D.3 - HDP-2020-0233_5512 Shoalwood Ave.pdf — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION JULY 27, 2020 DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS HDP-2020-0233 5512 SHOALWOOD AVE. D.3 - 1 PROPOSAL Relocate a ca. 1939 house. ARCHITECTURE One-story stone veneer residence with cross-gabled, composition shingle roof featuring shallow Minimal Traditional-style eaves, 6:6 wood windows, and a Tudor Revival-style arched entryway with peaked gable. RESEARCH The house at 5512 Shoalwood Avenue was built in 1939. Its first residents were renowned Texas landscape architect Charles Coatsworth Pinkney and his wife Evelyn. Pinkney, newly arrived in Austin from an apprenticeship under Olmstead Brothers in Boston, began his own firm that year. Pinkney designed the landscapes for Rosewood and Chalmers Courts, the Delwood Duplex and Allandale subdivisions, the French Legation and other high-profile historic sites in Austin including schools, trails, military and medical facilities, and private residences. 1945 City Council meeting minutes also list Pinkney as a City planning engineer consulting on the proposed interstate highway construction. Pinkney’s clients included the Texas Historical Commission, Bergstrom AFB, IBM, the Texas State Hospital, and dozens of Austin’s most prominent families; over a thousand projects have been catalogued at the Austin History Center. Of these, at least ninety date to within Pinkney’s residence at 5512 Shoalwood Avenue. (Around three hundred entries remain undated.) In 1948, the Pinkneys sold the house to Alice Stevens, a former schoolteacher employed as a bookkeeper at the State Liquor Control Board. Pinkney lived in the home until 1961, according to Statesman classified ads. STAFF COMMENTS Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The building is more than 50 years old. 2) The building appears to retain high integrity. 3) Properties must meet two historic designation criteria for landmark designation (LDC §25-2- 352). The property may demonstrate significance according to City Code: a) Architecture. The building is constructed with Tudor Revival and Minimal Traditional stylistic influences. Stone-veneer houses from this period represent a rapidly disappearing regional building type. b) Historical association. The building is associated with landscape architect Charles Coatsworth Pinkney. c) Archaeology. The house was not evaluated for its potential to yield significant data concerning the human history or prehistory of the region. d) Community value. The house does not possess a unique location, physical characteristic, or significant feature that contributes to the character, image, or cultural identity of the city, the neighborhood, or a demographic group. e) Landscape feature. The property is not a significant natural or designed landscape with artistic, aesthetic, cultural, or historical value to the city. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Consider initiating historic zoning based on the house’s association with landscape architect Charles Coatsworth Pinkney. Otherwise, encourage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse, then release the relocation permit upon completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package, consisting of photographs of all elevations, a dimensioned sketch plan, and a narrative history, for archiving at the Austin History Center.  LOCATION MAP D. 3- 2  PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos D. 3- 3 Source: Zillow.com Source: Google Street View Occupancy History City Directory Research, July 2020 Note: Due to facility closure, post-1959 directory research is unavailable. D. 3- 4 1959 1955 1952 1949 1947 1944 1941 Alice Stevens, owner Alice Stevens, owner Alice Stevens, owner Alice Stevens, owner Charles C. and Evelyn Pinkney, owners Landscape architect Address not listed Charles Coatsworth Pinkney, owner Landscape architect 1939 Address not listed Biographical Information The Austin Statesman: Dec 5, 1968 Charles Coatsworth "C.C." Pinkney | The Cultural Landscape Foundation Born in Denver, Colorado, Pinkney graduated from Colorado A&M in 1927, majoring in horticulture and entomology. He then pursued graduate work in landscape architecture at Harvard, where he served as a field assistant to Morley Jeffers Williams, supervising excavations at Stratford Hall in summer 1932, and again from August to October 1934. Pinkney’s discoveries were essential to the reconstruction of the east garden, as well as the stable, springhouse, and entrance west of the house. In 1934 Pinkney received his master’s in landscape architecture and married Evelyn