Locksmith Services in San Antonio, TX

Homes and locks in San Antonio

The city lists 32 local historic districts, with very different housing.

• King William, south of downtown on the east bank of the San Antonio River, was subdivided in the 1860s and developed by German immigrants. Its late nineteenth-century houses are large and mostly brick or stone; the later southern part has smaller wood houses.
• Lavaca, just east of King William, was built mostly in the late nineteenth century, with Folk Victorian and Queen Anne examples.
• Dignowity Hill, east of downtown, was built mostly from about 1877 to 1940, and most of its houses are wood.
• Government Hill grew from 1890 to 1930 alongside Fort Sam Houston.
• Tobin Hill, north of downtown, is mostly wood, from modest bungalows to two-and-a-half-story houses. Monte Vista, also north of downtown, mixes wood, brick and stone.
• Monticello Park, in northwest San Antonio, dates from the 1920s and 1930s.
• Olmos Park Terrace, platted in 1931, has one-story houses, mostly Minimal Traditional or early Ranch, often in stone.

The city's design guidelines ask owners to preserve historic doors, including their hardware, and to replace them in kind when beyond repair. On an original door, ask about lock repair before lock replacement.

Businesses and buildings

Most buildings around Alamo Plaza are stone and brick, three to twelve stories tall, including early skyscrapers. Main and Military Plaza, on the west bank of the river, holds San Fernando Cathedral and the 1882 Bexar County courthouse. St. Paul Square, east of downtown, is mostly brick and stucco around Sunset Station, the 1902 passenger depot.

City guidelines for historic storefronts say to keep recessed entrances and original doors, so plan commercial locksmith work around the existing door.

Car trouble in San Antonio

City on-street meters and pay stations are enforced Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and not on Sundays or official city holidays. City off-street surface lots with pay stations are enforced at all hours. The city's SAPark app can extend a parking session from a phone, which helps if a car lockout keeps you at a meter longer than planned.

• The city names two main reasons vehicles are towed or booted: safety or unlawful parking, and unpaid parking citations.
• Event rates apply during Fiesta San Antonio, the Texas Folklife Festival and other large events.

Local rules worth knowing

Historic districts. Exterior changes to a landmark or a property in a local historic district need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Office of Historic Preservation. Repairs using the same materials and design can be approved by staff under Unified Development Code Section 35-611, while exterior changes in materials or design go to the Historic and Design Review Commission. Interior alterations are not reviewed. The guidelines also say to install security bars only on the interior of windows and doors.

Notice of Tenant Rights. City Code Section 16-6 requires a landlord who delivers a notice to vacate for nonpayment of rent to give the tenant the city's Notice of Tenant Rights within one business day. The notice explains that a notice to vacate is not itself an eviction.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Requesting service in San Antonio

Give the neighborhood or nearest cross streets, and say whether the property is in a historic district or the car is at a city meter or lot. For a lockout at home, see house lockout; after a tenant moves out, see lock rekeying. Texas Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in San Antonio. See the Texas page for more.