D.1 - 2502 Park View Drive - Staff Report — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION JULY 27, 2020 DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS HDP-2020-0214 2502 PARK VIEW DRIVE D.1 - 1 PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1954 house. ARCHITECTURE One-story, rectangular -plan, shallow front-gabled mid-century Modern-styled wood frame house with rectangular asbestos panels set into a metal framing system on the front and back, and wood siding on secondary elevations. The house has fixed-sash and horizontal- sliding fenestration with a row of clerestory windows bridging the space between the asbestos panel section and the slightly-pitched roof, which is notable for its deep eaves. There is a pop-up, shed roofed section in the middle of the roof, that opens onto a side elevation. The house has a shed-roofed double carport with exposed beams and columns; the carport figures prominently into the impression of the house from the street and has ornamental brick walls, further identifying the house as an example of mid-century Modern design. RESEARCH The house is located in the “Air Conditioned Village” of northwest Austin, and would be contributing to a potential historic district encompassing the remaining homes of the 22 originally built as demonstration houses to study and promote the feasibility of central air conditioning in moderately-sized and moderately-priced homes. Austin’s Air Conditioned Village was one of and the largest of several demonstration projects throughout the country in the early 1950s, at a time when central air conditioning was more common in commercial buildings and high-end residences, than in more modest houses, mostly due to the cost of installation. The National Association of Home Builders sponsored the construction of Austin’s Air Conditioned Village in 1953 as a new subdivision just west of Burnet Road in the northwestern part of the city. The next year, 22 homes were built to appeal to middle- class taste and budgets, in varying styles, but all with central air conditioning furnished by several manufacturers, including Chrysler, which provided the air conditioning for this house at 2502 Park View Drive. This house was known as the Chrysler “Air-Temp” House, and was designed by local architect Fred Day, who had been associated with several of the leading architectural firms in the city, including Fehr and Granger, noted for their mid-century Modern designs. The house was built by Wayne A. Burns, the developer of the Edgewood Subdivision, which encompassed the Air Conditioned Village. The Air Conditioned Village was a novel concept, and was part economic feasibility study and part social study. Homes in the Air Conditioned Village were all moderately-sized, but typical for middle class neighborhoods in Austin at the time. Some were designed and constructed with notable architectural features, such as the asbestos panels making up the front wall of this house, as well as the use of clerestory windows, perforated brick, and other materials and design features that came into vogue after World War II. They were all brand new homes, and priced for sale to middle class families. The first owner of the house at 2502 Park View Drive was a military man, William C. Davis, and his wife, Fern. Davis was in the U.S. Air Force and lived in this house from the time of its construction until around 1958. There is very little information about the Davis family, such as whether they had children, but they seem to be typical of the desired demographic for purchasers of houses in the Air Conditioned Village. The 1959 city directory shows this house occupied by Jerrold and Nancy R. Kelly; he D.1 - 2 was the chief engineer for the Tips Iron and Steel Company, at 300 Baylor Street. The Kelly’s lived in this house until very recently. Researchers studied air conditioning usage by the families to determine the efficiency and cost-benefit ratios of central air conditioning on a modest residential scale, making this a form of social study as well. The research included comparisons of energy costs, determining whether central air conditioning made sense for a typical middle-class budget, and looking at peak usage times and the demands on the city’s electrical grid. The homes in Austin’s Air Conditioned Village demonstrated that central air conditioning was indeed feasible for use in modest residential buildings, laying the groundwork for the development of modern air conditioning systems as essential for homes in warm climates. Using the data provided by the houses in the Air Conditioned Village, contractors and manufacturers developed systems for new and existing homes throughout the city and country. STAFF COMMENTS The house is beyond the bounds of any City survey to date. Staff has evaluated this house for designation as a historic landmark and has determined that the house may meet the criteria for landmark designation as set forth in City Code: a. Architecture. The house is an excellent and remarkably intact example of architect-designed mid-century Modern architecture, with the use of modern materials, such as the asbestos panels on the front and back of the house, the deep eaves to shade the house, the clerestory windows to provide additional light into the interior, and the bold statement of the columns and beams of the house and its attached double carport. The house reflects the basic tenets of mid-century Modern design and satisfies the criterion for architecture. b. Historical association. The house was built as a demonstration house for a national experiment to determine the feasibility of installing central air conditioning systems into a new middle-class residential design. While the owners of this house do not appear to have historical significance as would be typically evaluated under this criterion, the identity of the house as a demonstration project associated with the National Home Builders Association’s initiative to explore the feasibility of installing central air conditioning into homes for the middle class satisfies this criterion for significant historical associations. 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 is located in the Air Conditioned Village, an early 1950s subdivision, specifically designed to evaluate the feasibility of central air conditioning in moderately-sized and moderately-priced houses, thus pioneering the widespread use of central air conditioning in a residential application throughout Austin and the rest of the country. This house does possess a unique location and physical characteristics in its intact design that contribute to the image of the city and the neighborhood, satisfying the criterion for community value. 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 the applicant’s structural report, and either initiate historic zoning or release the permit upon completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package, consisting of  D.1 - 3 photographs of all elevations, a dimensioned sketch plan, and a narrative history, for archiving at the Austin History Center.  LOCATION MAP D.1 - 4  D.1 - 5 2502 Park View Drive (ca. 1954) 1954 photograph of the house when brand new  D.1 - 6 Page from the Austin Association of Home Builders’ planbook showing the house at 2502 Park View Drive in Austin’s Air-Conditioned Village  D.1 - 7 Advertisement for Chrysler AirTemp air conditioning and showing the model house at 2502 Park View Drive