Building Description Robert E. Lee Hotel, San Antonio Texas
Constructed in 1922-23 to the designs of prominent architect Herbert S. Green, this 3-part vertical block features detailing drawn from the Classical Revival style. The 10-story U-plan composition conforms to Longstreths' typology for 3-part vertical blocks, a dominant urban form in the early 20th century. Cast stone sheathing on the first two floors provides a visual base for seven floors of red brick masonry surmounted by a richly ornamented upmost floor. The building occupies a prominent site in San Antonio's downtown commercial center. Partial demolition in 1988 removed a lateral 1-story retail wing and most historic fenestration.
The building occupies the southern portion of the block bounded by Travis Street on the south, Salinas Street on the north, Main Avenue on the east and Flores Street on the west. At the northwestern edge of the city's downtown business district, the remainder of the block is occupied by the Castafiola Building (today called the Alpha Hotel), also constructed by the Travis Building Corporation in 1922. Nearby buildings are of varying heights, with the most prominent being the 21-story Milam Building, the 10-story Travis Building to the east and the 8-story Rand Building one block to the south. All buildings to the west are lower in scale.
The U-plan, 10-story building is constructed of reinforced concrete with a brick and cast exterior. It features a full basement and a flat built-up roof. A 1-story lateral extension that housed small shops and the hotel restaurant was demolished in 1988, but the hotel tower was saved by preservationists. The tower is faced in red brick and rises from a 2-story base fully clad in cast stone on the ground level, and partially clad on the second level. Cast stone decoration includes ninth floor window heads, tenth floor cartouches and pilaster strips, and a projecting cornice above the tenth floor. The building terminates in a brick parapet with inset decorative panels and a cast stone coping. Paired windows are flanked by single openings on the south elevation. Corner bays on the east and west sides, and rooms facing east and west to the light court have single windows. The double hung, 1/1 wood sash windows were removed in 1988. Ground floor storefront windows and doors are bricked or covered with plywood. The interior is badly deteriorated, but the lobby retains much of its coffered ceiling, capital details and ceramic tile flooring. Guest room floors, typical of early 20th century hotels, each have 18 rooms opening off a central 5-foot wide corridor. All rooms have baths one step up from the bedroom. Remaining doors are wood paneled or louvered and walls are plaster over metal lath. Concrete floors were once carpeted.
The Robert E. Lee Hotel faces on Travis Street between North Flores Street and North Main Avenue at the northwest corner of the downtown business district. The exterior of the hotel remains in good condition, with its architectural integrity recognizable despite the loss of the east wing, historic fenestration and some ground floor alterations. Vandalism and neglect have taken their toll on the hotel interior.
On Travis Street at the northwest corner of San Antonio's downtown business district, the hotel occupies an area that was both residential and commercial in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1910, speculative developers were constructing buildings such as the 10-story Clower (1910; demolished) and 8-story Rand (1913) only one block from this site. When completed in 1923, the Robert E. Lee was both the city's tallest hotel and its tallest building at the north edge of downtown. The location and stature of the hotel still define the northwest boundary of the downtown business district.
In its present configuration, the hotel measures approximately 74' X 82'. As originally constructed with its 1-story extension, it measured approximately 146' X 82' on Travis and Flores Streets and 146' X 56' on Travis and Main. The hotel's floor plan is typical of other buildings of its type and age. The first floor was devoted to public functions, and is divided into the main lobby, elevator lobby and commercial lease spaces. The 1988 demolition destroyed the eastern portion of the main lobby and the one-story lateral extension that housed the coffee shop and lease spaces. The remaining lobby has been damaged by years of weather and vandalism, but retains much of its historic fabric. The lobby is oriented on a north/south axis running the depth of the building. Its floor to ceiling height is about 14'8". It retains a decorative plaster coffered ceiling and capital details, as well as 1" white hexagonal tile flooring with decorative bands in black. Lobby walls, columns and column bases are finished in plaster.
