Tower Life Building

[pepper52]

The radio tower on top of the Tower Life Building is coming down. Now that is a mouth full! It is scheduled to for removal in January and will be replaced with a flag pole which restores the building to its original design. This will be a big change to the San Antonio skyline. If you want to take a photo of the tower and its Christmas lighting I would advise you take it as soon as possible. The removal begins the first week in January.

[photosbysergio]

Roy, do you know when the radio tower was installed replacing the flag pole?

[pepper52]

No, unfortunately there is a very limited history of the building on the web. I'm sure that the SA Express will be reporting on this in the very near future. It will be strange not to see the tower.

[kenw]

...or as my parents referred to it: The Smith-Young Tower. For awhile we knew it as the Transit Tower altho I'm not sure of when it changed names.

being born there (xx years ago...), I don't think I ever saw it without the radio tower. It will definitely change the skyline.

This opens a huge opportunity for updated pics on a bajillion websites that have pics of it with the radio tower now....maybe a trip downtown over the holidays is in order.....(even tho I've lived in Houston for 20+ years, SA is still home!)

[Toby]

Thanks for the update! Yes, we need to get over there and get as many shots as we can before January.

[EdSA]

Thanks for the information.

Here is a 1956 image of the tower from the historical archives.

http://itcphotos.utsa.edu/photos/L-1956-F.gif

[CaptainG]

I'm thinking that the picture is prior to 1956. If I recall, the tower, actually a TV transmission tower, was put up before 1956. Also, all the autos you can see are all pre-1956 vintage.

[RKEnnis]

Original or not, I'm partial to the way it is right now. Too bad about the change.

For comparison sake, here is a shot I took a few months ago...