A downtown Austin condo tower featuring some of the city’s most famous midcentury architecture is currently seeking historic zoning. Westgate Tower, built as a 26-story apartment building at 1122 Colorado Street in 1966 and converted for condo use in the 1980s, features a striking modernist design by New Formalist architect Edward Durell Stone that proved controversial due to…
historic preservation
Let’s All Say ‘Good Riddance’ to Downtown Austin’s Republic Parking Lot
For longtime fans of the Republic office tower plan, announced all the way back in 2018 atop the full block directly south of Republic Square at 401 West Fourth Street in downtown Austin, seeing the start of substantial site prep on the project over the last few months is something like a dream come true. But even without taking into account that…
Does This Austin Duplex Look Illegal?
The duplex seen above, located on Avenue C in the cherished Hyde Park neighborhood of Central Austin, is one of many older residences providing this district’s eclectic historical charm. Constructed in 1931 during the neighborhood’s largest period of growth, its exterior appearance reflects the modest, but stylish architecture of this area’s many bungalows originally built for working-class…
What’s the Deal With Republic Square?
If you’re spending any quality time downtown these days, you might have noticed Republic Square is looking a little out of the ordinary — fences now surround the perimeter of the park’s central “great lawn,” which now looks more like a great big field of dirt, with folks in hard hats mucking around in skid steers and whatnot. So what’s…
Austin’s Seaholm Intake Building Hasn’t Looked This Clean in Decades
The long-awaited rehabilitation of the Seaholm Power Plant’s former intake structure on the shores of Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin should complete its first phase early this summer, and if you’ve spent any time around the lake in the last few weeks you might have already noticed that this 1950s Art Deco landmark has received a heck of a good…
Fifth and Lavaca Hotel Tower Plan Heads for Historic Review
A hotel tower planned for the southeast corner of West Fifth and Lavaca Streets in downtown Austin will seek the approval of a demolition permit for two adjacent properties at 209 and 213 West Fifth Street from the Historic Landmark Commission early next month, according to city documents. The 28-story project by local hospitality builder Merritt Development…