Tag Archives: historic preservation
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 by Jo Clifton
Preservation
Council denies West Austin historic zoning
A divided City Council declined last week to zone a West Austin house as historic, but the owners have agreed to renovate the house in Italian Renaissance Revival style, so that it satisfies them as well as the neighborhood and…
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 by Jack Craver
Preservation
City estimate: Preserving Montopolis Negro School would cost $5.7M
The city of Austin is beginning the process of using eminent domain to seize the 1-acre plot at 500 Montopolis Ave., home of an 83-year-old building that was once the Montopolis Negro School. The structure is a rare vestige of…
Tuesday, September 4, 2018 by Jo Clifton
Preservation
Despite owners’ wishes, historic zoning advances
Staff won a preliminary victory in its quest to zone a 1923 West Austin house historic against the owners’ wishes last week. The City Council vote was 6-3, but with two members off the dais and not voting, the final…
Friday, August 31, 2018 by Jo Clifton
Preservation
Council OKs Smoot Terrace Park Historic District
Council gave final approval Thursday to creation of the Smoot Terrace Park Historic District just west of downtown, after neighbors decided to eliminate three properties owned by people who signed a valid petition opposing the historic district.That meant Council could…
Thursday, August 30, 2018 by Elizabeth Pagano
Preservation
Fence unites landmark commission
Should new fences in National Register historic districts come before the Historic Landmark Commission? The answer appears to be “probably.”At their most recent meeting, Historic Landmark commissioners considered whether to summon the owners of 906 E. 14th St., which is…
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 by Elizabeth Pagano
Preservation
ZAP considers West Austin historic zoning
Going against the wishes of the property’s owners and their neighbors, a majority of the Zoning and Platting Commission endorsed a bid for historic zoning in Old West Austin at its most recent meeting.Though it wasn’t enough for a recommendation,…
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Jessi Devenyns
Preservation
One of Austin’s oldest homes needs help
At 9019 Parkfield Drive sits one of the oldest structures in the city of Austin. However, as it currently stands, it is easy to pass it by as a teardown.In partnership with Sam Williams, the 30-year tenant of this property,…
Friday, August 3, 2018 by Jessi Devenyns
Preservation
Commissioners dive into St. Edward’s records
There are many reasons that a building can be historic. One of them is if a structure is a part of a historic district where an architect has produced a significant body of work that embodies a period style and…
Thursday, August 2, 2018 by Jessi Devenyns
Preservation
Commissioners request authentic reconstruction for Lamar Bridge
Sometimes, accidents happen.In an emergency addition to the Historic Landmark Commission agenda on July 23, commissioners heard the case of the Lamar Boulevard Bridge over Shoal Creek.Last month a vehicular collision damaged the bridge, which lies between 12th Street and…
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 by Jack Craver
Preservation
Do historic districts help or hurt affordability?
There is a wide range of views about how historic preservation rules relate to Austin’s housing affordability problems.Some argue that actions taken to prevent the demolition of old homes advance affordability because, in general, older homes are cheaper than new…
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 by Jo Clifton
Preservation
Council seeks more historic preservation funds
Several City Council members agree with their colleague Leslie Pool, who says the city’s Historic Preservation Office is “desperately understaffed” and badly in need of more funding in order to make sure that Austin can keep many of its historic…
Friday, April 13, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Preservation
Palm School survey offers ground rules for redevelopment
The Travis County Commissioners Court on Thursday received a long-awaited report on the historic bona fides of the county-owned Palm School building during a briefing that offered potential redevelopment scenarios of the 19th-century downtown Austin structure.All of those scenarios would…
Monday, April 9, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Preservation
Council approves preservation projects with $5.5M from hotel tax
More than a dozen projects related to the preservation of Austin’s historic buildings will move ahead, with more to follow in coming budget years, using money from the city’s portion of its Hotel Occupancy Tax.Last month City Council approved a…
Thursday, March 22, 2018 by Jack Craver
Preservation
Which historic sites should be covered by hotel occupancy taxes?
Last year, City Council voted to reallocate millions of dollars from the Austin Convention Center and Visit Austin (formerly the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau) to historic preservation efforts. Now, it’s up to Council to decide what projects will benefit…
Friday, March 16, 2018 by Joseph Caterine
Housing
Planning Commission moves Rosewood Courts case to Council
Voting against a request to postpone the case, the Planning Commission unanimously approved staff’s recommendation to grant a portion of east side public housing project Rosewood Courts historic zoning at its Mar. 13 meeting.Controversy has centered around whether all of…
Wednesday, February 28, 2018 by Syeda Hasan
Preservation
Rosewood Courts renovation gets initial approval from landmark commission
The Historic Landmark Commission is paving the way for a major renovation of Rosewood Courts. The public housing project in East Austin was the first in the country built for black residents.The commission previously recommended zoning the entire site as…
Monday, February 26, 2018 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Reasons for beauty
Where the sidewalk bends… Austin badly needs to fill in the large gap of missing sidewalks across the city, but simply making each stretch of sidewalk longer than it has to be probably isn’t the most efficient solution. On Saturday,…
Monday, December 11, 2017 by Elizabeth Pagano
Land Development Code
Historic commission rejects CodeNEXT draft
“CodeNEXT continues to enable the demolition and replacement of existing housing stock with new construction. Consequently, the Commission cannot recommend the adoption of CodeNEXT as written.”That’s the consensus of the Historic Landmark Commission, according to a resolution about the second…
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 by Elizabeth Pagano
Preservation
Could a new historic district save this home?
There’s another push to create a local historic district in Travis Heights. The fate of 501 E. Mary St. became entwined with the proposed district at the most recent meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, where the home’s demolition was…
Friday, October 6, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Preservation
Council OKs historic zoning for apartment house
City Council approved historic zoning on Thursday for the 1930s-era Tucker-Winfield Apartment House at 1105 Nueces St. Council Member Jimmy Flannigan voted against the designation and Council Member Ellen Troxclair abstained.Flannigan objected to the designation, at least in part, because…
