Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > November > 11 > Entry
Preservation Awards at the Driskill Hotel
Who hyperventilates at preservation awards? Me. Historic preservation is so closely linked to everything crucial about Austin’s environment, economy and community, it was hard not to shriek approval during a genteel Heritage Society of Austin event at the palatial Driskill Hotel …
Mandy Dealey and Wayne Bell
The first half of the luncheon program on Tuesday was given over to video and live presentations of the Preservation Awards winners. Architect Wayne Bell, dean of the Texas preservation movement and coordinator to the state’s Main Street Program, presided …
There’s no way to squeeze in all the names and the astonishing histories of the projects, so a few highlights must suffice. In the case of the Schenken-Oatman House, neighbors banded together to prevent the demolition and underwrite the restoration of a 1909 Hyde Park cottage that once belonged to Austin Statesman printer Adelbert Schenken and, later, Pearl Oatman, widow of a drayman, and her daughter Pearl Oatman Welch. The restorers found all kinds of surprising original features in the house …
John Donisi and Andrew Martin
Most people can point out the “castle” on West 11th Street above Lamar Boulevard, but the history of the Texas Military Institute is a mystery to most of us. It served, for instance, as offices for controversial developer Gary Bradley and was almost lost to Austin through bankruptcy court. Attorney Vic Ayad and architect Dick Clark saved the castle and restored much of it …
The Phillips House on E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a stunning modernist masterpiece from architect John Chase Jr., the first African American to enroll in and graduate from the UT School of Architecture. You’ve probably wondered about its Frank Llloyd Wright influences, but the video shows that the interiors are just as fascinating …
Janice Burckhardt and Jordan Gunter
The Chester and Caroline Drake House is one of those fine homes downtown near the Austin Community College campus. Built in 1884, it’s gone through a lot of changes and lawyer Thomas Fagerberg has rehabilitated it for mixed residence and offices. (I always mourn when one of those houses doesn’t include a resident occupant.) …
Two downtown buildings across the street from each other on Congress Avenue also won awards, the handsome homes of Annies and Patagonia. I urge you to check them out personally. Also honored was the humble Hoffbrau on West Sixth Street, whose history during the Depression, World War II and since I never knew. Time for a steak! …
Peter Kennedy and Maria Cigarroa
Personal awards went to Fred L. McGhee, a scholar who documented the pioneer status of East Austin public housing projects such as Santa Rita Courts, Rosewood Courts and Chalmers Courts, and their relationship to President (then Congressman) Lyndon Johnson; also to the indestructible Jane Sibley, whose preservation efforts have included the Old Fort Parade Ground in Fort Stockton, the Rock Art Foundation, Davis-Sibley House, Symphony Square and the Long Center …
The second half of the program was devoted to a highly practiced speech by the Urban Land Institute’s Edward McMahon. Preaching to the choir — plus city and state officials — McMahon talked about sustainability, smart growth, green building and a sense of place as they related to historic preservation …
Maria Ballas and Glen Colman
Perhaps McMahon’s most effective argument deals with the enduring economic value of aesthetics. And of course, my mind always wanders to Austin examples. The value of trees and landscaping? I think of how East Riverside Drive and other gateways into the city could be transformed. The affect of locality and beauty on tourism, the world’s largest industry? Almost every Austin visitor tramps some part of Congress Avenue from the Capitol to Live Oak Street, then Sixth Street east and west, also Lady Bird Lake from every angle. And yet how little we spend on them (A former mayor once told me aesthetic arguments never win in this city.) …
The only time McMahon faced silence was when he discounted the value of golf courses. Yes, they raise the value of residential properties around them, but at what cost? Why not open land or parks instead? So few people actually use the golf courses. I’m sure city leaders in the room were mulling over the relative value of MUNY, a political hot potato …
The call for legitimate preservation has been around Austin for at least 50 years. It has won hundreds of battles, lost only a few. The Heritage Society of Austin deserves a few of its own awards.
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By becky walker
November 12, 2009 5:01 PM | Link to this
Awesome lunc, thank guys for another fantastic meal. Chef Jonathan Gelman and Sous Chef Cody Vasek get the kudo's.