News
November 25, 2007
Now that we've reached our initial fundraising goal of $5,000, our architectural historian Terri Myers can start the reconnaissance level survey of the proposed historic district.
The survey will determine the number and concentration of historic-period cultural resources and establish boundaries for a comprehensive survey leading to a Local Historic District (LHD) and a National Register (NR) district. The reconnaissance survey boundaries are: South Congress Avenue, Riverside Drive, Kenwood Avenue, and E. Live Oak Street, and any adjacent streets with a high concentration of historic-age properties. If you believe there are certain areas we need to include, please let us know.
The findings of the reconnaissance survey will be presented in the form of a hand-colored map to represent each contributing and non-contributing property by address and will identify concentrations of contributing properties that may qualify for historic district designations. The results of the survey will inform the boundaries of the comprehensive survey to follow. Terri will then provide a brief explanation of her survey methods and recommendations resulting from the survey.
So you can see that this is just the first step and we need to keep raising funds as we go. To make it easier to donate, we've created an online-donation option so funds can go directly to our account with the Austin Community Foundation.
Donate Online Here!
November 3, 2007
Historic Travis Heights 2008 Calendars make great holiday gifts...The Avenue Barber at 1710 S. Congress has them for sale, as does Prima Dora, 1912 S. Congress. Pick up your copies there or at Monday's Nov. 5 SRCC meeting at Grace United Methodist Church, 205 E. Monroe, at 7 p.m.
October 27, 2007
| Our colorful 2008 Historic Travis Heights calendars debuted at our Neighborhood Yard Sale this weekend with brisk sales. The $15 calendars will be available at Prima Dora, 1912 S. Congress starting Monday. We'll also sell them at our booth at this week's First Thursday (Nov. 1) and at the next SRCC meeting (Nov. 5) at Grace United Methodist Church, 205 E. Monroe. Our First Thursday booth rests on a grassy haven between Jo's Coffee and the San Jose Hotel. Say hello and enjoy the music from Jo's, as well as the great parade of cool shoes. We can also sell you a Save Our Houses yard sign there for a donation of $10 or greater. |
Speaking of yard sales, thank you all for making ours a success. It was a beautiful day and alot of fun. We appreciate all of you who stopped by to shop and those who donated their treasures and time. This inspires us to hold another neighborhood-wide sale in Spring. Start thinking ahead and set aside those juicy, high-dollar treasures. Items in demand but lacking were toys, baby items, fabric, large-size ladies clothing, cool furniture and jewelry. Plants sold well, along with tools and light construction materials.
See you at the Sale in Spring, if not sooner!
October 20, 2007
Get ready for our Neighborhood Yard Sale next weekend, October 27 at 1406 Newning Avenue. Please consider donating some items we can sell to benefit our project. Visit our new Events link to learn more about the sale. We're still looking for volunteers to staff the sale, so send us an e-mail if you can help. We'll also have our newly published 2008 Historic Travis Heights Calendar for sale for $15, as well as yard signs for $10.
The Heritage Society of Austin Awards luncheon on November 9 features speaker Donovan Rypkema, one of the most encouraging writers in the world of preservation. Rypkema's book, The Economics of Historic Preservation. While the title may not wow you, his research on why preservation benefits our community and tax base actually are fascinating and makes one wonder why more people don't think about things this way. Consider buying a ticket for a splurge...nice lunch at the Driskill, fun slide show of this year's award-winning restorations and a thought-provoking speaker. Visit the Heritage Society website to learn more and purchase a ticket.
Our calendar and yard signs will also be available at our First Thursday booth on November 1. Please come and visit with us, 6:30-9 p.m. between Jo's Coffee and the San Jose Hotel. (We can deliver the sign if you like.)
October 2, 2007
The Harthan Street Historic District won unanimous approval by the Historic Landmark Commission last week, making it Austin's first Local Historic District to get that far. The next step will be to win approval at the Planning Commission and then if it passes there, it will go to city council. This is definitely a feather in the cap of our architectural historian Terri Myers and her team at Preservation Central, who will be helping us with our project, giving us insight into what we may face when we get there.
Look for us at this week's First Thursday event on South Congress Avenue. Stop by our booth next to the San Jose Hotel and say hello or sign up to help with any of our upcoming events and fundraisers. You can also purchase a yard sign there or arrange for us to deliver one so you don't have to carry it around with you.
Speaking of fundraisers, start digging out those treasures for our Neighborhood Yard Sale, Saturday Oct. 27, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 1406 Newning Ave. Please price all your items in advance and let us know if you will need any help getting them to the sale. We also need volunteers to staff the sale, so send us an e-mail if you can help.
