Maverick Building 1922, oldest commercial structure on Houston Street and the Emily Morgan Hotel, built as the Medical Arts Building in 1924.
I love both of these buildings and these photos. They will be in my September photo exhibit, “El Corazón de San Antonio” at the Greater Chamber of Commerce, September 1st – October 28th, 2009. The opening reception is Tuesday, September 22nd 5:30 – 8:00 pm.
These buildings are part of our historical and cultural heritage of San Antonio. I love them, their architecture, the signage, the light, color, the repetition but with variances. Just part of what intrigues me and attracts me to downtown SA. The contrast of the elegance and architecural detailing in the Emily Morgan is such a contrast to the simplicity of the Maverick Building.
The Maverick building is part of a rich family history in San Antonio. Samuel Maverick moved to San Antonio in March 1835. He was a signer of The Texas Declaration of Independence, a large land owner and a state legislator. Maverick County in west Texas was named after him. It was from his independent thinking that the term “Maverick” came from perhaps as much as his unbranded cattle. His descendants built the Maverick building in the early 1900s on the site of the Maverick hotel. His Grandson Maury Maverick served as a Congressman and Mayor of San Antonio. All of that is way too brief for the contribution this family has made in San Antonio and Texas. They were responsible in the early 1900′s for a lot of the development on Houston Street.
John McCain called himself a Maverick which was a joke. He is no Maverick!!! Here is a NY Times story link regarding: The Nation – Who You Callin’ a Maverick? – NYTimes.com
The Maverick Building was built in the early 1900′s and is said to be the oldest commercial structure remaining on Houston Street. After being boarded up for 15 years it was purchased in 1991 by the Maverick Partners Ltd, renovated and opened as apartments in 1996. A brief history is available here: MAVERICK BUILDING courtesy of Battersby Ornamental who did some of the exterior restoration work. They do beautiful work, check it out on their site.
The Emily Morgan Hotel was originally built as the Medical Arts Building in 1924 at a cost of 1.5 million by JM Nix who later would build the Nix Hospital (3 years later) and Majestic Building. In the promotional literature for the Medical Arts building it was described as the finest medical building in the state of Texas and a distinct compliment to the doctors of San Antonio to be able to call it home!
When attending Trinity I went to visit my classmate Jimmy Pipkin’s Grandfather, Dr. Louis Pipkin who maintained his dermatology practice there. I remember being amazed at the architecture of the building and the operators still running the manual elevators in 1973. It was renovated in 1976 to became the Landmark office building with some remaining medical but mostly business offices and still with hand operated elevators. I had friends with offices there and would be taken up to their floor. In 1984 it was closed, renovated again and reopened as the current Emily Morgan Hotel. In 1995 I moved into the Gibbs Building to office, not only did it still have manually controlled elevators, but they were operated by two of the original Medical Arts and Landmark Building elevator operators!! Talk about Déja Vu!! It really is a small world. Wonder if any Texas city still has manual elevators being operated today. The Gibbs closed in 2005 and with it the last hand operated elevators I know of to be in use here in SA. Just part of the uniqueness of San Antonio which I love.
Hope you enjoy the building histories. Please plan on going by The Chamber during the exhibit and seeing the large prints of these and other photographs of downtown San Antonio.
by Oscar
show hide 2 comments