Fairmount Hotel

One of our first projects is still one of our most notable, and certainly one for the record books. Moving a derelict salesman’s hotel out of the way of downtown redevelopment merited a world record for the “heaviest building ever moved on wheels,” according to the 1986 Guinness Book of World Records. As architects for the renovation and addition of the Fairmount Hotel, we first coordinated the transportation of the intact brick building over three days and six city blocks through downtown San Antonio. The move, accomplished with dollies of truck tires placed under a cradle of wooden trusses and structural reinforcements, involved using pulley system of a large crane and five dump trucks loaded with sand as dead weight. Hundreds of onlookers watched the building inch noiselessly along from sidewalks, parking garages and offices. Headlines were made around the world, and pictures showed the building resting sideways in the empty street between move days.

The adaptive reuse included an L-shaped addition, set back from the street to resolve scale and street-line issues, and creating an interior courtyard with the south side of the old building. Reversed brick coloration, patterned brick and gable-shaped arches make the new building distinct yet compatible with its elder partner. A red brick base at the addition carries the storefront line around the building, and eases the transition from three stories to four at the addition’s south side.

It should be noted that this project had the support of the San Antonio Conservation Society, whose guidance and influence helped the move run as smoothly as it did. Our clients deserve immense credit for their faith in the project and vision for the old building’s transformation into one of San Antonio’s signature boutique hotels.

Client> Virginia Van Steenberg, Wright Development, and B.K. Johnson
Construction Cost> Relocation $1.2 Million; Renovation/Addition $2.5 Million
Completion> September 1986