During the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, the mission-era church that millions hold in their heads as “the Alamo” did not have a roof — and likely had never had one.
In 1772, an inventory of Mission San Antonio de Valero described construction of the church as having only stone ribs in place. Sketches made in the years after the battle show a roofless, crumbling structure with vegetation growing in and around it.
The U.S. Army Quartermasters Corps occupied the building as a depot and built the now iconic roofline and added a wood-framed, gabled roof in 1850. That roof lasted until 1920, when the Daughters of the Republic of Texas tapped architect Alfred Giles to create the vaulted, reinforced concrete vaulted roof that exists today.
Now, thanks to a vote by the Texas Historical Commission last week, the Alamo Trust has gotten permission to take the first step in replacing the aging roof. The commission voted unanimously on July 26 to allow the removal of the roof and the creation of a superstructure over the church that would allow the building to dry out and later be repaired.
The commission did not vote on a new roof design; the preservation consultants described two possible options during their presentation at Friday’s meeting, but emphasized that no design decisions had been made. The commission will help guide roof design decisions in the future.
“After more than a century of service, the Alamo church roof is encountering significant challenges, including water drainage issues and material degradation,” said Kate Rogers, executive director of the Alamo Trust in a statement. “Based on the THC’s decision and their feedback, our team of experts will finalize the plans for the replacement of the church roof.”
Rogers said the Alamo Trust will “strive to minimize visitor impact” to Texas’ most popular tourist destination by keeping other attractions on the Alamo grounds open, including the Ralston Family Collections Center, Mission Gate and Lunette, the future Texas Cavaliers Education Center and Plaza de Valero.
The San Antonio Express-News first reported on the vote, stating that the work could begin as early as spring 2025.
Paul Gallagher of Gallagher & Associates, the Alamo Trust’s program manager, told the commission that “important decisions need to be made” quickly, because the trust “made a commitment to the Lt. Governor that we would open the church at the same time as the visitor’s center and museum,” which is scheduled to open in 2027.
The Alamo Trust is overseeing a $550 million preservation and redevelopment project known as the Alamo Plan, which began in 2021. That dollar figure has risen since the plan first took shape, but got a major boost from the Texas Legislature in 2023 when it approved $400 million for the redevelopment.
The Mission Gate and Lunette are complete, and the Alamo Annex has been demolished to make way for the Texas Cavaliers Education Center, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025.
The Alamo Visitor Center and Museum is on track to open in 2027, officials confirmed, with sections of Plaza de Valero, the area just south of the Alamo church, expected to open at the end of this year.
Several major gifts will fund various parts of the redevelopment. Most recently, the Alamo Trust announced that the Hearst Foundations donated $2 million to the plan; the Alamo’s 4D theater lobby will now be named the Hearst Foundations Lobby.
Earlier this year, Frost announced a $1 million donation, which earned it the designation “Official Bank of the Alamo,” while SWBC Foundation donated $1 million to the Remember the Alamo Foundation to fund a rooftop dining area and event space above the visitor center and museum.
Lisa Easton of Easton Architects, Mark Navarro of Fischer Heck Architects and Pam Rosser, lead conservator for Alamo Trust, presented to the commission a detailed, 62-page report that described the various roofs that have covered the church, the serious degradation that has occurred — starting with the 107 years the building had no roof — and the options for both repair and replacement.
“Existing conditions are causing undue harm to the artifact,” Easton said of the church. The roof is not a safety hazard, she noted, but said areas of degradation can be found throughout the structure.
They proposed, and the commission accepted, that a protective enclosure be built around the existing structure. Conceptual renderings of the temporary structure show a barn-like building towering over the church.
