references are missing; will add them with time.

[NYC2ATX]

The old stock of architecture in the core of San Antonio is nothing short of remarkable, especially for a city in the south. As someone from the Northeast, the first time I visited SA, I couldn't believe how much it resembled places like Philly and Boston to me, which seemed that much more exceptional in south central Texas.

Originally Posted by Fryguy

What really bugs people in San Antonio (and anyone that visits and/or knows of San Antonio's history) is the very fact that San Antonio started off so strong, the likes of the former two cities previously mentioned. When it came to highrises, San Antonio just stopped for some reason.

Another different observation in the above photo, buildings like the Weston Centre and Bank of America Plaza bear such a resemblance to the contemporaneously-built skyscrapers in Austin. With that brown polished stone (granite?) and bronzed glass materials, and the distinctly postmodern designs, they could be the SA cousins of 100 and 111 Congress in Austin. It makes sense they would bear regional similarities, and Weston in particular would have been taller than anything in Austin at that time and for some time after, but how the two cities' paths have diverged since 2000 is really fascinating. It's not a race, but if it was..

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by Fryguy

If my memory serves me correctly, only Chicago (some of the best architecture in all of world history; of course, that is purely subjective), New York, and San Antonio, have these types of buildings. What really bugs people in San Antonio (and anyone that visits and/or knows of San Antonio's history) is the very fact that San Antonio started off so strong, the likes of the former two cities previously mentioned. When it came to highrises, San Anotnio just stopped for some reason. One of the biggest excuses was that San Antonio was small, more cohesive, in which any new architectural inspirations would have overshadow existing structures. Yet that was never the case for Chicago or New York.


- CDM

Population growth (low), sprawl (high), public transportation (practically non-existent).

New York and Chicago's populations outgrew SA's by leaps and bounds during those years, so with lower demand comes lower supply. Combine that with the tremendous amount of urban sprawl that San Antonio embraced during those years, and a near complete lack of subway, rail or useful bus transport for people to get into the downtown area, and you ended up with low-rise office parks and such in the suburbs instead of highrise office buildings downtown.

USAA's headquarters is a perfect example. It would be a 50+ story building downtown. Instead it's a mile-long eyesore in the suburbs.

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

Population growth (low), sprawl (high), public transportation (practically non-existent).

New York and Chicago's populations outgrew SA's by leaps and bounds during those years, so with lower demand comes lower supply. Combine that with the tremendous amount of urban sprawl that San Antonio embraced during those years, and a near complete lack of subway, rail or useful bus transport for people to get into the downtown area, and you ended up with low-rise office parks and such in the suburbs instead of highrise office buildings downtown.

USAA's headquarters is a perfect example. It would be a 50+ story building downtown. Instead it's a mile-long eyesore in the suburbs.

Very true. And actually, if USAA headquarters were all in one building, which would have looked better, surrounded by acres of trees, pounds and park; a true Utopian dream, it would be taller than the Willis Tower*. Knowing that, can be maddening. But it is what it is.

P.S., I do love Downtown San Antonio. It's one of the prettiest cities at night and I hope for it to one day be as pretty (or more) during the day. All I would like of downtown San Antonio is for people to take care of the older, historical buildings and that we add in some modern structures. It's important that we diversity our architectural footprint. If we don't, years from now we will be known as being stuck in one subset of architectural movement. Similar to Chicago, having structures from all different periods of architecture achievement, adds to its skyline prestige and growth. It shows, among many aspects, a society of people willing to impress change in changing times.

*Formerly known as Sears Tower.

-CDM

[AwesomeSAView]

San Antonio is truly unique in that it has a mix of art deco buildings, mid century buildings, and now twentieth century highrises, such as the Frost, Thompson, and Canopy in its downtown skyline!!!

Absolutely stunning!

The Tower Life Building is my fav with the gargoyles and all.....

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView

San Antonio is truly unique in that it has a mix of art deco buildings, mid century buildings, and now twentieth century highrises, such as the Frost, Thompson, and Canopy in its downtown skyline!!!

Absolutely stunning!

The Tower Life Building is my fav with the gargoyles and all.....

