Dating back to 1938, the New Deal-financed Austin Central Fire Station No. 1 sitting at 401 East Fifth Street on the northwest corner of Brush Square is an unlikely gem of downtown architecture, one of the few really striking examples of the Art Deco subset known as Moderne or Streamline Moderne in the city’s stock of public buildings — unfortunately, great vintage…
city life
See Austin Condo Tower Construction Up Close With ‘Beyond the Fence’ Episode 2
Construction outfit Flintco, currently putting up developer Intracorp’s 44 East Avenue condo tower in the Rainey Street District of downtown Austin, is giving us another episode of its documentary series “Beyond the Fence” — providing an unusually inside look at the kitchen-sink process of developing a 49-floor building. Episode 2 of the series, “Harmony by Design,” spends its more than 15-minute…
The TOWERS.net 2020 Austin Gift Guide
As the holiday season approaches and Amazon shipping windows begin to slide shut, the ambient state of panic already in the air thanks to the pandemic has become electrified. Maybe you bought all your gifts months ago — maybe your 2020 has been different than ours and you’re using this time to get organized. Maybe….
Here’s a New Design for Downtown Austin’s 9092 Rainey Street Tower Plan
First announced back in the blissfully pre-pandemic 2019, the tower planned to replace two bars at 90 and 92 Rainey Street by a development team including Urbanspace Real Estate founder Kevin Burns and local design firms Nelsen Partners and dwg. has undergone a few twists and turns throughout the generalized turmoil of 2020 — members of the city’s…
Going Up With Austin’s Elevator-Riding Enthusiasts on YouTube
You ever take a few wrong clicks and find yourself on a completely unrecognizable side of YouTube? That’s the basic story of how we came to enjoy the videos of the elevator enthusiast community — a group of like-minded fans that, unlike many of us, appreciate elevators a lot more than the buildings they’re inside. None of…
From Riverside to Barton Springs, South Lamar’s Going on a Road Diet
One of Austin’s worst intersections, as determined by our readers no less, is located at Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard — it’s a seven-lane nightmare for cars, bikes, and pedestrians alike, and with multiple major developments on the way in this region, those issues are only going to get worse. That’s why we’re pumped to see the…