Pianta’s Cast Stone Featured in Neighborhood

Italian immigrant also decorated homes and businesses throughout San Antonio.

Hannibal Pianta carving in clay, which would then be used to form a mold for concrete.

Have you ever noticed the beautiful sculptural elements decorating Thomas Jefferson High School? These are “cast stone,” formed by pouring concrete into rubber molds.  The acknowledged expert in cast stone was Hannibal Pianta, an Italian immigrant who went into business with his father in 1908 and took over in 1912, when he was 37 years old.

Inside Pianta’s workshop in the 300 block of Fredericksburg Road.

Pianta carved his art in clay, then created molds in rubber for the concrete mixture.  He did all of this work at his workshop at 300 Fredericksburg Road then transported each piece to the job site for installation.

Much of Pianta’s work remains uncatalogued, but some of his known works include the Municipal Auditorium (now Tobin Center), the San Antonio Light Building, the Aztec, Empire, and Empire theaters, and dozens of homes in Monte Vista, Alamo Heights, and Monticello Park.

Look around the neighborhood and you will see many examples of cast stone.  Most of these are likely the works of Pianta.  The cast stone at Thomas Jefferson High School is clearly documented as Pianta’s, and most experts agree it is his finest work.

Two photos showing the gorgeous details of Hannibal Pianta’s work on Thomas Jefferson High School.

Hannibal Pianta died in 1937 when a train struck his delivery truck on Zarzamora, but his work lives on throughout San Antonio and certainly within our neighborhood.