Though we stick to the written word for the most part, sometimes nothing beats a video for getting your point across -- so here's one of the best we've seen in a while. It's from construction firm PERI Formwork Systems, working with DPR Construction, describing some of the specific challenges of building the Block 71 / Indeed Tower office project in the heart of downtown ...
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Commentary, analysis, and quick thoughts on almost everything in town.
The Forgotten History of Normandie Arms, Austin’s First Apartment Tower
What was the first high-rise apartment building in Austin? This is obviously a trick question, but the people who keep track of this stuff will generally tell you it's the 15-story Cambridge Tower, which opened in 1965. Using the modern (and not entirely agreed-upon) definition of a high-rise, they're absolutely correct -- especially because we're not counting the ...
In 1937, Austin’s Growing Skyline Saw Towers ‘Shooting Up’
On July 29, 1937, the Austin Statesman printed a special edition of its daily paper commemorating the end of construction on the Buchanan Dam project. One page, as seen above, celebrated the steady growth of Austin's skyline and the economic prosperity it represented -- with its centerpiece, the 307-foot tower of the University of Texas' Main Building, having opened earlier ...
Central Austin’s Baffling Street Grid Is Entirely One Man’s Fault
Have you noticed that Austin’s street grid appears to exist outside the standard bounds of geometry? 12th Street jogs out at an angle once it crosses I-35, 28th Street is parallel to 27th Street — but not to 29th Street — and First Street intersects with Seventh Street (just past its intersection with Fifth Street). The man at fault for this jumble is William Sandusky, whose ...
Sixth and Lamar is the Worst Intersection in Austin
After two rounds of our extremely rigorous and not-at-all scientific survey about the worst Austin intersections, a majority of votes nearly as overwhelming as traffic itself has brought us a clear answer, at least in the opinion of our readers: Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard takes the cake, with more than 30 percent of the vote. We received 538 total votes in this ...
