The old Pearl Brewery in San Antonio is today a shopping/dining complex along the River Walk, with green, landscaped public plazas. It’s called Pearl. We made time to poke around at Pearl during an April visit to the Alamo City. (Here’s Part 1 of that visit.)

Historic Pearl

The first thing you notice in the landscaping is industrial elements like rusty steel and relics from the old brewery. Lake | Flato and Austin’s own Ten Eyck Landscape Architects contributed to Pearl’s welcoming design that connects the past to the present.

Board-formed concrete walls and planters filled with dwarf palmettos and purple heart divide the plaza into green spaces, with plenty of seating to hang out and people-watch.

I especially like this tiered fountain made from repurposed industrial equipment. Are they giant caps of some kind? Water sluices from a steel aqueduct down a rain chain into the fountain.

Steel tanks have been turned into planters too.

Vines crawl up a metal mesh doorway dividing one part of the plaza from another.

That same mesh helps shade a seating area with ceiling fans and lights.

These squiggly metal bars screen one end — something pulled out of the old brewery, I assume.

Last look at the fountain

Hotel Emma

The rustically elegant Hotel Emma occupies the old brewery building, and since it’s open to the public, we popped in to look around. This is the lobby.

Down a hallway, a door opens onto this enclosed but open-air patio with terracotta cross tile floor and ivy-covered brick wall.

A fountain trickles from the wall into a round basin.

Old steel windows look out on the River Walk’s trees and passersby.

It’s a restful spot.

In the hotel’s bar and club room, called Sternewirth, old fermentation tanks make hideaway booths for patrons.

The bar wasn’t yet open when we visited. One day I’ll come back and enjoy a drink in one of the unique seating areas at Sternewirth.

To read Part 1 of my San Antonio visit, including the River Walk, the Alamo, and the Witte Museum, click here.

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