Long Barracks

[Jim Boylston]

How much of the long barracks, as it exists today, is original? Supposedly, when the second story was knocked off, those stones were used to rebuild the arcade area on the inside of the courtyard (or so I've heard), but how much of the westernmost wall is original and how much modification has been done to it over the years?
When the Grenet store enclosed the ruins, was the lower story of the barracks altered? What about the interior walls?
I was looking through "Alamo Images" this afternoon, and noticed that there are many different "takes" on the long barracks. Some show a couple of arched doorways, some not.
Which of the illustrations are correct?
Jim

[TRK]

There was a discussion of this subject (of which I was party) on another forum about a year or so ago. It's been pointed out that many of the present features of the western wall, including filled in doorways, arches, etc., closely match the layout of the western wall as depicted in some of the elevations drawn in the 1840s. What's still puzzling is how that wall got from its practically dismantled state, post-Grenet "improvements, in the early 1900s to the current appearance that seems to incorporate the vestiges of its pre-1848 features. In other words, if you look at photos where the long barracks was basically skeletal walls with pretty much featureless facades, it's hard to imagine how they got from there to what you see today, with the different arches, windows, etc.

I recall somebody had a theory that there was a sort of veneer wall over the Grenet-era facade which, once removed, revealed the old layout of doors, windows, arches, etc.

Time to get out the copy of Nelson's illustrated history of the Alamo, and try to figure this out again ;o)

[Jim Boylston]

Apparently, Grenet punched doorways into the second story to accomodate his store design. I'd imagine at least some modifications were made to the ground floor as well.
I'm curious as to how many interior walls, if any, are original too. I'd imagine a lot of those may have been knocked down at some point.
I recall that the defenders had chopped doorways through the interior walls according to some reports.
Jim

[TRK]

admin said:

I'm curious as to how many interior walls [of the Long Barracks], if any, are original too. I'd imagine a lot of those may have been knocked down at some point.

None of the interior walls are original. In the first edition of George Nelson's The Alamo: An Illustrated History, pp. 89-90, there's a two-page spread of photos taken from the convento courtyard showing all that was standing of the convento following the demoliton work around 1912. Just the south and west exterior walls remained, and there were no interior walls or partitions standing.

[Jim Boylston]

I pulled out Nelson, and see what you're referring to. It looks like the interior partitions are visible again in the photos from the 30's and 40's, though the Long barracks isn't completely restored.
I wonder if the easternmost wall of the long barracks was knocked down in 1912, when the second story was removed, or at an earlier date.
I'm also curious as to what, if any, efforts were made to duplicate the footprint of the original barracks (at least the section that survives) when the restorations were done.
Jim