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Preservation
Castleman-Bull house resolution OK’d with changes
City Council approved a resolution from Council Member Kathie Tovo last week directing City Manager Spencer Cronk to study questions about restoring the interior of the historic Castleman-Bull House, which has sat vacant since the Austin Convention Center acquired and…
Preservation • By Jo Clifton • Sep 21, 2022
Tovo pushes renovation of historic convention center house
For 22 years the city has owned the historic Castleman-Bull House, which sits vacant and unused at 201 Red River St. across from the Austin Convention Center’s service yard entrance. Now City Council Member Kathie Tovo hopes to push through…
Preservation • By Jo Clifton • Sep 14, 2022
Preservation office gets new design standards and equity plan
Big changes for Austin’s Historic Preservation Office are on the horizon, with new historic design standards and an equity-based preservation plan on course to bring major updates to the city’s preservation program. Cara Bertron, senior housing and planning officer, stopped…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Sep 13, 2022
Preservation leaders show concern over delay in Sixth Street historic district
The push to designate the East Sixth Street entertainment district as a city historic district has been postponed, with Council Member Kathie Tovo opting to wait for proposed new designed guidelines for properties that could be reconstructed as part of…
Preservation • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 13, 2022
Demolition case reveals shortcomings in city's historic preservation policies
A monthslong debate over an East Austin bungalow has ended in a victory for the property owner, with City Council voting to reject historic zoning last Thursday. The home, located at 1403 E. Cesar Chavez St., initially came to the…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Sep 8, 2022
Historic zoning for Westgate Tower delayed amid concern over tax breaks
The Planning Commission postponed a decision Tuesday on whether the Westgate Tower should be zoned historic due to concern about a tax break for condo owners. Preservationists deem the tower at 1122 Colorado Street historic for its architecture and its…
Preservation • By Jonathan Lee • Aug 26, 2022
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Landmark commission gives green light to five-story makeover for West Sixth
After hurtling successfully through the Historic Landmark Commission earlier this month, investment firm Riverside Resources is one step closer to carrying out a project that would transform 2 acres of restaurant and retail space on West Sixth Street into a…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Aug 18, 2022
No end in sight for decadelong Sneed House debacle
The perennial saga over a cluster of ruins in the Dove Springs neighborhood of Southeast Austin continues, as the all-too-familiar Sneed House case resurfaced at the Historic Landmark Commission last Wednesday. The remains of the Civil War-era estate have been…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Aug 12, 2022
Law Department predicts challenges ahead for equity-based preservation programs
The Historic Landmark Commission was in an unusually gloomy mood last Wednesday, as the meeting kicked off with an ominous briefing from the city’s legal department. At the request of Commissioner Blake Tollett, Assistant City Attorney Neal Falgoust dropped by…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Aug 9, 2022
Council rejects historic zoning for East Seventh Street house
Lacking the nine votes needed to overcome the property owner’s objection, City Council denied a request last week from the Historic Landmark Commission to designate “a good example of folk Victorian architecture” as historic. The Carlson-Colunga house at 902 E.…
Preservation • By Jo Clifton • Aug 2, 2022
Hancock home to Tom Miller and Emma Long to become historic landmark
In a brief respite from demolition cases, the Historic Landmark Commission is celebrating a likely contender for landmark designation at 803 Park Blvd. in North Central Austin. The Miller-Long house was built in 1929 in the heyday of the early…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Jul 20, 2022
Historic Preservation Office aims to replace 40-year-old preservation plan by next fall, with a focus on equity
Austin’s Historic Preservation Office has taken on a new project to tackle equity issues, with ambitions to overhaul the city’s preservation plan for the first time since 1981. In a briefing to the Historic Landmark Commission, staff reported that the…
