Conservation Society sues to halt demolition of Texas Pavilion but it goes on
April 26, 2025 the Conservation Society of San Antonio filed a lawsuit to halt demolition of the 1968 Texas Pavilion in downtown San Antonio. The only downtown building by a Mexican-American architect, the pavilion was home of the Institute of Texan Cultures and Texas Folklife Festival for over 50 years. Owned since 1973 by the University of Texas at San Antonio, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places AND as a State Antiquities Landmark last year. And it is being demolished.
LEARNING MOMENTS:
- Yes, you can tear down buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. How could a federal designation get in the way of a local building permit?
- The National Historic Preservation Act gets triggered if there is a federal undertaking (which includes funding) to demolish a National Register property, which the City claims there isn’t. Except their public statements say there is, so … lawsuit.
- State Antiquities Landmark designation CAN stop a demolition by the State, unless the Texas Historical Commission approves it, which they did. Without a hearing. Not even by the Texas Historical Commission. So …. lawsuit.
We have spent the last two and a half years trying to get these two designations for this building, ergo you can read about the background here, here, and here. As with most preservation cases, the odds are stacked against us, a mere David standing across from the goliaths of UTSA and the City, who have recently joined with the County to discuss the implementation of Project Marvel, which envisions an expanded Convention Center, new hotel, Spurs (NBA) stadium, revamped Alamodome, revitalized Confluence Theater, and a land bridge over I-37. I covered Project Marvel and all one of its illustrations here in December.
We have received a lot of supportive comments and President Lewis Vetter has been interviewed in many media. As we have said for years, we support the downtown Spurs stadium and Project Marvel. BECAUSE the Texas Pavilion is a Marvel-ous building to use as part of the project! Check out our website for updates and membership information here!
AND, A WEEK LATER it seems they may be accelerating the demolition. They have ripped down (not removed, done with a backhoe) several of the iconic concrete panels from the building. We went to court to get a TRO and UTSA is claiming that they are only doing remediation and removed the panels to access things they had to remediate. Ummm, that doesn’t jive with the visuals:
APRIL 16 UPDATE
On Monday, April 14 UTSA and the City had ten lawyers in the courtroom as they successfuly convinced Judge Tina Torres that both entities had “sovereign immunity” and that the court had no jurisdiction to even HEAR the suit. The Conservation Society filed a notice of appeal to the 15th Court of Appeals on Wednesday. Meanwhile, destructive demolition has continued without pause.
MAY 16 UPDATE
The 15th Court of Appeals denied our motions for an emergency relief and an injunction. With a heavy heart and recognizing the effects of three months of demolition, the Conservation Society decides to end its pursuit of a hearing on the merits of the case. Goliath won.
Texas Pavilion gets State Antiquities status!
And a demolition permit six weeks later….
The big news is the recent Texas Historical Commission vote to approve State Antiquities Landmark status for the Texas Pavilion/Institute of Texan Cultures building (Caudill, Rowlett and Scott, 1968). The building is managed by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and earlier this year they announced their plan to demolish the Brutalist wonder in summer, 2025. The building was successfully nominated to the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. The museum has moved out, so the building is eligible for 45% of rehab costs as an investment tax credit.
What now? The big question is the State Antiquities Code, which has special provisions for public institutions of higher education, like UTSA. Although this section of the code has never been implemented or tested, it does allow institutions of higher education to claim an educational need that can outweigh the landmark status. Given that UTSA’s public position is they want to demolish the building and sell the land, it is hard to see them making a relevant argument.
The city also has a secret plan for this area which has been named “Project Marvel”. Yes, really!
Interestingly, the University of Texas system allowed a junior high in Austin to be designated a State Antiquities Landmark, only to have its demolition approved administratively a month later. In that case, it was for a sports facility for the university, which is a better argument than land sale because it actually involves the university occupying the space.
A few things to remember:
- The State doesn’t need a demolition permit to tear down its own property.
- State Antiquities Landmark status – like any landmark status, does not prevent demolition – it only requires a review process. Which technically happened with the Austin building.
- UTSA is an HSI and they are tearing down the only downtown building by a Mexican-American architect. Ouch!
- All of the media coverage discusses the site as a new Spurs stadium. This has been going on for twenty months with precisely NO COMMENT whatsoever by the Spurs. Nada. zilch. zero.
No one is clear what happens next – do we get a hearing on the educational institution exemption? Does the THC get a demolition permit to review? Will UTSA wait until the new year to officially ask for demolition? Is Project Marvel part of the MCU? Stay tuned!!!
NOVEMBER 22 UPDATE!
Yesterday City management updated the City Council about Project Marvel and revealed renderings showing a new Spurs arena where the Texas Pavilion is currently. Project Marvel also includes an expanded Convention Center, a renovated Alamodome, more hotels, and a bridge or tunnel over I-37. Interestingly, the Austin project to bridge I-35 apparently hit a snag (60% cost increase) just a day earlier. Project Marvel also envisions a new 5,000 seat venue in the former Wood Courthouse, returning it to its 1968 role as a theater.
