Images: MCS Architects / McAllister & Associates
This evening, Austin’s Historic Landmark Commission will hear the details of a proposed 12-story tower addition to the historic Bartholomew-Robinson Building at the southeast corner of West 15th and Lavaca Streets downtown. The project would seemingly integrate elements of the existing single-story building, which dates back to the 1880s, into the new structure’s ground floor, while raising a tower for “micro-hotel” brand Motto by Hilton above the 0.14-acre tract at 1415 Lavaca Street.
Information regarding the development’s associated firms is scarce beyond its Hilton branding and architecture by Houston-based firm MCS, but these documents also appear to name Houston real estate figure William Franks, who has completed similar adaptive reuse projects for historic buildings in that market — including a few hotels.
Image: MCS Architects
Presentation documents for tonight’s meeting include the exterior images seen above along with floor plans for the project, which indicate that the 159-room hotel’s lobby would occupy the ground level of the existing building, with its main entrance facing Lavaca Street. The second floor of the hotel tower would contain a bar and restaurant space, with some of the old building’s roof serving as outdoor patio seating.
On the left in the image above is a ground floor plan for the project, showing its integration with the existing historic structure. The images on the top and bottom right respectively show plans for the second floor, which contains a restaurant and bar; and the third to 12th floors, which contain the hotel’s 159 guest rooms. Click for a larger view. Images: MCS Architects
The building also doesn’t seem to contain any parking, which allows the developer to really max out the limited square footage available due to its location falling within the Capitol Dominance Overlay District surrounding the Texas Capitol Complex — meaning it probably can’t rise any higher than its 12 floors even if we all wanted it to.
An aerial view of the building at West 15th and Lavaca Streets, with its empty southern half visible. Image: Bing Maps
Like many projects of this variety, it’s unclear from these documents exactly how much of the existing structure would be preserved beyond its exterior facade. Still, this particular historic building, currently occupied by the headquarters of the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association, seems actually kind of well-suited for this sort of adaptation — after more than a century of various tenants and assorted renovations, the structure’s southern half is just an empty shell at the moment.
An illustration of the Bartholomew-Robinson Building, at the time owned by grocer John Wayland, from an 1887 edition of the Austin American-Statesman. The scale seems to be a little off, but otherwise it’s pretty accurate! Image: Austin History Center
The building’s unusual history goes way back. First built as a stone house in 1883, it was massively expanded with the addition of its three distinctive corner towers around 1886, making it one of Austin’s few representations of the so-called Second Empire style of architecture — though you’ll find another example a few blocks down at 1802 Lavaca Street. Over the considerable decades since, its tenants have included a feed store, oyster bar, and comedy club, to name only a few.
After the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association purchased the building in 1995, ostensibly to protect it from potential demolition, the organization began an extensive restoration project, footage of which is available on YouTube, oddly enough — you’ll notice even this quiet corner of downtown looked a little different back then:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180114002944/http://youtu.be/bGUxYB5jmzQ
Considering our limited information at the moment, tonight’s meeting will hopefully provide us with a better understanding of what the hotel project could bring to the northwest district of downtown — which has quite a lot going on right now.
UPDATE: The Commission isn’t a big fan of this project, to say the least. We’ll have to keep an eye on this one as it moves forward.
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