Audacious move

If you research San Antonio on the Guinness Book of World Records’ website, you’ll find 79 entries, including the first female-owned flying school, the most people blowing pinwheels simultaneously, the largest bat colony, and the most NBA games won by a single coach. The Fairmount Hotel, the heaviest building ever moved on wheeled dollies, also placed the Alamo City in the world record book, and its 1985 move is one of the most daring stories of audacity in San Antonio’s rich history.

Who would dream of moving a three-million pound historic building through the streets of downtown San Antonio? The San Antonio Conservation Society, Alamo Architects, Tom Wright and Pete Friesen, that’s who.

In 1980, the Fairmount was packaged as part of an 11-acre parcel to create space for Rivercenter. The new owners had no interest in incorporating the three-story, Italianate Victorian building designed by Leo Maria Joseph Dielmann, so the Conservation Society worked for five years to save the hotel from demolition.

Flophouse gone to seed

The red brick hotel was built in 1906 on the corner of Commerce at Bowie, just two blocks west of the Southern Pacific Depot and two blocks south of Alamo Plaza. The hotel was vacated in 1969, and according to Mike Tolson, a columnist for the San Antonio Light, it was regarded as a flophouse gone to seed.

Working with the Conservation Society, Irby Hightower, Mike Lanford and Mike McGlone of Alamo Architects approached local entrepreneur, C. Thomas Wright, to fund the move and renovation, which totaled approximately $4 million. Wright brought Virginia Van Steenberg and B.K. Johnson on board.

The building was signed over with a firm deadline for removal by March 31, 1985. If it wasn’t removed by then, the developers had the right to knock it down. With the clock ticking, space was located at a city-owned parking lot on Alamo at Nueva.

Pepe Lucero, part-owner of the Four Seasons, now the Marriott Plaza, was not happy about having a competitor so close. He said, “The Fairmount should be saved, but it should not imperil the whole La Villita District.” In the end, city council voted unanimously in favor of the Fairmount’s move.

The Conservation Society found Terry Emmert, who had recently purchased Pete Friesen’s moving business. Emmert convinced Friesen to stay on as a consultant to the project. Alamo Architects and the Conservation Society worked with 17 city agencies and Emmert International to ensure the move’s success.

The first hurdles were crossed, but many more hurdles remained. The 3-million pound hotel had to be moved six blocks, make four turns, and cross a bridge that spanned the San Antonio River. But wait, there’s more!

Battle of the Alamo treasure trove

When site preparation began on the 14,000-square foot lot on Alamo Street, archeologists from UTSA found the first-ever artifacts from Santa Anna’s Mexican forces. They knew to look because the south wall of the Alamo is only 600 yards away. The move was postponed for seven days. Archeologists dug up musket balls, an 8-inch bronze Howitzer shell, a 9-pound cannonball and more.

Before the hotel could start rolling, light poles, utilities and parking meters had to be removed, and the Market Street Bridge had to be reinforced at a cost of approximately $350,000. The six-block journey began at dawn on Saturday, March 30.

The developers had t-shirts and buttons printed that read: “I shared in a moving experience.” Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown San Antonio, and news media coverage was worldwide.

Market Street Bridge

The second day of the move was one of the most tense. The hotel had to cross the Market Street Bridge.

Mayor Henry Cisneros joked: “We’ve always wanted more hotels on the river. We may end up with a hotel in the river if this move does not go well.”

Emmert chimed in: “You realize, of course, if we don’t do it right, we may end up with a new entry in the Fiesta River Parade.”

Tom Wright and Irby Hightower stood under the bridge while it moved. Hightower said they thought it would be better not to survive the bridge’s collapse.

Two empty glass beer bottles were shoved into some space between the shoring timbers and the underside of the bridge. If the bottles cracked or shattered, the move would be halted; however, the hotel rolled across the bridge in nine minutes without incident.

Engineering feat

Turns were another nail-biter, but Friesen figured out how to turn the corners on an arc using a series of vectors, sand-filled dump trucks and a large crane. The final turn was the most challenging. The building had to pivot 90 degrees without any forward movement. Friesen got it to turn on a dime, and the north wall of the hotel lined up perfectly with the north wall of the new foundation.

The move ended on the night of Thursday, April 5, and work on its renovation began immediately. The 37-room boutique hotel was purchased by Richard D. Tips of Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemeteries in 2004, and it now includes two restaurants and a rooftop bar. The Alamo Architect-designed addition is visible on the left.

As David Anthony Richelieu of the San Antonio Express-News reported, the Fairmount accomplished three things: it set records for the moving industry; it placed the city in the international spotlight; and it showcased San Antonio’s commitment to historic preservation.

I was there when it rolled, and it’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.

Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. Follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist so that you’ll never miss a post. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!