We’re huge fans of the plan by the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department to rehab the historic 1950s Art Deco-style facility on Lady Bird Lake formerly used as the pump house of the adjacent Seaholm Power Plant into a new downtown public space — and unlike the fate of many plans we like, after waiting more than 10 years we’re happy to report…
adaptive reuse
Austin’s Seaholm Waterfront Project Finally Moves Forward Next Week
Can you tell we’re excited about the Seaholm Waterfront project? Our antsy coverage of the city’s plan to adapt the historic 1950s former intake building of the also-former Seaholm Power Plant into a new public space and venue on Lady Bird Lake has followed the project’s various stages of imagination since long before the appearance of a master plan for the space by famed design firm…
It’s Not Looking Good for the Hotel Atop a Historic Building at 15th and Lavaca
The recent purchase of a historic building at the southeast corner of West 15th and Lavaca Streets in downtown Austin by the State Bar of Texas likely indicates the demise of a previously planned hotel tower project at this location. The Bartholomew-Robinson Building at 1415 Lavaca Street, built in the 1880s but most recently serving as office space for…
A Bigger H-E-B Won’t Fix Hancock Center, but It’s Not a Bad Start
We usually have a good time ragging on the outdated urban planning principles of the later 20th century — urban renewal, highways everywhere, other weirdness — so it’s a little embarrassing to admit that Hancock Center, the 34-acre strip mall you know and love(?) at East 41st and Red River Streets, was a more pleasantly-designed environment for human beings between its…
The Seaholm Waterfront’s First Phase Is Ready to Roll on Lady Bird Lake
It’s not like we haven’t had plenty of other important things to think about lately, but over the last few months our minds have wandered once again to the status of the Seaholm Waterfront, the long-awaited adaptive reuse project by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, the Trail Foundation, the Austin Parks Foundation, and local architecture firm…
Govalle’s Art Deco Wastewater Plant is an East Side Architectural Gem
The federal agencies of the New Deal brought some classic examples of Depression-era public works architecture to Austin in the 1930s, much of which embodies the forever-popular Art Deco styles known as Streamline Moderne and PWA Moderne. Though most of these buildings still stand in the city today, one shining local example remains decidedly under the radar, likely due…