It took a long time to get there, and there was a lot of angst in the process, but, in the end, the demolition of 611 West Lynn St. was approved without much fanfare at all. “This is a case that has been around for a long time,” said Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky, at […]
Preservation
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Mary Street historic district sails to Council
Travis Heights is one step closer to getting its first local historic district after a trip to the Planning Commission last week. The Mary Street historic district is a modest bid for a historic district that would cover just 2.5 acres of the city. Scaled down from a recent attempt to create a Bluebonnet Hills […]
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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 preserve the original structure itself and see new buildings of varying sizes rise up […]
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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 budget transfer of $5.5 million to the city’s historic preservation fund to pay for […]
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Eastside demo moves quietly forward
East Austin is losing another home to demolition. The demolition moved forward without a fight at the Historic Landmark Commission, where Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky noted he had put the item on the agenda because “I didn’t want to let this one go by without, at least, a discussion.” The home, which was built […]
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Five new demolition permits released for Old West Austin homes
A modified plan for five homes in the West Line Historic District moved forward at the Historic Landmark Commission on Monday night, but it required a leap of faith on the part of commissioners. Originally, five demolitions were part of a single development proposal in the Old West Austin neighborhood. Since then, the developers have agreed […]
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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 from those newly available funds. The money all comes from the 9 percent tax that […]
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Is a historic district on the way for Travis Heights?
If at first, second or third you don’t succeed, try something smaller. That might prove the key to a Travis Heights historic district. A local historic district has long been in the works for the South Central Austin neighborhood. For more than a decade, residents have attempted to tackle a designation for the whole neighborhood, […]
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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 historic. On Monday, the commission changed that recommendation to apply to just eight buildings, […]
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Proposed demolitions rattle Old West Austin
At the most recent meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, neighbors showed up in force to protest the prospect of demolishing a swath of homes in the heart of Old West Austin. The five demolitions are all part of a single development proposal. Four of the properties – located at 905 Maufrais St. and 1404, […]
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Landmark commission pushes for full preservation of Rosewood Courts
This year, a plan to preserve and redevelop Rosewood Courts will be making its way through City Hall. After more than two years of work, advocates for the plan hope that they have struck a compromise between modernizing the property and preserving its history. The Dec. 18 meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission revealed that […]
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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 put on hold for the time being. The case had previously been postponed by the […]