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Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Central Texas » San Antonio (Bexar County) » Downtown San Antonio » La Mansion del Rio Hotel

La Mansion del Rio Hotel

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1857, François P. Giraud; 1968, Wallace B. Thomas; 1979 alterations and additions, Harwood K. Smith and Partners. 112 College St.

Encased at the center of the two-hundred-room, seven-story hotel is Giraud's St. Mary's School, constructed in 1857. The simplicity of the school buildings reflects Giraud's work at the Ursuline Academy and Convent ( SA55), but here the elevations have been changed through the addition by Thomas of mansard roofs and balconies that almost obscure the original structure. The Riverwalk elevation of the hotel alternates projecting and inset balconies whose planes follow the course of the river below, helping to break down the mass of the structure. The additions of 1979, with a heavy faux classicism of deep pilasters and round arches, do not continue the space style of Thomas's interpretation of the Giraud original.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "La Mansion del Rio Hotel", [San Antonio, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-SA22.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 151-151.

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