Travis Heights “gingerbread house” on track for historic landmark status

Travis Heights preservationists had cause for celebration last week, as a proposal to landmark an iconic neighborhood home broke up the typical routine of demolition and disappointment.

The case to rezone the property at 2101 Travis Heights Blvd., known among neighbors as the “gingerbread house,” received the unanimous endorsement of the Historic Landmark Commission, who cited both architectural and historical significance as grounds for approval. The case will next pass through the Planning Commission before a final vote at City Council.

Built in the mid 1930s by manufacturing industry man Roland P. Burks and his wife Jessie Vance, the Tudor Revival style home has stood for three generations as both a neighborhood reference point and locus of iconic local businesses. Present owners Brian and Joellen Peters, founders of South Austin’s Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company, purchased the home in 2011 after decades of admiring it from afar.

“This is a house we fell in love with back in 1991, when we first moved to Austin,” said Brian Peters. “It has such a neighborhood character, everybody uses it as kind of a landmark and a reference point, especially during Christmas and Halloween … so many people tell us it’s one of their favorites.”

In its earliest years, the property was home to builder R.P. Burks and his descendants, who weathered the Great Depression as managers of Woodward Manufacturing Company. The automobile body and furniture manufacturing plant at the former Penn Airfield was at one point the city’s largest, playing a significant role in Austin’s economy well into the mid-20th century.

The home changed hands in 1954, when it welcomed businessman Harry “Ray” Challstrom, who ran a family venetian blind, carport, and covered patio operation on nearby Barton Springs Road. Dill’s-Challstrom shuttered its headquarters at the present-day Zax Restaurant & Bar in 1986, after nearly six decades in business.

Now, Brian and Joellen Peters hope to carry forward the baton, stewarding the “gingerbread house” as a beloved gathering place for years to come. If successful, the home’s new status as a historic landmark will award the couple a tax abatement designed to assist in funding its maintenance, as well as protect the property from future alteration or demolition.

The zoning would mark a win for Travis Heights preservationists, who for years have been sounding the alarm over the encroachment of developers and transplants razing the neighborhood’s signature bungalows and cottages in favor of modern, larger homes. The district gained recognition as a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, but Austin’s booming real estate market has continued to bring an onslaught of demolitions.

“I think we have to recognize this as something passed down from past generations, that cared for and preserved it to make it the iconic house it is today,” said Commissioner Ben Heimsath of the home. “This is a landmark in every way, and this initiation of zoning is a partnership with the city of Austin … that would be passed down to future owners as well.”

The zoning application will make its way to the Planning Commission sometime in the next few months, followed by a final vote by City Council. With its present owners on board, the case is likely to see success.

Those interested in Austin’s historic resources and neighborhoods can learn more at the city’s Historic Preservation website.

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Posted In: Preservation, District 9