September 24, 2007
Tonight's meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission may see approval of the city's first Local Historic District. The Harthan Street Local Historic District would comprise 10 houses in the Old West Austin area.
We are using the same architectural historian, Terri Myers, to help us with our historic district project, so it will be a good chance to (hopefully) witness Austin history, as well as see Terri's work in action. The meeting is at 7 at the Council Chambers at City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street and there is parking underneath the building. It is number three on the Agenda.
September 19, 2007
The Austin Community Foundation accepted our application so we now may accept tax-deductible donations through the ACF. Make checks payable to the Austin Community Foundation with a note it is for Historic Travis Heights and mail to T. Franz, 1904 Kenwood, Austin, TX 78704.
Start setting aside those great treasures you don't want anymore for a late fall Neighborhood Yard Sale to benefit our project. It will be the last weekend or first weekend of November, though the date isn't confirmed yet. Stay tuned for more news.
August 27, 2007
Look for us at our neighborhood Labor Day Fandango in Stacy Park on Monday, September 3, from noon until 5:30 p.m.
We'll also set up our table at the First Thursday event on South Congress, September 6, in front of the San Jose Hotel & Jo's Coffee. Stop by and chat about our project as well as about volunteer and donation opportunites. We'll give you a free yard sign proclaiming "Save the Houses" if you donate $10 or more. We can deliver them if you prefer. Contact us at Questions@HistoricTravisHeights.org if you'd like to pre-order. When you put out your sign, be sure it's at least 15 feet from the curb and out of the city right-of-way.
To promote our house concerts and other events, we've created a MySpace page. Visit www.myspace.com/historictravisheights and ask to be our friend.
August 10, 2007
Thank you, Jo's Coffeeshop and San Jose Hotel, for giving us space for our First Thursday booth. Come and visit us near the coffee shop on September 6!
August 8, 2007
At the last minute, the Harthan Street Neighborhood pulled their application to become Austin's first Local Historic District. It may be discussed again at the next meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission and I will leave updates here if that happens. The word is that they wanted to garner stronger support from neighbors before applying.
On our own project, our application to the Austin Community Foundation (ACF) awaits approval. The SRCC has given us their blessing to establish a separate account with the ACF, should we be accepted, so all our contributions can be considered tax-deductible. For now, though, donations are still accepted through SRCC with a note earmarking it for the Historic District Project. In our effort to earn the initial $5,000 start-up money, we have raised $400! It might sound like a drop in the bucket at this point but if every household in the area gave $50, we could meet our ultimate goal of $50,000.
Besides outright donations, which we love, our first fundraiser will be selling yard signs. These will be available by contacting us through this site, or at any of our events. Look for our booth at the September 6 First Thursday, where signs can be purchased or ordered. Pre-orders are available now. We will know the exact location of our booth soon. If you have a space on Congress we can set up our tent for free, please let us know.
Other exciting fundraising projects planned provide opportunities for all manner of in-kind donations. We would love more volunteer help with any of our fundraisers. Some of those include:
2008 Calendar. This year's edition is sure to amuse you as much as it did our planning group. It should be a fun addition to any household. For that, we will provide advertising space for neighborhood sponsors to defray printing costs. If anyone would like to donate printing, paper or graphic design work, we would loudly thank you.
House Concert Series A series of concerts featuring our favorite musical neighbors and friends held every other month at several of our neighborhood's interesting homes and Bed & Breakfasts. The purchase of the entire series offers a discount. We would love donations of food and drinks, rental chairs, offers of locations and promotional help, as well as offers from artists who would like to perform.
We're always looking for more photos and histories of the neighborhood to add to our Flickr site and to help tell the story of the neighborhood, then and now. Keep talking about the project. You never know whose attention you will get who might like to assist. Just the other day at our regular coffee shop meeting, someone overheard us and offered to share photos and stories from her grandmother's Travis Heights home!
July 23, 2007
The Historic Landmark Commission postponed discussion on the Harthan Street Neighborhood and will, most likely, hear more about it at their next meeting in late August. There will be an update here when we know more.
To learn more about the process of applying for a Local Historic District designation, attend the free class given by the Heritage Society of Austin on Monday, Aug. 20, from 6-8 p.m. at the Carver Library, 1161 Angelina Street. Steve Sadowsky, the city's Chief Preservation Officer will describe the program and explain the benefits and incentives that come with this designation. The class also explains how to apply for a grant the Heritage Society offers to neighborhoods. RSVP to rsvp@hsaustin.rsv or call 474-5198.
