On June 16, 2001, Austin celebrated the grand opening of the James D. Pfluger Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge, spanning Lady Bird Lake — well, Town Lake in those days, as longtime locals will berate you in various comment sections — directly east of the Lamar Boulevard bridge. This new car-free thoroughfare offered non-drivers a safer…
history
Westgate Tower Seeks Historic Zoning
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…
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…
West Anderson’s No Urban Paradise, but We’ve Gotta Start Somewhere
What’s interesting about the 27 Eleven project by California-based development outfit Paydar Properties isn’t so much the building, but rather its location — now rising at 2711 West Anderson Lane, this 320-unit apartment community will soon become the only multifamily residential building directly facing the stretch of West Anderson Lane between Mopac and Burnet Road,…
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…
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…