Austin could soon welcome a brand-new historic district into the mix, with an application for the West Downtown National Register District lined up to get the rubber stamp next month.
Located west of the Capitol between Seventh and 15th streets, the proposed district is a trove of historic architecture, charting Austin’s course from 19th-century settlement to 20th-century metropolis. Once established, the distinction will trigger new protocols for property developers, with permits for exterior modifications, demolitions and new construction all required to pass through the Historic Landmark Commission.
“(The West Downtown National Register District) is remarkable in terms of how much is intact at the core and how intense the development is at the edges,” said architectural historian Emily Payne, who compiled the National Register application. “We have some incredible examples of some of the earliest buildings in Austin, and then some great midcentury history too. It’s a really wonderfully eclectic district.”
The application has been a yearslong project at the Old Austin Neighborhood Association, which funded a historic resources survey of the area with state and federal grant money back in 2020. The survey identifies a total of 248 historically and/or architecturally significant sites, including Craftsman bungalows, folk Victorians, native limestone masonry and some of Austin’s first public school buildings.
“Overall, the West Downtown Austin Historic District retains a strong integrity of setting, feeling, and association,” reads the application. “The original street grid remains intact, continuing to communicate the original 1839 plan for the City of Austin. Historic-age landscape features like sidewalks, walkways, and retaining walls remain … and significant old-growth trees continue to punctuate the district’s landscape.”
If approved, West Downtown will replace Travis Heights-Fairview Park’s place as Austin’s newest National Register district. Neighbors celebrated the induction of Travis Heights-Fairview Park back in 2021, but have since bemoaned its failure to stop an increasing number of demolitions and the encroachment of towering, modern homes.
“I want to make sure the public is aware that there is a distinction between the National Register district and the locally registered historic district,” said Commissioner Ben Heimsath, serving as interim chair following the departure of commission veteran Terri Myers. “Our role will be to at least comment on any action on buildings within the area, but only to comment. We have a different responsibility, a little more say, when it comes to locally registered districts.”
Neighborhoods like Hyde Park and Castle Hill benefit from this local historic district status, which requires that the Historic Landmark Commission issue a certificate of appropriateness for all exterior building permits. Unfortunately for preservationists, state legislation passed since 2019 has made it increasingly difficult to navigate the designation process, with even a single homeowner objection triggering a required supermajority at City Council.
The applicants will make their case before the State Board of Review, scheduled for May 13 in Tyler. In the meantime, those interested can check out the Historical Marker database for a tour of Austin’s many historic places.
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Historic Landmark Commission: The city’s Historic Landmark Commission promotes historic preservation of buildings and structures. The commission also reviews applications and permits for historic zoning and historic grants.
historic preservation: Official actions of a municipality such as the City of Austin taken to preserve structures with their jurisdiction. Preservation is often accompanied by a property tax exemption.
