Tax Credit Program Highlight: Gunter Hotel

San Antonio, Bexar County

1909

Designation	Individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places
Historic Use	Hotel
Current Use	Hotel
Total Rehabilitation Cost	$6,966,395
Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses	$4,081,206
Date Certified	December 3, 2016
	Certified for state tax credits only.

History

The Gunter Hotel has been a major landmark in downtown San Antonio since its 1909 construction. As one of the first major tourist hotels in the city, the Gunter served as a popular convention and banquet site and a stopping place for cattlemen, politicians, entertainers and military personnel. Throughout the Depression and World War II, open air dances drew many crowds to the Gunter roof. The building was named for Jot Gunter, a rancher and real estate investor who helped finance the hotel, and designed by Ernest Russell of the St. Louis firm, Mauran, Russell and Garden. The building originally stood 9 stories tall, but gained an additional three stories of height when it was expanded and remodeled in 1926.

Rehabilitation Project

The stately cream brick exterior of the hotel has not been much altered over the last century, except for the second-floor wrap-around balcony being enclosed in glass in the 1980s. The interior, characterized by a dramatic two-story lobby with columns and an open mezzanine, as well as retail tenant spaces and guest amenities, has seen a series of alterations over time as styles changed the hotel changed hands. This current project focused on updates to the interior spaces of the hotel. Finishes such as carpeting and wall coverings in the corridors and public spaces were upgraded and replaced, and the lobby was given a modern restyling that avoided damage to any historic materials. Systems were also upgraded for greater efficiency, and some non-historic alterations were reversed to allow the building to retain its character and remain viable and functional into the future.