Cutting Deals
1984-1995

1984
City rededicates Municipal Auditorium, restored with bond issue funds after fire.

Bebe Canales Inkley elected Conservation Society president.

1985
Three-story brick Fairmount Hotel moved six blocks to new site near La Villita, setting world record for largest hotel moved. Conservation Society negotiations saved building from demolition to make way for Rivercenter Mall.

A Night in Old San Antonio annual profits for historic preservation first exceed $500,000.

Janet Wheat Francis elected Conservation Society president.

1986
Restored and enlarged Fairmount Hotel dedicated.

Conservation Society launches “Save the Mother House” public relations campaign to persuade the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word to preserve the 1899 Alfred Giles designed Mother House at the Incarnate Word campus.

1987
Liz Davies elected Conservation Society president.

1988
City preservation ordinances strengthened.

Blue Bonnet Hotel, site of early country, blues, and Hispanic recordings, razed despite Conservation Society’s efforts to convince City Council to uphold terms of new preservation ordinance.

Restored Franklin House dedicated on San Antonio Academy campus. Conservation Society donated over $291,000 towards restoration of this rare Queen Anne shingle-style house designed by noted architect J. Riely Gordon.

Aztec Theater purchased by Conservation Society.

Mother House on Incarnate Word campus demolished despite two years of effort by Conservation Society and other preservation organizations.

1989
Majestic Theater reopens as home of San Antonio Symphony, restoration by Las Casas Foundation aided by $250,000 from Conservation Society.

Jane Foster elected Conservation Society president.

1990
Conservation Society convinces city not to eliminate Historic Preservation Office and agrees to contribute $20,000 to the Historic Design and Review Office, to be matched by the city, for the next five years.

1991
Sunday morning demolition of Finck Building inspires Tejeda Bill, toughening state laws on illegal demolition of historic structures.

Inell Schooler elected Conservation Society president.

Conservation Society’s Fort Sam Houston Task Force completes a memorandum of agreement involving five other organizations in the study and management of ‘cultural and historical resources’ at Fort Sam Houston.

1992
Fort Sam Houston quadrangle restored, followed by start of $100.3 million program to restore post’s 934 historic buildings.

1993
City’s master plan includes historic preservation requirements shaped by Conservation Society’s participation in the city’s Master Plan Task Force.

Marianna Jones elected Conservation Society president.

Conservation Society sells Aztec Theater with restoration covenants.

1994
Conservation Society pledges $300, 000 toward restoration of San Pedro Playhouse.

1995
Renovation of Robert E. Lee Hotel for downtown housing begins, capping Conservation Society’s decade-long struggle to preserve the historic ten-story building.

Relocated Sullivan Carriage House dedicated at San Antonio Botanical Center. Conservation Society donated $100,000 towards moving and reassembly of endangered structure.

Sally Matthews Buchanan elected Conservation Society president.

Grant of $100,000 from Conservation Society establishes Mary Ann Blocker Castleberry chair for teaching historic preservation in University of Texas at San Antonio graduate architecture program.

Conservation Society begins plans for Project ReNew, a collaborative effort between the Society and several public agencies, to assist the residents of a targeted neighborhood to rehabilitate their homes through a combination of funding sources and assistance programs.

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