Focusing only on San Antonio, it is a difficult choice between the new Frost Tower and Milam Building. If the San Antonio Express News building was taller, it would be a definitive yes to that one as my favorite building in San Antonio. Whereas, my choice concerning buildings worldwide - the Williams Tower in Houston, Texas. The Williams Tower is a mounting achievement of not only architecture but also of human history; the sine qua non of architectural acquisition of historic mastery.

- CDM

[Spoiler]

Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView

San Antonio is truly unique in that it has a mix of art deco buildings, mid century buildings, and now twentieth century highrises, such as the Frost, Thompson, and Canopy in its downtown skyline!!!

Absolutely stunning!

The Tower Life Building is my fav with the gargoyles and all.....

agreed

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Fryguy

If my memory serves me correctly, only Chicago (some of the best architecture in all of world history; of course, that is purely subjective), New York, and San Antonio, have these types of buildings. What really bugs people in San Antonio (and anyone that visits and/or knows of San Antonio's history) is the very fact that San Antonio started off so strong, the likes of the former two cities previously mentioned. When it came to highrises, San Anotnio just stopped for some reason. One of the biggest excuses was that San Antonio was small, more cohesive, in which any new architectural inspirations would have overshadow existing structures. Yet that was never the case for Chicago or New York.

A lot of things are changing now. Unfortunately, it is not at the macro level (i.e., taller buildings, larger overall projects). On the one hand, San Antonio is finally addressing areas of downtown often architecturally overlooked (e.g., 601 N. St. Mary's Street) and areas that have been visablity dilapidated or abandoned for decades (e.g., the Solo Serve building on Solodad Street). On the other hand, San Antonio has yet to address the small town feel vs the big town feel that flows throughout not only downtown but other parts as well, frequently demonstrated in its short-term demands of business and residential buildings. It is no surprise that many developers of previously built structures in downtown wish they could have done things differently, often cited by a desire to add more floors to previously finished buildings and by adding more (or less) commercial space (see, https://saheron.com/the-vistana-apar...ng-to-be-sold/) and/or parking.

- CDM

*some references are missing; will add them with time.

Philadelphia: One South Broad, Wells Fargo Building, etc.
Baltimore: 10 Light Street, Constellation Energy Building, Fidelity Building
Boston: Custom House Tower, Berkeley Building
Providence: Hospital Trust, Turk's Head, Biltmore, Industrial National Bank
Houston: 721 Main Street
Cincinnati has a number of them, as does Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, and a few others. El Paso also has a couple. Remember when it was considered a large city? Neither do I because nobody alive is old enough to remember that.

That's still a very small collection of cities.

[PDG91]

So does anyone know exactly how many more floors they have left to complete? I counted on the webcam that they're currently working on the 14th floor starting from where that big balcony is facing the riverwalk and if we're going according to the rendering, there's 15 floors above that balcony? I know that the building is suppose to have 20 floors but I'm confused on if they consider a garage level a "floor"?

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by PDG91

So does anyone know exactly how many more floors they have left to complete? I counted on the webcam that they're currently working on the 14th floor starting from where that big balcony is facing the riverwalk and if we're going according to the rendering, there's 15 floors above that balcony? I know that the building is suppose to have 20 floors but I'm confused on if they consider a garage level a "floor"?

They do in a sense. They are half floors according to renderings.

[JACKinBeantown]

In the renderings there are 16 floors starting at the pool level, plus another "crown" that is equal in height to a floor. So the equivalent of 17 floors from the pool level to the top. As you said, they're on the 14th, so two more floors and the "crown" above that.

[Fryguy]

This past week, the hotel has begun to make a presence in the skyline. It will look much more significant with the skyline as they start to add the exterior.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by Fryguy

This past week, the hotel has begun to make a presence in the skyline. It will look much more significant with the skyline as they start to add the exterior.

Prove it.

[Fryguy]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

Prove it.

lol don't know how to post pics on here.

In other news, I believe they started to raise the crane.

[babysal]

The crane was raised quite a bit. Anyone know what floor they are on? How many floors left? This project is going to be a real gem for this area around the Tobin Center. I really hope they light this one up like a torch