The Tower Life building is about to undergo extensive remodeling to extend its life into its second 100 years.
It was built in the late 1920s as an office tower and a home for the city’s first Sears. The remodeling will re-imagine it as an apartment building, with retail at street level.
Amigo Walking Tours spent portions of April and May giving tours to the curious before the whole thing was to be shut down. Amigo’s Brent Salter said those popular walking tours that ended last month are now back on.
“Initially it was until May 15th, and that was to allow the building to be prepared for its construction and closure,” Salter said. “We were thrilled that the tours could be extended and that they will now run until June 30th.”
Salter said many visitors came downtown to take the tour in the past month.
“There are probably 1,200 to 1,300 folks have gotten to come on the tour and learn about its history and explore its tunnel and its basement and its upper floors,” he said. “And some of those guests don't say a word on the tour, and others can barely stop talking about how much the building means to them. It's just been amazing to see the response.”
Salter said many of those who come on tours are San Antonians who have long seen the handsome brick skyscraper but have never been inside. Others have a connection that runs a little deeper.
“The granddaughters of the architect came on the tour and said, ‘we've never been in this building. And we were raised by our grandfather.' And so it's amazing to see this,” he said.
When Tower Life first opened, it was named the Smith Young Tower for Jim and Albert Smith, the two brothers who built the tower. Sears occupied the first four floors.
“Sears had just opened their first brick and mortar store in Chicago in 1925, and this is just four years later that San Antonio is getting this quote unquote, cutting edge, method of merchandise,” Salter said, pointing to the tower's broader connection with 20th century San Antonio history.
“The 3rd Army was based in that building from 1940 to 1942, and the chief of staff at the time becomes [a] brigadier general. ... It's Dwight Eisenhower. So he winds up being pretty famous, as president of the U.S. And he called the 7th floor his office space for a while.”
Another slice of presidential history goes back to November1934, when a young man in a suit rushed in to buy something that had been forgotten by a groom.
“’I need a ring.’ And the clerk says, ‘what size of ring do you need?’ And he said, ‘I don't know.’ And so he winds up buying 12 different sizes of wedding rings and runs back to the wedding site, which was St. Mark's Episcopal Church,” Salter said.
“The bride holds up her hand and they try on the different rings, and the one that fits is $2.98. And that is the story of Lady Bird Johnson's wedding ring right there.”
The walking tour includes these stories and many more, including those of the building’s gargoyles that stick out at several places on the building.
Technically, since they don’t have rainwater that flows through them, they’re called grotesques, and a close look at them suggests grotesque is a good name. The many faces are comedic or look surprised, and they give the building a playful flair.
That Amigo Walking Tour will take visitors to the expansive first floor, where the Sears entrance was, the basement, including the tunnel under St. Mary’s Street, the huge 4th floor balcony overlooking the city, and the 30th floor balcony, where the views seem to go on forever.
Tickets are $40, and Salter said proceeds are split with Centro San Antonio. You can purchase tickets at amigowalkingtours.com
