Marathon Project Headed to Rosedale: Looks Like a Factory, Actually an Office

A rendering of one of the Marathon office building’s indoor-outdoor spaces at the front of the structure, with those nifty stairwells also visible. Image: OLA Architects

Marathon Boulevard might not ring your bell. It runs parallel to North Lamar Boulevard, just one block west — which is right on the edge but still inside the area I’m led to believe is okay to call Rosedale, near Medical Drive and the excellent Draught House Pub that’s been brewing beer since before it was cool in 1995. I should just show you on the map, shouldn’t I?

Looking vaguely eastward at the 4009 Marathon Boulevard site. Image: Google Maps

The .26-acre site at 4009 Marathon Boulevard seen on the map above, owned by a corporate entity associated with local real estate investor David Kahn, will soon be home to a five-story office building designed by OLA Architects.

Looking south at current progress on the 4009 Marathon site. Photo by James Rambin.

The project, which appears to simply go by Marathon, is in a fairly advanced stage of construction as we speak.

The front of the 4009 Marathon project, facing the street. Photo by James Rambin.

Kahn hasn’t responded to our requests for comment at this time, so we don’t know anything about the building’s future office tenants for now, but that doesn’t really matter — what we’re here for is the design, so this is how the building’s gonna look:

A straight-on view of the Marathon office project, looking east from this perspective. Image: OLA Architects

A street-level rendering of the Marathon office project, looking sort of northeast from this perspective. Image: OLA Architects

To call this design “warehouse-inspired” doesn’t do it justice. Lots of architects in town recognize the current popularity of industrial interior design cues, particularly in new office projects, but this building’s really committing to the bit by replicating the specific usage of reinforced concrete framing, masonry, and steel-framed casement windows present in the design of many American warehouses and factories built around the early 1900s by companies like Turner Construction.

On the left is a rendering of the 4009 Marathon office building. On the right is a historical photo of the Cheek-Neal Coffee factory in Houston, built in 1917. Images: OLA Architects / Houston Public Library

This 1929 collage of buildings designed by the Turner Construction Company shows plenty of structures that resemble the Marathon office project, but I think number 72 is a dead ringer. Click for a better view. Image: National Building Museum

Building a brand-new office intentionally designed to look like an older factory building, which to the casual observer might appear to have only been adapted after decades of industrial use, is certainly fascinating — not to mention more than a little postmodern. To me, it indicates that the common signifiers of historical context and gritty authenticity usually supplied by adaptive reuse projects of actual industrial properties can be successfully reverse-engineered, creating buildings that grant their surrounding an increased sense of place compared to more common, and arguably generic designs.

Elevations of the Marathon project showing details of its design. Image: OLA Architects

Other interior design fads for homes and offices come and go, but until Brooklyn loft conversions stop being so cool we’re going to keep seeing popular demand for industrial-style materials and fixtures. Why bother hunting down an old space to adapt when you can just buy caged pendant lamps and factory windows online?

On the left, a refurbished industrial light fixture intended for home use. On the right, a mirror designed to resemble the design of a steel-framed factory window. Images: Industrial Interior CPH / Bellacor

It’s obnoxious to care too much about authenticity in this case. Sure, we can get excited about historical context, but I think people just like this stuff because it looks cool, not because they’re necessarily familiar with early 20th century industrial vernacular architecture or whatever — either way, I’ll take this over another bland glass office or stucco mid-rise any day of the week. Plus, if Austin experiences another industrial revolution a few hundred years down the line, we can easily adapt the Marathon building into a factory.

Rosedale Homes For Sale

4921 Bull Creek RD , Austin

Home size: 2,363 sq ft
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4 beds
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4501 Shoal Creek BLVD , Austin

Home size: 1,417 sq ft
Lot size: 9,583 sqft
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2407 Hancock DR , Austin

Home size: 1,418 sq ft
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4810 W Frances PL , Austin

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Home size: 3,371 sq ft
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Year built: 1953

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4209 Burnet RD #203 , Austin

Home size: 562 sq ft
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$187,000

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Home size: 1,864 sq ft
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4929 Strass DR , Austin

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$649,000

5009 Strass DR , Austin

Home size: 1,648 sq ft
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Year built: 1954

3 beds
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$540,000

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1916 W 37th ST , Austin

Home size: 1,226 sq ft
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$540,000

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Home size: 2,868 sq ft
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Year built: 1953

