Historical Austin Landmarks

Field GuideThe

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Table of Contents

St. David’s Church 4Carrington-Covert House 6Denny Holliday House 8Platt Building 10E.H. Carrington Store 12Buaas Building 14Hirshfield Building 16The Driskill Hotel 18Smith-Clark-Smith House 20Hotel Provident Building 22Goodall Wooten House 24Daniel H. Caswell House 26Emma West Flats 28Gilfillan House 30Littlefield Building 32

Austin is home to world-re-nowned music, food, and all around weirdness. But, housing some of these iconic staples to our city lies architecture that has been a foundation of Austin for centuries before our time. This field guide serves to shed some light onto some of the Historic Landmarks that go unnoticed in our legendary city.

Introduction

Located in pioneer Austin at the edge of town on a site never used for a secular building. At first called “Church of the Epiphany”. Corner-stone laid on April 7, 1853, with impressive ceremonies for the capital city’s first stone church. Built of na-tive limestone, its architecture blended Spanish Mission with traditional Goth-ic elements. Renamed Saint David’s in 1859. Home church of the first bishop of the diocese of Texas, the Right Reverend Alexander Gregg.The bell still in use was cast in Philadelphia in 1853.

St. David’s Church 300 East 7th Street

1853

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Carrington-Covert House1577 Colorado Street

Leonidas D. Carrington and his wife, Martha Hill Carrington came to Austin from Mississippi in 1852. In 1856 Carrington hired a local architect-contractor to build on this site a vernacular Greek revival home, constructed of rough limestone ash-lar. The house was completed in the spring of 1857. Later owners rented the structure as a boarding house, residence, and nursery until it was purchased by the State of Texas.

1857

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This structure originated as a one-sto-ry limestone dwelling. Built between 1869 and 1871 by Charles Denny. Mrs. N.L. Holliday, a widow with six children, purchased the house in 1898 and added the second floor in 1906. The residence was later oc-cupied by her daughter Margaret (d. 1921). A local physician, Margaret and her husband Dr. Simon J. Clark renovated the house about 1920. They added an elaborate entrance on the north side and stuccoed the entrance walls.

Denny-Holliday House1803 West Avenue

1869

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Platt Building304 East 6th Street

Radcliff Platt constructed the original portion of this building about 1871. He operated a livery stable here until 1890 and lived in one side of the structure for a number of years. In 1901 J.S. Simpson (1854-1934) purchased and enlarged the earlier building to accommodate his hardware store, which occupied this location until the 1930s. the structure features large arched windows with stone trim and a decorative brick cornice.

1871

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E.H. Carrington Store522 East 6th Street

Built in 1872, this commercial structure housed the successful grocery business of former slave Edward H. Carrington. After his death in 1917, the business was continued by his son-in-law Louis D. Lyons, a trustee of Samuel Huston College, who convert-ed the second floor into a meeting room that became the site of many functions of the black community. The E.H. Carrington stone building features an arcaded facade with Itali-anate influences.

1872

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Buaas Building407 East 6th Street

Norwegian immigrant John L. Buaas moved to Austin in 1839 and in 1872 was appointed city alderman by reconstruction Governor E.J. Davis. In 1875 he built a mercantile store here. The two-story Italianate com-mercial structure was designed with two facades, one facing Pine (5th) Street, and the other on Pecan (6th) Street. Buaas sold the building in 1879, and since then it has been used for various commercial establish-ments and is now part of the revital-ization of Old Pecan Street.

1875

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Hirshfield House303 West 9th Street

Henry Hirshfield, a native German, was a prominent Austin merchant and a leader in the city’s Jewish Commu-nity. Construction of this two-story brick and cut stone house began in 1885 and the family moved in a year after completion. Designed and built by architect John Andrewartha. It features characteristics of Victo-rian styling, exterior ornamentation includes a double gallery, a bay, stained glass, ornate woodwork, and intricate limestone detailing.

1885

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Host to famous Texans since 1886. The Driskill Hotel has been the scene of inaugural ball for Governor L.S. “Sul” Ross, January 1887; inaugural balls for later governors, as well as many other state and civic social affairs. The hotel also enter-tains Presidents, other national figures, foreign diplomats, artists, leaders in business and professions.

The Driskill Hotel604 Brazos Street

1886

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Smith-Clark-Smith House504 West 14th Street

When the State Capitol burned in 1881, Scottish-born James Baird Smith (1843-1907) cleared the site and erected a temporary statehouse nearby. Salvaged bricks and stone, which he used to build this rent house about 1886, probably came from the burned capitol. The first tenant was noted Banker John G. Palm (1846-927 ). Later owner (1924) and occupant (1925-43) Lucille Clark, of a prominent Austin family, sold the property in 1959 to Mr. and Mrs. Homer D. Smith, who restored it.

1886

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Built in 1887 as a hotel, for Tom Smith. Contractor was Austin Mayor Joseph Nalle. The “Hotel Provident” operated under various names until the 1920s. In conjunction with the hotel, the lower floor housed numerous busi-nesses, including a newspaper, a law office, the “Texas Invention Co.”, and, 1900-45, various enterprises of J. Frank and John G. Heierman. The façade, with its erroneous date, was altered after 1900.

Hotel Provident and Heierman Building115 East 5th Street

1887

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Goodall Harrison Wooten attended the University of Texas. Construction of this house began in 1898 and was completed in January 1900. Designed by Charles O’Connell, it soon became an Austin landmark and was know for the extensive gardens planted by Ella Wooten. Prominent features of Goodall Wooten house include its handsome brick and stonework, wraparound gallery, balustrade, and massive two-story paired columns with iconic capitals.

Goodall Wooten House1900 Rio Grande Street

1895

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Daniel H. Caswell came to Austin from Nashville, Tennessee, about 1895. He purchased a cotton oil manufacturing company, bought and sold cotton, and in 1899 built a cotton gin. When completed for his family in 1900, this house was located in the far northwest corner of the city. The Caswell house, which exhibits influences of late Victorian, Colonial Revival, and Chateauesque style, features a corner turret and porches supported on rusticated piers.

Daniel H. Caswell House1404 West Avenue

1900

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After attorney Robert G. West (1860-1904) died, his widow Emma Grant West (1865-1952) had this structure built to provide rent-al income for support of their four children. Erected by contractors Fischer & Lambie in 1905, the brick edifice had one apartment on each floor, with servants’ quarters in the basement. In 1925 Mrs. West sold the rental property to Miss Katie Gannaway (1890-1967), an Austin teacher. It was restored by attorney Byron Lockhart and his wife Nina in 1973.

Emma West Flats511 West 7th Street

1905

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Gilfillan House603 West 8th Street

This residence was constructed in 1905 for William L. Gilfillan, one of the founders and directors of the Austin National Bank, designed by the prominent Austin architect Charles H. Page, Jr., the two-story brick home reflects a mixture of pop-ular pre-World War I architectural styles, including Mission Revival and the Prarie School. In 1931 the home was purchased by Julius G. Knape, a Swedish stonemason and contractor.

1905

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George Washington Littlefield came to Austin in 1883 and, in 1890, established the American National Bank. He hired architect C.H. Page, Jr., to design this beaux arts classical building, which opened in 1912 with a rooftop garden. His bank was on the ground floor. For the corner en-trance, he commissioned Tiffany’s of New York to cast bronze, bas-relief doors by sculptor Daniel Webster. These were later donated to the Uni-versity of Texas, of which Littlefield was a major benefactor.

Littlefield Building106 East 6th Street

1912

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By:

Emily LaCroix