Cellars
The Cellars residential tower is located on the historic Pearl Brewery campus overlooking the San Antonio River. The new structure, completed in 2017, is part of a masterplan redefining urban living in the 21st-century Alamo City.
The design of the ground-floor public spaces was based on regional precedents to establish a strong sense of community and identity. The goal was to celebrate the unique value of San Antonio’s and Texas’s local, natural, and historical elements, as well as the region’s past and present cultural diversity. The interiors express strong ties to the original German neo-renaissance architecture of the former brewery complex with a disciplined arrangement of rooms along significant axes and vistas, substantial wall masses and refined room proportions, balanced with playful Hispanic tile base and baroque tables. Iron light fixtures, exposed brick, and concrete reference the area’s industrial heritage.
A deep arcade shields the entry door and creates a domestic porch. Opening the door reveals the loggia, with a bronze javelina mid-leap, a lush, exotic garden, and the riverside beyond.
Art and furnishings created by local craftsmen ground the design in authenticity and memory. The reception is anchored by a pair of waxed riveted steel tanks from the original brewery cellar and shares space with contemporary sculptures of Emma and Otto Koehler, the Brewery founders.