July 8, 2007
A word from our Architectural Historian Terri Myers...
Harthan Street Historic District is going before the Landmark Commission on Monday, July 23, 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers (if no conflicts). Staff has told us that they are recommending in favor of the nomination but we' still like to see some folks come out to support it. You' also see how the commission receives it, hear their comments, etc. so please come on down! Or ask someone else in your neighborhood to come out. It should be interesting since this has never happened before in Austin.
July 6, 2007
Our group will meet every other Sunday, starting this Sunday, July 8, at 2 p.m. at Dominican Joe's Coffee Shop at Riverside and S. Congress, where they have kindly reserved a table for us. Come and sit in with us and let' plot and plan (and caffeinate).
Our first order of business will be to raise $5,000 as start-up money for our architectural historian to do the windshield survey of the proposed district. Very soon we hope to have yard signs available for sale to show support of historic districts. Of course, we' need to sell a heck of a lot of signs to get $5,000 that way so we are also open to checks in large amounts!
July 5, 2007
Despite the official cancellation of the July 4th Picnic and Parade in the park due to inclement weather, enough neighbors showed up to make our presence worthwhile. Our interviews with neighbors gave us an optimistic outlook on our project, as everyone we talked to agreed that historic districts can help preserve what we love about the neighborhood as long as the design guidelines are created with great care. Here is a summary of what folks said they most want to preserve in our neighborhood:
Affordability
Oak trees
Older homes
Overall character of neighborhood
Variety
Green space
The people
Structures in park
Pool
Playground
Space
Quaintness of houses
Small cottage architecture
Sense of community and family
June 26, 2007
Look for our table at the annual July 4th Picnic and Parade in Stacy Park. We will be interviewing neighbors to see what's on their minds regarding preservation of our neighborhood. Please stop by to chat and pick up a flyer to share with others. Help us spread the word and sign up to volunteer if you can.
June 10, 2007
Terri Myers of Preservation Central, Inc. won the bid for architectural historian to help us with our Historic District nomination and application. To find out more about Terri's firm, please visit her website: www.PreservationCentral.com.
We would like to get a tax-exempt status, such as by forming a Non-Profit organization, but for a short-term project, that might not be the best route. We are still working this out and would appreciate any ideas on this matter. We need approximately $5,000 to pay for a windshield survey of the proposed district to see if we actually have the number of houses needed to quality for a historic district. We need at least 50 percent, which appears possible at this point. This money will be considered our start-up fee.
In the meantime, we will create a flyer describing the proposed district and what the process entails and how it can benefit our community so we can get the word out. It's important to focus on the positive aspects and assure neighbors that any design standards imposed on the neighborhood would not be onerous. We are an eclectic group and appreciate that about Travis Heights and Fairview Park. No one will say what color paint is allowed, for example. Additions are certainly allowed, as are many other modifications to properties. Generally, the view from the street is what is important. We, as a neighborhood, will create standards that suit our character, so it’s important to share your thoughts with us.
I visited with Terri today and have seen examples of guidelines used in other neighborhood within Texas where she has prepared nominations, such as Harthan Street in Austin and downtown Rio Grande City, Texas. Of course, every community has a different story to tell, so the standards will be different. If anyone would like to see those examples, feel free to contact me.
May 17, 2007
This week we're finalizing our selection of the architectural historian who will guide our application process to become a National Register Historic District, as well as one of Austin's first Local Historic Districts.
Just this month, the Harthan Street Neighborhood in Austin became the city's first Local Historic District. Hyde Park is now beginning their application process and is rushing to be the city's first large neighborhood to receive this status. They are already a National Register Historic District.
Historically, Travis Heights and Hyde Park grew up about the same time, with Fairview Park--the zone bounded roughly by Monroe, Pecan Grove, Riverside and South Congress--considered the city's first subdivision, at the end of the 19th Century. Hyde Park and Travis Heights always seem to compete for recognition as the city's first planned development, but this little zone was sitting here since WAY back. Wouldn't it be great if we could be neck-and-neck with Hyde Park again and maintain our place in Austin's rich history?
One of the fun and interesting parts of this process is learning about our local history through research of deeds, old Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and city directories. With the help of volunteers we can probably save $10,000 on research fees. Without that help, we're estimating about $50,000 to complete the application process. We can make it happen with the help of all our creative neighbors and a strong push of volunteers. Concerts, art sales, yard signs...we've got some ideas but would love help in any form. If you would like to donate, please make checks payable to SRCC with a note that it is for the Historic District.