SAVING THE GOOD STUFF Fall 2015 H Volume 19 No. 4 55th Annual Preservation Merit Awards Celebration Friday, November 20, 2015 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos Street $100 per guest; Reserve tickets by Monday, November 16 P reservation Austin will honor this year’s Preservation Merit Awards recipients on Friday, November 20 with our annual luncheon at the Driskill Hotel. Established in New Orleans’ historic Bell School, part of an upcoming $36 million Artspace project providing affordable live/work housing for artists, cultural workers and 1960, this program recognizes those whose vision and their families (artspace.org). commitment to preservation have had a lasting impact on our city’s architectural, cultural, and environmental heritage. By recognizing these outstanding individuals, businesses, organizations, and institutions, we hope to inspire others to carry on this important work. We are delighted to feature speaker Stacey L. Mickelson, Vice President of Government Relations for Artspace Projects. Founded in Minneapolis in 1979, Artspace is a nationally- recognized nonprofit real estate developer with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. The organization has invested over $582 million in creating over a million square feet of arts facilities and more than 1,300 affordable live/work units for artists, many in historic buildings. Mr. Mickelson has worked on a variety of large scale Cowles Center for Dance and Performing Arts (thecowlescenter.org). projects for Artspace for over ten years. He was responsible for acquiring public funding for Minneapolis’ Cowles Center communities as they struggle to hold on to affordable venues, for Dance and Performing Arts, leading a team that secured studio space, and housing. He will present innovative programs $12 million in funds from the Minnesota Legislature. In 2008, and best practices used to address these issues nationwide, and he worked with a consortium of affordable housing developers discuss how the marriage of historic preservation and the arts to change federal policy and clarify a requirement in the Low creates vibrant, livable cities. Income Housing Credit code to explicitly protect the creation of affordable live/work spaces for artists and their families. Tickets must be reserved by Monday, November 16. Sponsorships are available through Wednesday, November 18. Please see Mr. Mickelson’s experience and perspective are more relevant our website at www.preservation.org/events or call us at now than ever to the challenges faced by Austin’s creative 512-474-5198 ext. 7724 for more details! H SAVE THE DATE What’s Out There Weekend November 21-22 2015-2016 Board of Directors FREE, Registration Required H OFFICERS H Join Preservation Austin for What’s Out There Weekend Alyson McGee, President Vanessa McElwrath, 2nd VP Austin November 21-22! Presented by The Cultural John Donisi, President-Elect Kim McKnight, Secretary Landscape Foundation, the Austin Parks and Recreation Ken Johnson, 1st VP Clay Cary, Treasurer Department, and local partners including PA, this event Shelly Hemingson, Immediate Past President features more than two dozen expert-led tours of Bratten Thomason, Committee Member Austin’s most significant parks, open spaces, and historic landscapes, including Oakwood Cemetery, Rosewood Park, H DIRECTORS H and the Commodore Perry Estate. Paula Aaronson Ann S. Graham Andrea McWilliams Clayton Bullock Chris Hendel Tom Stacy Richard Craig Richard Kooris Caroline Wright Sam Davidson Tim League Lauren Smith Ford Dennis McDaniel H VOTING REPRESENTATIVES H Admission is free but registration is required. See the full Michael Holleran, UT School of Architecture list of tours and reserve your place today through The Charles Peveto, Austin History Center H Cultural Landscape Foundation at tclf.org. Michelle Slattery, Inherit Austin Mike Ward, Pioneer Farms H WATERLOO SOCIETY H Paula & Lee Aaronson Jennifer & Chad Marsh Ann Griffith Ash Peter Flagg Maxson & Architects Clayton & Little (Emily Little) John C. R. Taylor, III Follow Us on Booth Heritage Foundation McBee Family Foundation (Suzanne & David Booth) Jill & Dennis McDaniel Ann Butler Terry McDaniel & Co. Investment Meta Butler Council (Ken Turlington) Mimi & Robert Buzbee Vanessa & Mac McElwrath to stay up to date on Cedar Door Real Estate Maureen & Michael Metteauer the latest preservation (Shelly & Todd Hemingson) Carole & George Nalle, III issues and events in Karen & Clay Cary Carol Nelson our community! Danette Chimenti NEST Modern Richard Craig Julie & Patrick Oles, Jr. Tim Cuppett & Marco Rini Charles Aubrey Smith, Jr. Kim and Jim DeCosmo The Stiles Real Estate Agency H STAFF Cissie & Dillon Ferguson (Kim McKnight & Peter Stiles) Regan & Billy Gammon Charles Stuart Kate Singleton, Executive Director Gina Hinojosa & John Donisi Lin Team & Donelson Lindsey Derrington, Programs Coordintor Ann S. Graham & Arlen Johnson Bratten Thomason & Randy Dalton Elizabeth & Tom Granger Kathie Tovo & Tom Hurt Mailing Address - P.O. Box 2113, Austin, TX 78768 David Wilson Garden Design, Inc. Physical