A rendering of the first floor inside Stable Hall. Photo: Courtesy of Clayton Korte
Stable Hall, an upcoming performance venue at Pearl mixing history and music, is one of many additions to the Broadway area.
Why it matters: Stable Hall will expand the Pearl’s live entertainment options and preserve history in the rapidly growing Broadway corridor.
What’s happening: Architecture firm Clayton Korte, which also renovated the Bottling Department and Sternewirth at Pearl, is working on Stable Hall.
- The goal is to preserve the original elements that give it its “gritty magnificence,” like the exterior masonry and radial wooden roof, Sam Manning, Clayton Korte partner, tells Axios.
Flashback: The stable building, which was built in 1894 by Otto Kramer, was renovated in the 1950s and in 2006. In its most recent iteration, the building was used as a private event space.
Yes, but: Converting Stable Hall to a performance space presents a unique set of challenges, mostly because of its elliptical shape, Manning said.
What they did: Materials like wood that absorbs and reflects sound were used to improve the acoustics.
- “It’s a building type that not a lot of people appreciate — they just want to demo everything and start new because it’s the easier way, but you get really rich and soulful places and experiences by keeping what’s there and finding a creative, new solution for it,” Manning says.
Details: Manning says the completed design will invoke the heritage of Texas dance halls with hewn wood flooring, but will also feature some ornate, Victorian-style details reflective of the era of the building’s construction.
What they’re saying: Vincent Michael, executive director of the Conservation Society of San Antonio, tells Axios that the Stable Hall work is a model for “adaptive reuse” and speaks to the city’s dedication to preserving historical structures.
- “It’s a part of our DNA in San Antonio to reuse old buildings. It’s very much a contrast to other large cities in Texas,” Michael says.
What’s next: Stable Hall is expected to open later this year. It will seat about 1,000 people for local, regional and national touring acts.
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