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SA History BLOG |
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October 2009
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There likely is no building more noticed in San Antonio than the Tower Life Building downtown. It's also likely that there is no building in our city with more misinformation spread about it. I have heard river boat guides say some really preposterous things about the tower - the original owner committed suicide in the Depression by leaping from its parapet; the gargoyles were added to mark that suicide; the place is haunted because--well, you get the idea.
It's likely I know more about the building than the guides not only because of my experience but because I interviewed the man who designed it shortly before his death in 1977. Bob Ayres was the son of local architect Atlee B. Ayres, but the Tower was the first big building he designed on his own. The Tower looked the way it did not because of any haunting or suicides but because the Gothic style was popular in the 1920s; somehow developers thought that modern skyscrapers that looked like 800-year old European cathedrals would sell better. When the boss of Smith Brothers Properties first talked to Ayres, he stated he wanted "one of those towers like they're building back East." Ayres, still in his twenties at the time, sat down and turned out a Gothic spire at least as good as any existing, complete with green tile roof. The building was to go on what was then called Bowen's Island, an area where the San Antonio River split naturally for a few dozen yards. The area was filled in and the river rechanneled and building began, right at the height of the Roaring 20s. At the time, it was one of the tallest buildings west of the Mississippi. It was called the Smith-Young Tower after the developer and the company's general counsel, Judge J.W. Young. The Tiffany lamp people designed the elevator doors, which to this day still have the "SYT" design on them.
Many San Antonians remember that our current downtown library was once the location of the big downtown Sears store, but much fewer are still alive to remember that the Tower's bottom four floors were the original home of the downtown Sears, Roebuck store (which explains why the bottom floors are so much wider than the Tower itself). The store opened on March 7, 1929, a few months before the Tower itself. Rental of offices in the Tower was handled by the offices of Joe Nix. Nix owned the major commercial real estate business in town at the time, though today he's known for just one of his developments - the Nix Hospital.
The Smith-Young Tower opened for rental just a few weeks before the Crash in late 1929, so its first few years were not exactly prosperous. A week before Christmas in 1942, the building was renamed the Transit Tower after the newly-reorganized San Antonio Transit Company, which operated buses and trolleys in the city. But they were just major tenants; the building had actually been bought by the Tower Life Insurance Company. KENS-TV spent its first six years in the Tower, with studios on the lower floors and transmitter at the top. Channel 5 moved to a building behind the Express-News on Avenue E in 1956. In 1960, the building was once again renamed, this time for its owner. That's why it's called the Tower Life Building (and not the Tower of Life Building, as I have heard many times). In a few weeks, the Tower will turn 80. Its design and visibility make it one of the most-photographed buildings in town (after the Alamo) and also one of those featured whenever national broadcasts originate in our city. Not many 80-year olds can claim they get as much attention today as the day they were born, but this one can. Smith-Young Tower advertisement from San Antonio Light, March 6, 1929. Special section in San Antonio Light, March 6, 1929. "Crossroads" advertisement from San Antonio Express, January 1, 1929. Note the cigar-smoking, sombreroed man representing Mexico, a typical image of its day. 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
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Chris Marrou Learn more about the rich history of San Antonio with Chris Marrou! |
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When I was a child growing up on the southside near Military Drive and Commercial, my parents would take us kids outside after dark and point to the Tower Life Building and say that the light near the top of the building would be red if someone had died in a traffic accident in San Antonio that day, and green on other days. As a 60-year-old, now I wonder if that's true. Who knows what the different colors really represented?
Enjoyed this article. I have heard that the Tower Life Building was the first Air Conditioned bilding in the USA or was it the Nix Professional building? Please confirm.
thank you.
Reba Swan
San Antonio, Tx
I have passed by this building numerous times on my frequent trips down. My parents only recently told me what it was actually used for. I hadn't, however, heard the story of the original owner killing himself by jumping off of the top. But then again, don't most historic and monumental landmarks in this town have some sort of ghost story to go along with them?
Chris! This is a great article! Very helpful too. We stayed at The Westin Riverwalk across the street from the tower and my husband asked me the name of it. I could not remember for the life of me and was embarassed that I had forgotten it over the years so I came right home to Houston and looked it up. My Dad remembers it being called The Smith-Young Tower. We grew up in New Braunfels. Well, I ended up going to business school at San Antonio Community College that was once located at the corner of Market and Navarro, now the location of The Westin Riverwalk hotel. So much has changed in San Antonio but many wonderful things are still the same. The Tower Life Building stands out over one of the most beautiful cities in the world. What an outstanding tribute to a city rich with such a wonderful history.