Address - 500 Chicon, Austin, 78702 Jeff Harper & Mark Seeger Ph. (512) 474-5198 Fax (512) 476-8687 Dealey & David Herndon Patricia & Bill Winston [email protected] Courtney & Clark Hoffman Eva & Marvin Womack www.preservationaustin.org 2 Fall 2015 2015 Preservation Merit Awards PRESERVATION Historical Commission. After seven long years, the project finally commenced in H COVERT MONUMENT March 2015 and was completed that July. RESTORATION Covert Park at Mount Bonnell, Catherine Williams, founder of Silver 3800 Mount Bonnell Road Lining Art Conservation, headed a City of Austin Parks and Recreation restoration team which included Covert Monument at Mount Bonnell after restoration (Photograph by Catherine Williams, Department for Restoration Matthew Johnson of Bartlett Stone Silver Lining Art Conservation). Jury Comments: This project entails a Carving; Chris Campbell and Patrick corrugated steel structures answered the level of craftsmanship and material Sheehy of Vault Fine Art Services; and art wartime need for flexible, prefabricated conservation not often undertaken by a handler Joe Janson. The project required buildings that could be shipped anywhere public parks department. City of Austin hauling three 400-600 lbs. stones out in the world and erected by unskilled Parks and Recreation staff at all levels of storage and up Mount Bonnell to an labor. Their clear-span interiors were contributed to its success, and the jury exposed site without water or electricity. easily adapted into medic stations, commends the conservation team’s The team attached the first two chapels, storage, or whatever else was outstanding work in light of the project’s fragments by hand with an industrial- needed. “Multiple Utility Building” challenging conditions. strength epoxy, used a hydraulic crane to lift where it was joined to the base Quonset Huts were expandable, with Mount Bonnell’s breathtaking views stone with titanium pins and epoxy. steel frames able to support any number have been beloved by locals and tourists Conservators used grout to fortify the of arched roof segments. The Navy alike since the mid-19th century. The monument’s core, then mortared and produced anywhere from 150,000-170,000 Covert family conveyed the land to Travis tinted its remaining exterior joints and Quonset Huts and sold the surplus to the County for use as a public park in 1939, cracks. Missing pieces of stone across public in the years following World War II. an event honored by installation of the the monument’s face were matched This five-bay Quonset Hut on East rustic Covert Monument. The limestone and carved using the “Dutchman” repair Fifth Street between San Marcos and marker carved by Anton Stasswender, technique. Waller dates to 1952. It was built as stood a solid three feet tall, three feet warehouse space for the Steck Company, wide, and two feet deep to commemorate H FAIR MARKET a printer and office supply firm then the family’s generosity in perpetuity. It 1100 East Fifth Street headquartered downtown. The building continued greet visitors long after Covert 11E5 LLC (Dennis McDaniel and fit comfortably into East Austin’s semi- Park was deeded to the Austin Parks and Richard Kooris) for Rehabilitation industrial landscape and, like many Recreation Department (PARD) in 1972. Jury Comments: This remarkable of the neighborhood’s manufacturing transformation preserves an important The monument’s future was threatened, and storage facilities, was strategically remnant of East Austin’s industrial however, in 2008 after it fractured and situated next to the Houston & Texas past at a time when so many of the split into pieces. PARD staff acted quickly Central Railroad. Steck vacated the neighborhood’s historic resources are to gather three of the largest stone property in 1960. It then housed a variety being lost. The jury further appreciates fragments and put them into storage of industrial and commercial concerns, that the project preserved an early for protection. A protective enclosure including Glaston Mobile Homes, 20th century board and batten cottage was later installed around the base as Plastinette Products Corp, and Texas and usable greenspace adjacent to the well. Austin’s preservation community Office Products and Supply, with periods warehouse. rallied to the monument’s cause and of vacancy in between. PARD set about raising funds to pay for Quonset Huts were developed by the Richard Kooris and Dennis McDaniel led its restoration, including a 2014 Certified United States Navy at Quonset Point, the development team which purchased Local Government grant from Texas Rhode Island in 1941. These round-arched Continued on page 4 PRESERVATION AUSTIN 3 Preservation Merit Awards the property in 2011. Early plans to convert the 16,625 square foot building into a restaurant and music venue gave way to turning it into multipurpose event space. Delineate Studio and Thoughtbarn executed the project’s design and the newly-named Fair Market opened in time for South By Southwest in 2014. The Fair Market at night. (Photo by Nick Simonite) Seaholm Power Plant in 2015.