Standing Structures Survey of the Properties Fronting Travis Park San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas Prepared for VIA Metropolitan Transit FINAL REPORT Angela Lombardi, Ph.D. William A. Dupont Claudia Guerra Nancy Kambalia Center for Cultural Sustainability University of Texas at San Antonio College of Architecture 05 March 2015 501 W. César Chávez Blvd. San Antonio, Texas 78207 210-458-3178 www.ccs.utsa.edu This page intentionally left blank 05 March 2015 Travis Park Standing Structures Survey Final Report Principal Investigator: Angela Lombardi, Ph.D. Co-Investigators: Professor William A. Dupont Director, Center for Cultural Sustainability Claudia Guerra Coordinator, Center for Cultural Sustainability Nancy Kambalia, Graduate Research Assistant The Center for Cultural Sustainability (CCS) explores the continuity of the cultural systems of human existence. Cultural sustainability includes consideration, understanding, and respect for heritage – identities and values that bind people to places. The CCS undertakes design, documentation, planning, and training projects that focus on the cultural heritage continuity of places. The CCS provides research and services to benefit communities, convenes leaders in the field for dialogue on sustainability, and promotes research projects for faculty and graduate students. The CCS is a research center of The University of Texas at San Antonio and is housed within the College of Architecture. This page intentionally left blank. 05 March 2015 Travis Park Standing Structures Survey Final Report Table of Contents Scope of the Report 1 Standing Structure Survey Forms 1 Significance and Integrity 2 Local and State Historic Designations 3 Travis Park and Its Features 4 The Confederate Civil War Monument 7 Properties in Detail 8-11 Travis Park Methodist Church 8 St. Mark’s Episcopal Church 9 St. Anthony Hotel 10 Mitla Mexican Restaurant 11 Maps 12-17 Bibliography 18 Appendix — Survey Forms 23 Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by William A. Dupont. This page intentionally left blank. 05 March 2015 Travis Park Standing Structures Survey Final Report Report Narrative Scope of the Report This document is a Survey of Standing Structures abutting Travis Park in San Antonio, Texas. The survey includes all seven structures around Travis Park and provides information on the character and quality of the structures per criteria for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Preparation of this report has included review of primary source documents, plus databases and generally available information prepared or written by others about the significance of the buildings. A visual assessment of all the standing structures also included observations of the Travis Park cultural landscape. Standing Structure Survey Forms The individual Travis Park Survey Forms are included as attachments within this report. The forms contain: • current photographs of each structure • historic photos, if available • property data • brief architectural description of the structure • historical data • construction date • modification/addition dates • designer/architect of the structure • original owner and historic uses of the building • description of the context • information on construction techniques and details • structural system description • building materials • roof massing and materials • foundation type and other relevant information related to the structure on research • and historic designation status or assessment of potential eligibility for future designation. Historical data comes largely from the several archives consulted during the research, mainly the San Antonio Conservation Society Archive, San Antonio Public Library (Texana Collection), UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures Library (ITC), and online archives of the Texas Historic Commission. Information concerning the physical condition of building materials is based on direct field observations by team members from public thoroughfares. The data represents observations only and is not a full condition assessment. 1 05 March 2015 Travis Park Standing Structures Survey Final Report Significance The properties around Travis Park are evaluated in this report as individual buildings within the context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture, religion, commerce, and urban land use in American history and are considered under National Register Criterion A (Event), B (Person), and C (Design/Construction) (National Park Service [NPS] 2014b). They could be considered together for a Historic District designation in the future, but that consideration is beyond the scope of this report. Historic significance from periods that pre-date the standing structures, such as early Native American land uses, are also beyond the scope of this report on standing structures. The Criteria for Evaluation of significance are found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, Part 60, and definitions of the criteria used in this survey are provided below: A, that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B, that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C, that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction. (NPS 2014b) Two of the seven properties are already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and both of these are designated as historic by the State of Texas and City of San Antonio (CoSA). These two, plus three others, are on the list of CoSA’s designated historic properties. Integrity National Register consideration applies seven aspects of integrity, “the ability of a property to convey its significance,” related to significance of a property (NPS 2014a). The seven aspects consist of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Per the National Register Guidelines for evaluation: Location: Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event took place. Integrity of location refers to whether the property has been moved or relocated since its construction. Design: Design is the composition of elements that constitute the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. Setting: Setting is the physical environment of a historic property. Materials: Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Workmanship: Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Feeling: Feeling is the property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. Association: Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property. (NPS 2014a) Two of the standing structures abutting Travis Park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: • Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church • St. Anthony Hotel 2 05 March 2015 Travis Park Standing Structures Survey Final Report Local and State Historic Designation City of San Antonio Historic Designations The City of San Antonio Unified Development Code, Article VI, Division 2 contains the designation criteria for historic districts and landmarks. Five of the seven standing structures abutting Travis Park appear on the CoSA list of designated landmarks: • Travis Park Methodist Church, • Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, • 202 Jefferson Street (presumably for archaeological potential of the site as former location of Temple Beth-El), • 110 – 128 Jefferson Street (also has archaeological potential as former location of First Baptist Church), and • St. Anthony Hotel. Although the historical significance of Travis Park itself is evident, Travis Park is not a historic district or landmark that has any historic designation by the City of San Antonio. Texas Historical Commission Historic Designations Travis Park Methodist Church Texas Historical Marker The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has nearly 300,000 site records, including data on Official Texas Historical Markers and National Register of Historic Places properties in Texas. Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (RTHLs) “are properties judged to be historically and architecturally significant. The Texas Historical Commission awards RTHL designation to buildings at least 50 years old that are judged worthy of preservation for their architectural and historical associations” (THC 2014a). To be designated as a “RTHL is the highest honor the state can bestow on a historic structure” (THC 2001). Once designated, state law requires the owners of RTHL-designated structures to give the THC 60-day notice before any alterations are made to the exterior of the structure (THC 2001). Such a requirement offers a level of protection to the landmark because “[u]nsympathetic changes to these properties may result in removal of the designation and historical marker” (THC 2014a). There are three Texas Historical Commission markers at Travis Park, one related to Travis Park United Methodist Church, another for Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, and a third for the demolished Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church Texas Historical Marker Baptist Church at the southeast corner of Travis and Jefferson (now 110–128 Jefferson). The Texas