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Atlee
Ayres is the architect most associated with the city of San
Antonio. Stroll down any street in downtown, and within a few
blocks you'll likely see his name etched on a cornerstone. He was
a prolific architect whose designs brought San
Antonio into the 20th century while honoring the city's architectural
roots.
Atlee Bernard Ayres was born in Hillsboro Ohio on July 12, 1873. The
family moved to San Antonio
in 1888.
Ayres studied architecture in New York; then spent several years working
in Mexico. He developed a fascination for the haunting beauty of Mexican
churches, and he fell under the spell of the art and architecture
of the Spanish Colonial period.
When he returned home in 1900, the Alamo City was booming. An affluent
merchant class had big bucks to spend on residential and commercial
projects. It was a perfect storm for a talented young architect.
Ayres designed homes for wealthy San Antonians in the new upscale
suburbs of Terrell Hills and Alamo Heights. Although he worked in
a variety of styles, he popularized the Spanish Colonial style with
its now familiar asymmetrical configuration, arched passageways, white
stucco walls, red barrel tile roofs and enclosed patios.
A distinguishing mark of an Atlee Ayres design is a prominent room,
often the dining room, skewered at an angle to the main part of the
house. |
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Atkinson House
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum
600 New Braunfels Avenue
Photo courtesy Michael
Barr, February 2019 |
One of his more
famous designs is the Atkinson House at 600 New Braunfels Avenue -
a1929 Spanish Colonial Revival estate today known as the Marion Koogler
McNay Art Museum. The house is a fitting repository for the Picassos,
Cezannes, Gauguins and other priceless treasures inside.
His commercial buildings are among the most prominent structures in
San Antonio. Ayres
designed the Freeman Coliseum at 3201 East Houston Street and the
San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. The original auditorium, built of
native limestone in a modified Spanish Colonial style, has been remodeled
and expanded into the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
Ayres worked with his son and partner Robert Ayres to design the 35-story
Smith-Young Tower, the tallest structure in San Antonio until the
Tower of the Americas went up in 1968. The Smith-Young Tower, today
the Tower Life Building, is believed to be the only 8-sided neo-gothic
skyscraper in the world.
Atlee Ayres designed the Plaza Hotel on St. Mary's Street. He did
remodeling projects for the St. Anthony Hotel and the Menger Hotel.
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Administration
Building at Randolph Air Force Base
Photo courtesy Michael
Barr, February 2019 |
Many people consider
his masterpiece to be the Administration Building at Randolph Air
Force Base, often referred to the Taj Mahal. Lt. Harold Clark sketched
the original design, but Atlee and Robert Ayres ran with it.
The Taj is one of the most recognizable military buildings in the
world. The stately white tower draws the eye toward the clouds while
cleverly concealing a 500,000 gallon water tank.
Outside San Antonio Ayres designed courthouses in the Texas
Renaissance style for Cameron County, Refugio
County, Jim
Wells County and Kleberg
County. He built a 10-room 2-story house at 425 Water Street in
Kerrville for Whitfield Scott Schreiner, grandson of Captain Charles
Schreiner. |
Kerr Regional
History Center
Whitfield Scott Schreiner Mansion
425 Water Street, Kerrville
TX
Photo courtesy Michael
Barr, February 2019 |
As president
of the West Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects,
Ayres jump started the program to restore the Spanish
missions in San Antonio.
Ayres was a member of San
Antonio's conservative elite - the source of most of his commissions.
He was a founder of the Fiesta Association and its first president.
The
Menger Hotel hosted his birthday party each year in the colonial
dining room.
On his 7 trips around the world he collected shoes from 53 countries.
By the age of 90, Atlee Ayres was the dean of San Antonio Architects
and the oldest practicing architect in the country. He died in 1969
in San Antonio at the
age of 96.
The San Antonio Light called attention to the oddest memorial
to Ayres at the entrance to the old Bexar County Jail on Cameron Street
where the names Atlee B. Ayers and Robert M. Ayres, both misspelled
(Ayers), are carved in stone.
Few people notice the error. If Atlee Ayres noticed, he never bothered
to correct it. |
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© Michael
Barr
"Hindsights" March
1 , 2019 Column
Sources:
Robert James Coote, The Eccentric Odyssey of Atlee B. Ayres, Architect,
Texas A&M University Press.
"Atlee Ayres, Architect, Dies at 96,"San Antonio Express, November
7, 1969.
"Ayres Honored At Luncheon," San Antonio Light, July 13, 1948.
"Atlee Ayres," San Antonio Light, November 8, 1969.
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