SAN ANTONIO – An Alamo Plaza icon where locals and tourists alike took photos or gathered to gaze at holiday lights or catch a glimpse of the Fiesta parades, will be no more.
Starting this week, crews will begin dismantling the city-owned bandstand in front of the Menger Hotel. It will then be relocated to the Berkley V. and Vincent M. Dawson Park near the Hays Street Bridge and be reassembled.
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The Alamo’s official Instagram page says trees will be pruned and other prep work will be conducted before the dismantling begins. Work to actually remove the bandstand will begin on Friday, the post states.
A camera showing updates on construction on Alamo Plaza will be shown online. To view the dismantling of the bandstand, click here.
The roof consists of two separate parts: the upper top roof, or hat, and the surrounding lower canopy, according to The Alamo’s website.
The two sections will be separated, and the hat will be lifted by a crane and placed on a trailer. The canopy sections will be separated into eight smaller sections, the website states. The wood columns and railings will also be separated and transported to the new site.
The reassembly at the new site is set to begin Monday.
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Two existing bronze dedication plaques and a time capsule will go to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
While the bandstand is just a recreation of the original, it was still a quirky site to see at the downtown destination. But since its erection in 1976, it has seen excessive water damage, The Alamo’s website states.
It was built to replicate a previous bandstand from 1890.
The current bandstand also “does not architecturally relate to the period of historical structures surrounding it,” the website states.
The relocation of the bandstand is in line with a plan to redesign and restore the Alamo Plaza, which has garnered controversy in recent years.
That plan also calls for the relocation of the Cenotaph, the restoration of the Church and Long Barracks and the creation of a visitor’s center, among other components.