The original hotel desk at the north end of the lobby is damaged, and only one panel remains of three original leaded art glass windows behind the desk. A wood and glass entry enclosure in the lobby remains intact, as do partitions that separated the lobby from lease spaces on the west side of the building. Some of these partitions served as display windows. The enclosed, full-height staircase is strictly utilitarian, with no decorative features. Its treads and risers are of concrete. A portion of the simple oak handrail remains intact. Two elevators served all floors of the hotel. The basement housed a boiler room, fuel bin accessed from the sidewalk above, and restrooms.
The U-plan configuration creates a light court between the east and west guest room wings that extends from the second through tenth floors. This assured natural light and ventilation for all guest rooms in the era before climate control. The hotel finish out is typical of the period, with little ornamental interior detailing. Floors two through ten each incorporate 18 rooms opening off a central 5-foot wide corridor that runs north/south. The concrete floor was once carpeted. The floor to ceiling height is approximately 9'10".
The typical hotel room consisted of a bedroom and a bath raised one step up from the bedroom. Interior walls are of plaster and metal lath, and exterior walls are plaster over structural tile. The plaster is in generally poor condition. Virtually all bathroom, plumbing and electrical fixtures have been damaged or removed. The interior window jambs, door jambs, doors, and transoms are milled from oak. Remaining hallway doors are either wood paneled or louvered, and are in poor condition.
The hotel's main entrance faces south onto Travis Street and features curved, fluted terrazzo panels flanking double wood frame and glass doors. Although the entrance is now boarded over and the aluminum marquee badly damaged, its design appears to date the 1938 remodeling. In the original building, no canopy covered this entrance. The canopy once featured neon letters emblazoning "Robt. E. Lee Hotel" in its three faces.
Above the entrance, a cast stone balustrade connects the east and west towers. The hotel originally incorporated side entrances from both North Flores Street on the west and South Main Avenue on the east. The west entrance is boarded up, and the east entrance has been demolished. An original corner entrance at the intersection of Travis and Flores Streets is also bricked and boarded over. The multiple-bay ground floor consists of plain pilasters, storefront plate glass windows, oak doors with inset glass panels, and transoms clad in white cast stone. Storefront windows and doors have been either infilled with brick or boarded over. The transoms were originally glazed with fluted glass that has been replaced or, where extant, has been painted.
An unadorned simple molding separates the ground from second floor. Pilasters of the east and west guest room towers display Corinthian motifs, and a projecting white cast stone cornice with egg and dart molding separates the second floor from the upper eight stories. This detailing creates the appearance of a double-height podium, but at less cost than fully facing the first two floors in cast stone. Floors three through nine are faced in red brick, originally with paired double-hung windows flanked by single double-hung windows in the corner bays on the east, west, and south elevations. Rooms facing east and west on the light court and on the north elevation has single double-hung windows. Sills are of white cast stone.
The guest room towers exhibit virtually no detailing from floors three through eight. Cast stone banding separates the ninth and tenth floors on the east and west sides of the building and the interior elevations of the light court, while on the primary (south) facade the ninth/tenth floor separation is defined by a projecting cornice. On the tenth floor, the pilasters at the corners of each tower and on its south elevation are decorated with classical motifs including cartouches. Above the cartouches, a dentil molding and plain cornice run along the south elevation of each tower, wrapping around the corners of the building. A brick parapet with cast stone coping surmounts the composition. Four panels of classical decoration are inset in the parapet on both the east and west towers. Two full-height fire escapes manufactured by Southern Steel Company of San Antonio rise in the light court of the building from the second to tenth floor. Three metal downspouts and an air ventilation shaft extend the full height of the north elevation.
Large signs with electrified metal letters emblazoned "Hotel Robert E. Lee, Air-Conditioned" surmount the building on both the east and west towers. These were added in the 1938 remodelling of the hotel. A neon sign reading "100% Air-Conditioned" is situated on the north parapet. At the top of the north facade is a painted sign proclaiming "Hotel Robt. E. Lee." The historic water cooling tower and water tank also remain on the roof .