4 beds
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$1,090,000

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Home size: 3,687 sq ft
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5201 Shoal Creek BLVD , Austin

Home size: 3,050 sq ft
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Home size: 2,050 sq ft
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4412 Maybelle AVE , Austin

Home size: 2,340 sq ft
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4411 Ramsey AVE , Austin

Home size: 2,025 sq ft
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Year built: 1937

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Home size: 2,299 sq ft
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Home size: 1,482 sq ft
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Year built: 1949

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$634,900

4921 Bull Creek RD , Austin

Home size: 2,363 sq ft Lot size: 15,594 sqft Year built: 1985

4 beds 3 baths $879,500
4501 Shoal Creek BLVD , Austin

Home size: 1,417 sq ft Lot size: 9,583 sqft Year built: 1954

3 beds 2 baths $530,000
2407 Hancock DR , Austin

Home size: 1,418 sq ft Lot size: 9,104 sqft Year built: 1948

2 beds 1 bath $625,000
4810 W Frances PL , Austin

Home size: 1,932 sq ft Lot size: 7,187 sqft Year built: 1954

3 beds 2 baths $765,000
4900 Shoal Creek BLVD , Austin

Home size: 3,371 sq ft Lot size: 19,166 sqft Year built: 1953

5 beds 3 baths $1,400,000
4505 Greenbriar CT , Austin

Home size: 1,944 sq ft Lot size: 13,677 sqft Year built: 1957

4 beds 2 baths $890,000
4209 Burnet RD #203 , Austin

Home size: 562 sq ft Lot size: 871 sqft Year built: 1967

1 bed 1 bath $187,000
2605 Pembrook TRL , Austin

Home size: 4,093 sq ft Lot size: 22,520 sqft Year built: 1962

3 beds 3 baths $1,125,000
2401 Hancock DR , Austin

Home size: 1,172 sq ft Lot size: 7,230 sqft Year built: 1948

3 beds 1 bath $450,000
4408 A Ramsey AVE , Austin

Home size: 1,864 sq ft Lot size: 6,098 sqft Year built: 1937

4 beds 2 baths $719,900
4929 Strass DR , Austin

Home size: 2,025 sq ft Lot size: 10,759 sqft Year built: 1951

4 beds 2 baths $649,000
5009 Strass DR , Austin

Home size: 1,648 sq ft Lot size: 16,857 sqft Year built: 1954

3 beds 2 baths $540,000
4808 Westfield DR , Austin

Home size: 1,134 sq ft Lot size: 9,583 sqft Year built: 1953

3 beds 1 bath $359,000
3800 Bailey LN #F-2 , Austin

Home size: 1,994 sq ft Year built: 1997

3 beds 3 baths $719,900
1916 W 37th ST , Austin

Home size: 1,226 sq ft Lot size: 5,662 sqft Year built: 1957

2 beds 1 bath $540,000
3909 Petes PATH , Austin

Home size: 2,868 sq ft Lot size: 7,013 sqft Year built: 1953

4 beds 4 baths $1,090,000
2713 W 49 1/2 ST , Austin

Home size: 3,687 sq ft Lot size: 9,278 sqft Year built: 2018

4 beds 4 baths $1,185,000
3609 Lawton AVE #A , Austin

Home size: 1,419 sq ft Lot size: 6,969 sqft Year built: 2007

3 beds 3 baths $599,500
5201 Shoal Creek BLVD , Austin

Home size: 3,050 sq ft Lot size: 11,499 sqft Year built: 1948

4 beds 3 baths $829,000
4006 Lewis LN , Austin

Home size: 2,050 sq ft Lot size: 8,319 sqft Year built: 1944

3 beds 3 baths $749,000
4412 Maybelle AVE , Austin

Home size: 2,340 sq ft Lot size: 6,272 sqft Year built: 1999

4 beds 3 baths $899,000
4411 Ramsey AVE , Austin

Home size: 2,025 sq ft Lot size: 6,708 sqft Year built: 1937

2 beds 2 baths $675,000
4504 Erin LN , Austin

Home size: 2,299 sq ft Lot size: 33,454 sqft Year built: 1965

3 beds 3 baths $839,900
408 Highland Village DR , Austin

Home size: 2,720 sq ft Lot size: 11,325 sqft Year built: 2017

3 beds 3 baths $482,990
4100 Idlewild DR , Austin

Home size: 1,482 sq ft Lot size: 8,015 sqft Year built: 1949

3 beds 2 baths $634,900