C.5 - HR-2020-113282 - 1317 Westover Rd — original pdf

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C.5 - 1 HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION AUGUST 24, 2020 PERMITS IN NATIONAL REGISTER DISTRICTS HR-2020-113282 1317 WESTOVER ROAD OLD WEST AUSTIN NATIONAL REGISTER DISTRICT PROPOSAL Demolish a contributing building; construct a two-story plus basement house and detached garage/guest house building. ARCHITECTURE 1½-story rectangular-plan house capped by a side-gabled roof with front-facing gable dormers, clad in wood siding, and featuring 1:1 windows that appear to have wood and vinyl sashes. The paneled front door is flanked by multi-lite sidelights and surmounted by a multi-lite transom. Features include a full-width front porch with square columns, an exterior brick chimney, and a side addition capped by a hipped roof. RESEARCH The house at 1317 Westover Road was built around 1935. By 1939, Charles and Sara Wheeler had moved in; their family lived there until at least 1959. Charles Wheeler was born in 1879 in Grayson, Texas, to a farming family that deeply valued literacy; he grew up in Cooke County. He attended nearby Whitesboro College, Tyler Junior College, and North Texas State, then worked as a teacher and county school superintendent in Bowie County from 1899 to 1911. Wheeler “hung around courts and studied law,” by his own account, before opening a law practice in Texarkana or working as an assistant county attorney (news accounts vary). He was thrice elected district attorney for Texas’s Fifth Judicial District before coming to Austin in 1924, where he served as assistant attorney general under W. A. Keeling and Dan Moody. He served as a district judge in Austin’s 53rd District Court (1931 or 1932 until 1936), then resigned to practice law with his son Joe W. Wheeler at Felts, Wheeler & Wheeler, later Wheeler & Wheeler. He was appointed Editor of Opinions for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 1948 until 1963. “As long as I had anything to do with law, I tried to work hard, be genteel and courteous, prepare my cases well and be strictly moral and upright in all my dealings,” he told the Austin Statesman in 1969. Wheeler was deeply involved with the Texas Odd Fellows, receiving a 70-year membership award in 1972, as well as Central Christian Church, the Masons, and the Woodmen of the World. Charles Wheeler died in Austin in 1974. Sallie (or Sally, or Sara) D. Wheeler (nee Looney) was another native Texan, born around 1879 in Bowie. She married Charles Wheeler in 1902 in Bowie, and the couple had five sons. She was a longtime member and host of the Woman’s Study Club and was also active in the Central Christian Women’s Fellowship and the Alpha Delta Review. Sallie Wheeler died in Austin in 1956. PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS Two-story plus basement rectangular-plan house clad in brick and vertical wood siding (on portions of secondary elevations) and capped with a cross-gabled slate roof. The house features casement and fixed clad-wood windows and multi-lite steel front door and fully- glazed entryway. Under the right front gable, a dramatic fully glazed transparent wall will  C.5 - 2 pivot open as a steel door. Ornamentation includes quoining, brick lintels, and three chimneys. The garage/guest house is a two-story building at the rear of the property. It is clad in vertical wood siding to match that on the rear of the house and capped with a gabled roof. It features a garage door on the first floor, a staircase to the second-floor entry, multi-lite clad- wood windows, and a second-floor deck with a membrane roof. STANDARDS FOR REVIEW The property is contributing to the Old West Austin National Register District. It may be eligible for historic landmark designation. Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The building is more than 50 years old. 2) The building appears to retain a high degree of 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 in the Colonial Revival style. Though a simple interpretation, it may be eligible under this criterion. b) Historical association. Charles A. Wheeler was a prominent longtime judge and lawyer in Austin during the time he lived in the house, though it is not clear whether he contributed significantly to the history of the city, state, or nation, or whether his legacy is best represented by/most strongly associated with this building. There may be 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 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 particular 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. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation are used to evaluate new construction in National Register districts. The following standards apply to the proposed project: 9) New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment. The house is compatible with nearby contributing buildings through its simple roof form, uncomplicated massing, and brick cladding. The vertical proportions, front- gabled wings of different heights, and fully glazed entrance area differentiate it as new construction. The project meets this standard. 10) New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired. The district will be impaired by the loss of a contributing building. If the new building were removed in the future, the historic district would be unimpaired. The proposed new building meets the standards.  COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION Not reviewed. STAFF RECOMMENDATION C.5 - 3 Encourage reuse of the building, then relocation over demolition, but release the demolition 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. If the Commission elects to release the demolition permit, staff recommends that it comment on and release the plans for new construction. The Commission may choose to delay the permit for up to 180 days, as the building contributes to the Old West Austin National Register District.  LOCATION MAP C.5 - 4 PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos C.5 - 5 Primary (north) façade of 1317 Westover Road. Source: Google Street View, May 2018. Occupancy Research Major Inspector, Adjutant General’s Department Completed by Historic Preservation Office staff, July 2020. Directory information available only through 1959 due to library closure. 1937 Gwynne A. Conrad, owner 1939 Charles A. and Sara D. Wheeler, owners 1941 Charles A. and Sara D. Wheeler, owners 1944 Charles A. and Sara D. Wheeler, owners Felts, Wheeler & Wheeler (Joe Wheeler), attorneys at law (204 Norwood Building) Felts, Wheeler & Wheeler (Joe Wheeler), attorneys at law (204 Norwood Building) Wheeler & Wheeler (Joe Wheeler), lawyers (205 Capital National Bank Building) 1947 Charles A. and Sara Wheeler, owners Wheeler & Wheeler (Joe Wheeler), lawyers (205 Capital National Bank Building) 1949 Charles Alex and Sallie D. Wheeler, owners 1952 Charles A. and Sara Wheeler, owners Lawyer, no employer listed (205-06 Capital National Bank Building) Wheeler & Wheeler (Joe Wheeler), lawyers (205 Capital National Bank Building) C.5 - 6 Lawyer, no employer listed (205-07 Capital National Bank Building) 1955 Charles A. and Shara Wheeler, owners 1957 Charles A. and Shara Wheeler, owners 1959 Charles A. Wheeler, owner Additional Research Lawyer, no employer listed (205 Capital National Bank Building) Lawyer, no employer listed (205 Capital National Bank) “Chicken Peddler Put Wheeler in His First Political Office,” The Austin Statesman, 2/24/1932.  C.5 - 7 Photograph of Judge C. A. Wheeler, The Austin American, 7/7/1940.  C.5 - 8 “Judge Wheeler Is ‘Richest Man,’” The Austin Statesman, 12/7/1969.  C.5 - 9 “Odd Fellows Giving Wheeler 70-Year Membership Award,” The Austin Statesman, 4/28/1972.  C.5 - 10 “Judge Wheeler Dies,” The Austin American-Statesman, 10/14/1974  C.5 - 11 Death notice for Mrs. C. A. (Sara) Wheeler, The Austin American, 12/23/1956.