Est. 1926 · San Antonio Landmark · Gothic Revival Architecture · Texas Medical History · Historic Hotels of America
The Medical Arts Building was conceived as San Antonio's first vertical medical complex — a 13-story tower where physicians could practice in dedicated suites while a hospital occupied the upper floors. Construction began in November 1924, and the building officially opened on April 12, 1926. The building's Neo-Gothic design — by San Antonio architect Ralph H. Cameron — drew immediate attention. At 205 feet, it was the tallest building in San Antonio until the Milam Building surpassed it in 1927.
Cameron incorporated grotesque figures into the exterior stonework that depicted medical conditions: a figure clutching its jaw for a toothache, a figure holding its abdomen for a stomach ailment. The gargoyles serve as a catalog of the ailments the building was designed to treat.
Physicians occupied the lower floors as office space. Upper floors functioned as hospital wards. The basement held the morgue. The building provided full medical services from admission to end of life in a single structure, with rental space of approximately 100,000 square feet and capacity for over 380 offices.
The Medical Arts Building continued operating as a medical facility for roughly five decades. In 1976 it was converted to office use, and in 1984 it was remodeled and renamed the Emily Morgan Hotel. After a multi-million-dollar renovation in 2012 the building was acquired by Hilton's DoubleTree brand. It now operates as a 177-room property with direct views of the Alamo from its upper floors.
The hotel is named for Emily D. West Morgan, a free woman of color associated with the legend of the Yellow Rose of Texas from the period of Texas independence. Historic Hotels of America has included the Emily Morgan among its most haunted properties.
Sources
- https://www.emilymorganhotel.com/about/building-history/emily-morgan-haunted-hotel-history/
- https://www.historichotels.org/us/2024-top-25-most-haunted-hotels.php
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-antonio/haunted-places/haunted-hotels/emily-morgan-hotel/
- https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/medical-arts-building-emily-morgan-hotel
ApparitionsPhantom smellsPhantom soundsDoors opening/closingObject movementCold spots
The 14th floor generates the Emily Morgan's most consistently described phenomena. Multiple guests have independently reported a distinct antiseptic smell — specifically described as bandages or clinical disinfectant — with no physical explanation. The odor is not continuous; it manifests and dissipates. Room 1408 was intentionally omitted from the floor numbering: the sequence moves from 1407 directly to the Duke Suite. The hotel's own documentation notes that 1+4+0+8 equals 13, and the room was never assigned.
The woman in white appears in reports from multiple floors. She is described as moving through hallways and passing through doors. Guests have reported her materializing in room doorways and in the corridors outside. The 7th and 12th floors appear most frequently in accounts alongside the 14th, and the basement — the former morgue — is described in paranormal writing about the building as the most concentrated area of activity.
More mundane anomalies recur across guest reports: phones ringing in the middle of the night with no caller on the line, pillows moved to the floor by an unknown agency after housekeeping has cleaned the room, bathtub water discovered tinted blue, doors closing without physical cause. The building's decades as a working hospital provide a dense historical context for this category of report.
San Antonio Ghost City Tours and other local operators include the Emily Morgan in their routes, citing its medical history and Alamo-adjacent location as factors in its paranormal reputation.
Notable Entities
The Woman in White
Media Appearances
- Stuff They Don't Want You to Know: Haunted Houses — What's Going on at the Emily Morgan Hotel? (2021)
