A rendering of the Overlook space planned for West Austin Park. Image: TBG Partners / Friends of West Austin Park
West Austin Park, located at 1317 West 10th Street just a few blocks west of downtown, isn’t one of Austin’s better-known outdoor destinations compared with the more cosmopolitan reputation of the nearby Pease Park — but despite looking a little rough around the edges, this three-acre neighborhood park dating back to 1930 has its own pleasant appeal in the heart of Old West Austin. Alongside its respective play spaces for kids and off-leash dogs, the park’s most iconic structure is the Tudor Revival bathhouse providing restrooms and changing space for its charming circular swimming pool. It’s believed to be the work of public works architect Hugo Kuehne, who designed similar structures at several other parks including Pease.
Although it’s clearly loved by nearby residents, West Austin Park hasn’t seen the same level of investment as many other public outdoor spaces in the central city. Back in 2013, the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association along with nonprofit volunteer organization the Friends of West Austin Park hired local landscape architecture firm TBG Partners to form a long-term vision plan for the park’s improvement, which identified numerous deferred maintenance issues and outlined priorities for future upgrades to the space. More than a decade later, the first major addition to West Austin Park is hoping to break ground later this year, with a plan for a new patio space known as the Overlook at the park’s unused northwest corner.
Image: TBG Partners / Friends of West Austin Park
The Overlook is a small section in the northwest corner of West Austin Park, bordering Maufrais St. At one time it was a tennis court, but it fell in to disrepair and was removed. In 2020, the Friends of West Austin Park actively starting planning to transform this area into a peaceful, adult-centric area of the park focusing on promoting chance interactions among neighbors. We hired TBG, a well known Austin landscape architecture firm, to redefine the space. The Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) supported the effort and granted approval to the design which follows the master plan for the park adopted in 2013. We are cooperating with Austin Parks Foundation (APF) to make it happen. Fundraising is underway and we hope to kick off construction in 2024!
This addition, intended to provide more pleasant gathering space for park visitors and nearby residents, also sports a pretty decent skyline view. It’s the kind of modest, but critical upgrade to a space that not only improves its sense of place, but can also be funded with donations from regular people — according to the organizers, the project has raised almost $200,000 so far, and is close to seeking bids for construction. With new stuff like this, we can’t imagine West Austin Park will stay underrated for long.
Move the slider to the right to make all your dreams come true. Images by TBG Partners / Friends of West Austin Park
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