The Alamo Management Committee and Alamo master planner Dr. George C. Skarmeas with Preservation Design Partnership, LLC presented the first round of master plan concepts in a B-Session meeting of the San Antonio City Council. The intent of the Alamo master plan is to improve the visitor experience at the historic Alamo mission by redesigning the Alamo complex and surrounding area to tell the 300-year story of the site: from the pre-colonial period to initial construction of the mission in 1724, to the world renowned Texas revolutionary Battle of 1836, to the present day and its role in the evolution of San Antonio. The proposed strategies and planning concepts will be developed further over the next several months and a final master plan is expected to be ready in late May of 2017.
The first four proposed Alamo master plan key concepts are supported by a series of proposed tactics and strategies listed below:
Recapture the historic footprint of the Alamo
- Recreate the historic experience of visiting the Alamo by guiding the visitor through one entrance point, the historic South Gate.
- Create a sense of place and enclosure with transparent barriers that facilitate views of the Alamo courtyard and aid the visitor interpretation of the site.
- Open the 1936 garden to give the public access to a beautiful urban park that also includes a First Amendment area.
Reclaim the plaza courtyard and create a sense of reverence and respect on the historic battlefield.
- Close Alamo Street to vehicular traffic from Commerce Street to Houston Street and close Crockett Street from Losoya Street to the Menger Hotel.
- Relocate the Cenotaph to a more appropriate location nearby.
- Recapture the essence of the historic landscape by re-introducing historic elements, such as acequias.
Build a new world-class Visitor Center and Museum
- Maintain and renovate the facades of the Crockett, Woolworth, and Palace buildings.
- Repurpose the interior to build a world-class museum and interpretive center over four floors — a basement, three floors, and a rooftop garden.
- Utilize new technologies to interpret the site and produce a unique visual representation of the site over its 300-year history.
- Relocate existing businesses to a nearby entertainment district or a comparable location.
Create greater connection to the rest of downtown San Antonio
- Create a new linear park east of Alamo Street between Commerce and Market Streets.
- Transform the visitor experience by creating a more dramatic approach that begins at Commerce Street and continues north along a landscaped pedestrian-only paseo to the South Gate entrance to the original Alamo compound.
- Locate the Cenotaph in the new Commerce Street linear park, a more appropriate and highly visible location with historic significance to the Battle of the Alamo.
The Alamo master plan team will hold a public meeting in early 2017 to present these and additional concepts and strategies for the public’s feedback. The public is invited to review the concepts and provide feedback through the Reimagine the Alamo website or via email to info@reimaginethealamo.org
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