The enthusiastic press coverage quoted the Mayor, most of the City Council, the County Judge and various city officials. The Spurs, consistently, said nothing.
Oh, and the city promised that no taxpayer money would go to a sports stadium. The infrastructure maybe, but not the stadium. That is what they said. Yes, really.
(Well, that lasted a month – now they are gauging how much public money – see latest blog)
Overall the news simply confirms what “the news” has been speculating about for nearly two years. The Conservation Society response? We are still proceeding to defend Texas’ newest State Antiquities Landmark. Hey, it could be part of the plan – given ingenuity and imagination.
We are also not letting the excitement over a $4-$5 billion 15-year dream affect what we do in the next couple of months.
DECEMBER 19 UPDATE:
The Texas Historical Commission has approved a demolition permit for the Texas Pavilion/Institute of Texan Cultures building. The approval has a stack of stipulations before the permit can be issued, so still plenty of time for an injunction. The requirements of owner University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) include HABS documentation, interpretation, the potential rehab of another neglected Hemsifair ’68 building and an executed Memorandum of Understanding with the THC. Bad news always arrives during the holidays! Over, not over.
FEBRUARY 2025 UPDATE – Turns out Project Marvel has had some rewrites….
Only downtown landmark by a Mexican-American architect to be demolished
San Antonio, Texas has always been a majority Hispanic city, but for most of that history, Mexican-Americans faced legal and cultural discrimination and exclusion. Now, sadly, the only major downtown building designed by a Mexican-American architect is going to be demolished. The University of Texas at San Antonio recently announced its plans to demolish the Texas Pavilion/Institute of Texan Cultures building designed for Hemisfair ’68 by William Peña of Caudill, Rowlett and Scott.
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but as smart people know, that is not enough to save it, despite the enticing prospect of 45% investment tax credits (see my recent blog here). The media speculation for the last decade has been that the site is ideal for a new Spurs stadium (Spurs IV – A New Hope) even though it is smaller than their current stadium site by a lot.
See below – that is the Texas Pavilion/ITC on the left and the current Frost Bank Center on right. Which has more parking???
The Spurs were asked to meet with the City a year ago, which has fed a bevy of speculative articles over the last year (Pro Tip: Read them carefully and see who is quoted.)
ITC in foreground, Spurs II (Alamodome) in background left.
Who was Willie Peña and why is he the only Mexican-American architect who designed a major building in downtown San Antonio?
Born in Laredo, Peña was a student at Texas A & M when World War II broke out. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and lost a leg, earning both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star medal. The French gave him the Croix de Guerre. Finishing his architecture degree in 1948, he became the first employee of the influential Houston architectural firm Caudill, Rowlett and Scott and became a partner the next year. He became a national pioneer in architectural programming, literally writing the book (Problem Seeking – now in its fifth edition) on it.
William Peña, Courtesy CRS Center, Texas A & M University
Many of our downtown landmarks were designed by Anglo architects like Alfred Giles, James Riely Gordon, Atlee Ayres, Ralph Cameron and O’Neil Ford. The Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta designed the Central Library, and the Conservation Society has honored Humberto Saldaña for his downtown restorations, but there are no downtown buildings designed by a Mexican-American architect except the Texas Pavilion/Institute of Texan Cultures.
So why does UTSA want to tear it down? Probably because it is easier for them. As a unit of the State, they don’t even need to ask for a demolition permit. The demolition is currently scheduled for Summer 2025.
They will need to get the demolition money, which could easily approach the $7 million they have deferred in maintenance on the structure. They plan to move some portion of the collections to the Frost Tower and hope to build a new museum behind the Alamo for $100 million.
That means they need to net over $107 million on the sale of the land, which I suppose is doable for a $1.2 billion stadium.
Casa Navarro
Sadly, the city has erased much of the history of its most numerous population. The famed Laredito neighborhood was destroyed in the 1950s and 60s, and only a last-minute effort by the Conservation Society saved Casa Navarro in 1959. It became a National Historic Landmark in 2017, yet even today Hispanic history and design is referenced in less than 4% of National Register of Historic Places listings, even with the recent inclusion of the Texas Pavilion. In 2014, the first Spanish language TV station – Univision – was demolished downtown.
It is time for this erasure of Latino history to end.
What is Modern?
In Beverly Hills they just demolished the 1961 Friar’s Club. In Chicago the big preservation issue is Bertrand Goldberg’s 1975 Prentice Women’s Hospital. Yet for many people, the idea of preserving buildings of the Recent Past is anathema. Often the dividing line is a generational one: our historic preservation students in their 20s and 30s have been excited about 1960s and 1970s architecture for a long time. Many people in their 50s and 60s are not.
There is an old saw that you don’t want to preserve something you saw built, but that is certainly not true for me. I got a camera when I was eight and took pictures of the not-yet-complete John Hancock tower in Chicago, and just over 20 years later there I was in front of it helping with a press conference to save a 21-year old building, already an icon of its city. Continue Reading