Council OKs historic zoning for east side house on first reading

On Thursday, City Council approved on first reading only a historic designation for the Romo-Johnson House at 900 Spence St. in East Austin. However, three members of Council abstained from the vote, making it seem unlikely that it will finally gain historic zoning. When the item returns for second and third reading, it will require nine of 11 votes for final approval.

Council members Natasha Harper-Madison, Paige Ellis and Marc Duchen abstained. Ellis and Harper-Madison have previously said they will not vote against an owner’s wishes on historic designation, and Harper-Madison reiterated that statement on Thursday.

Without that designation, the current owner of the property, DMP Austin LLC, likely will carry out the demolition that was proposed before it went to the Historic Landmark Commission. Although staff and the HLC recommended the historic designation, the Planning Commission made no recommendation. According to the 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey, the property is “a good example of the National Folk style.” Several families lived in the house and raised their children there, but it is not associated with any well-known person.

The building was erected in 1915 by Alfred and Caroline Johnson. They lived in the property for 20 years before it became a rental property. In 1957, staff reports, Bastrop natives Bernardino C. Romo and Santos S. Romo bought the house. Bernardino Romo served on the PTA board of the Palm School. They stayed in the house until Bernardino Romo’s death in 2017. His wife stayed in the house until she died in 2021. According to the staff report, the East Austin Historic Resource Survey identifies the house as “a significant look into the development and demographic changes that formed the predominant residential development patterns of the Willow-Spence neighborhood during the 20th Century.” The home’s first occupants were white, and the Romos were Hispanic.

Staff quoted the East Austin Historic Resource Survey as saying, “The community south of East 7th Street became increasingly Hispanic … likely due to the decrease in residential property values associated with the fear of industrial development nearby—although the abandonment of the Zavala School, the Pan American Recreation Center and the Metz School never came to pass.” The Romo family, who had been renters, were able to buy the house. The Austin Historic Resource survey indicates that the home is “significant as an example of Austin’s residential development at the start of the 20th Century.”

The owner of the LLC is listed as David Peganyee. Neither the owner nor anyone from the community spoke at Thursday’s meeting. The case will likely come back to Council at its Feb. 13 or Feb. 27 meeting.

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Posted In: Preservation, District 3