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San Antonio Express News Building

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1930, Herbert S. Green. Ave. E at 3rd St.
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )

The headquarters for one of the city's largest newspapers, the Express News Building benefits from its obtuse-angled corner site. Green exploited this location by placing the setback, twelve-story, semi-octagonal tower at the points of the angle, emphasizing the entrance to the five-story, limestone-clad building. The detailing, especially the eagles emerging from the piers flanking the main doorway, recalls Green's design for the San Antonio Public Library ( SA43), but here the character is much more Art Deco, especially in the zigzag-patterned spandrel panels. Sculptor Pompeo Coppini created the more naturalistic figurative stone bas-relief above the entrance, which features panels representing Labor, Education, Enlightenment, Truth, and Justice. The octagonal entrance lobby is an elaborate combination of marble and mosaics.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "San Antonio Express News Building", [San Antonio, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-SA10.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 148-148.

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