Tower Life Building, 310 South Saint Mary's Street, San Antonio, Texas, USA / Built: 1929 / Architect: Atlee & Robert M. Ayres / Floors: 31 / Height: 404 ft / Added to NRHP: November 13, 1991

The Tower Life Building is a landmark and historic building in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Construction of the tower began in 1927 and the building rises 404 feet (123 meters) and has 31 floors. The building, which opened in 1929, was originally named the Smith-Young Tower and is the central component of a partially completed development called the Bowen Island Skyscrapers. The eight-sided, neo-gothic brick and Ludowici green terra-cotta tower (complete with gargoyles) was designed by noted local architectural firm Ayres & Ayres (Atlee & Robert M. Ayres).

While the exterior uses traditional materials such as brick, the internal structure is reinforced concrete on the lower floors, and steel frame on the upper floors. The building also housed San Antonio's first Sears, Roebuck and Company store in its lowest 6 levels.

The other completed building in the development is the former Plaza Hotel (also designed by Ayres & Ayres), which opened in 1927. The property became the local outlet of Hilton Hotels in 1956 and was converted into the Granada Apartments in 1966. Subsequent structures in the development were never built as a direct result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

In the 1940s the building was renamed the Transit Tower for the San Antonio Transit Company, which the Smith Brothers purchased in 1943. In 1953 a television transmission tower was added to the structure. Renovations in 2010 removed the obsolete television mast in favor of the tower's original design, a copper top house with a 100 ft tall flagpole.

The building is now named for its current owner, Tower Life Insurance Company.

In 1991 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Life_Building

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Taken in: United States / Texas / San Antonio (show map)

Taken on: November 20, 2021

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Tower Life Building

310 South Saint Mary's Street

Texas

USA

Built: 1929

Architect: Atlee & Robert M. Ayres

Floors: 31

Height: 404 ft

Added to NRHP: November 13

1991

The Lone Star State

the state's oldest municipality

San Antonio–New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area

Greater San Antonio

Saint Anthony of Padua

UNESCO World Heritage sites

largest majority-Hispanic city in the United States

urban

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Smith-Young Tower

Bowen Island Skyscrapers

eight-sided

neo-gothic brick and Ludowici green terra-cotta tower

gargoyles

brick

housed San Antonio's first Sears Roebuck and Company store in its lowest 6 levels

Transit Tower

Renovations in 2010 removed the obsolete television mast in favor of the tower's original design

a copper top house with a 100 ft tall flagpole « less

Sets appears in: • City of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA

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