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The owners of Waxy O’Connor’s Irish Pub on the River Walk are planning to redevelop San Antonio’s historic Loan & Trust Building into an entertainment and residential complex.
The Loan & Trust Building was built in 1892 and stands out for its Victorian-era features, including complex rooflines, turrets and ornate flourishes.
Plans call for the building to be modernized with businesses on the riverfront level and residential units above.
The pub owners are working with Mark Navarro of Fisher Heck Architects on plans for the project.
The Loan & Trust Building, at 239 E. Commerce St. in San Antonio, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Navarro said his company understands the building is an important historic resource.
“It’s extremely challenging, but as preservation architects we understand what the historic preservation guidelines are — so there’s already a higher degree of preservation and quality that we have to bring to this project,” said Navarro.
Mark Rohleder is with the group that purchased the building. He is from Northern Ireland and has been in the bar business for most of his life. He said they plan to maintain the Victorian features and aesthetic that you might find in today’s Ireland and the U.K.
“If you walk around Dublin, you’re looking at a lot of Georgian architecture we got from the English,” said Rohleder. “A lot of the bars have that character, and that’s what we’re trying to put on the street level at the Loan & Trust building.”
Navarro said they’re trying to make the building look different from what you see everywhere else, and it needs to be authentic.
“San Antonio’s a melting pot of different cultures and people,” said Navarro. “So having this Irish bar which has existed already for over twenty years here, that adds that extra degree of authenticity.”
Citing the potential for noise concerns from live music and increased traffic to the building, Rohleder said they’ve been cooperating with the city.
“The city was very much concerned about their guests in all the hotels getting a good night’s sleep. And I get that. You’ve got to work with your neighbors. San Antonio has, I think, a very bright future.”
The Loan & Trust Building was built in 1892 for University of Texas Regent and philanthropist George W. Brackenridge. The Brackenridge name in Texas descended from Scotch-Irish Robert Breckenridge Sr., who emigrated from Northern Ireland in the 1700s.
Both Rohleder and Navarro anticipate an opening date of late 2027.