Robinson. The Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship sent him for a year’s study in Europe (1934-1935), and he apprenticed with Olmsted Brothers and worked for a time with Arthur Shurcliff. Pinkney arrived with his family in Austin, Texas, in 1939. One of his earliest commissions was the landscape for the second phase of construction (1940-1941) at the Rosewood Courts housing project. He designed the gardens of several local estates and residences, including the Joseph Renfro, Jr., House, the Leach House, and the Stanley and Emily Finch House, all in the 1940s. He planned much of Austin’s Allandale neighborhood between 45th street and Northland Drive, as well as bicycle trails running along Shoal Creek. He also designed the landscapes of several local schools, including Summit Elementary School, Perry Park Elementary, Murchison Junior High  D. 3- 5 School, McCallum High School, Reagan High School, and Rosedale School. In his design of the grounds of the French Legation Museum in 1953, Pinkney showed sensitivity to the history of the site, leaving the gently rolling grounds largely open and unobstructed. His career in Austin spanned five decades. Source: tclf.org /pioneer/charles-coatsworth-cc-pinkney Evelyn Robinson Pinkney passed away on December 10, 2004, in Austin, Texas, after a long and happy life of almost 94 years. She was the second of five daughters of Mary Frances and Hosea Shelby Robinson, arriving in this world on March 12, 1911, in Belton, Texas. Evelyn was the beloved wife of Charles Coatsworth Pinkney. They began their life together on November 17, 1934, with a ceremony at the Presbyterian Church in Brenham, Texas. The granddaughter of a Presbyterian circuit rider minister, Evelyn followed a happy childhood by graduating from Daniel Baker College in Brownwood, Texas. She culminated her formal education with a degree from the Texas State College for Women in Denton, Texas, and began her career in teaching as the Director of Home Economics at Gatesville High School in Gatesville, Texas. Evelyn was a brilliant and strong-willed woman who believed that God gave intellect to women as much as men. Evelyn joined her husband, Charles Coatsworth, in Boston, Massachusetts, where Charles completed his studies at Harvard University and served his apprenticeship as a Landscape Architect. The family moved to Austin in 1939 with their first daughter, Patti Lynn. Evelyn gave up a promising career installing Home Economics programs in public schools to work with her husband in his landscaping business and in raising their three children. Her creativity came out in sewing beautiful clothes for her family. In addition, she shared with others her love of God and her positive attitude. Evelyn loved music, UT football, and the University Presbyterian Church where she enjoyed Sunday school, church, and her Women's Circle. She was a stickler for good nutrition and good manners. She was proud to be an Austinite and a Texan, to live in a place where people were friendly. Everywhere she went, people loved her and her smile. Evelyn has joined her husband in her loving Father's home. The joy of this reunion will be happily remembered by her children - Patti Lynn Schulle of Loveland, Colorado, Mary Elizabeth Pinkney Lee of Austin, and Fred Coatsworth Pinkney of Kansas City, Missouri, their families, nine grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and surviving sister, Patti Jean Brennecke. We will celebrate our love for Evelyn at the Weed Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Boulevard, at 2:00 p.m., on Wednesday, December 15, 2004, assisted by Evelyn's pastor, Dr. San Williams of the University Presbyterian Church. Evelyn will rest at the side of Charles Coatsworth at the Memorial Hills Cemetary, 14619 Interstate 35 North. Source: Austin American-Statesman, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document- view?p=NewsBank&t=pubname%3AAASB%21Austin%2BAmerican- Statesman%2B%2528TX%2529&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val- base-0=%22coatsworth%20pinkney%22&docref=news/106F8A3D255BCE36  D. 3- 6 The Austin Statesman: Feb. 14, 1941  D. 3- 7 City Council minutes, June 14, 1945 The Austin American: November 11, 1945  D. 3- 8 The Austin American: Nov. 14, 1954  D. 3- 9  D. 3- 10 The Austin American: Mar. 15, 1959  D. 3- 11 The Austin Statesman: Sep 2, 1948 and May 18, 1961 Note: Charles Coatsworth Pinkney’s architectural drawings can be viewed at the Austin History Center (collection: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00310/ahc-00310.html) when facilities reopen. Building Permits Building permit for addition, 10-24-58 Water tap permit, 8-24-39