DK Travel : San Antonio and Austin : Architecture

Alamodome

This huge, oval-shaped enclosed sports and entertainment arena uses four towers and a steel cable support system to keep the 175-ft 53- m high dome aloft. Designed by Marmon Mok, this facility can seat up to 72,000 for various events, including concerts, sporting events, trade-shows, and conventions. The venue has two Olympic-size ice rinks for hockey, figure skating, and speed skating.
Majestic Theatre

The Majestic was the second largest theater in the nation when it opened in 1929. Designed and built by John Eberson, it was considered the most modern building in Texas at the time. Its elaborate Spanish Mission, Baroque, and Mediterranean architectural styles blend into an interior world of fantasy. Closed in 1974, the restored theater reopened in 1989 (see Majestic Theatre ).
Mission San José

Known as the “Queen of Missions,” Mission San José is famous for its elaborate Spanish Colonial Baroque architecture, stone sculptures, and carved wooden doors. This massive limestone church was built between 1768 and 1782. The carved stone Rose Window is considered to be the premier example of Spanish Colonial ornamentation in the country (see Mission San José ).
Ramada Emily Morgan

Designed by architect Ralph Cameron, the Gothic Revival detailing of the 1926 Medical Arts Building, now the Ramada Emily Morgan hotel, is unusual in Texas. Seeming taller than its 13 stories, this imposing building has a distinctive sculpted façade. The terracotta gargoyles feature many ailments, including toothache, which would have been treated here (see Emily Morgan ).
San Antonio Botanical Garden & Lucile Halsell Conservatory

Designed by architect Emilo Ambasz, the seven cylindrical pyramid-shaped greenhouses ofthe conservatory tower over a pond ringed by flowers and trees. They run 16 ft 5 m underground to utilize the earth’s cooling effect in hot Texan summers (see San Antonio Botanical Garden & Lucile Halsell Conservatory ).
San Antonio Central Library

Created by architect Ricardo Legorretta, this striking red library opened in 1995. It is modernist in design, with a six-story atrium, angular layout, and outdoor plazas.
San Fernando Cathedral

Construction of the oldest cathedral in the US began in 1731 when the cornerstone of the first parish church in Texas was laid by the Canary Islanders. The exact geographical center of San Antonio was located beneath the dome. The original walls remain forming a sanctuary around the altar. Much of the original church was replaced by a grand French Gothic addition in 1874, when Pope Pius IX raised San Antonio to a diocese (see French Gothic Addition ).
Spanish Governor’s Palace

Built in the Spanish Colonial style, this masonry building has a keystone above the entrance with 1749 as the date of construction and the Hapsburg coat of arms. Apart from the San Fernando Cathedral, this is the last major building from the Spanish period still standing in the center of San Antonio (see Spanish Governor’s Palace ).
Tower Life Building

Designed by San Antonio native Robert Moss Ayres and completed in 1929, this 41-story Neo-Gothic building still dominates the skyline. The unusual octagonal shaped brick office has carved gargoyles on the upper setbacks to protect the building, and an elaborate marble-walled lobby. It was San Antonio’s tallest building until 1968, and the tallest office building until 1989.
Tower of the Americas

This striking tower rising 750 ft 229 m to the antenna tip, was built for the 1968 HemisFair . Architect O’Neil Ford placed the center of gravity underground, using a base of 2,400 tons of concrete. The top portion, including the restaurant and observation deck, was built on the ground and then raised as the tower was constructed.