D.5.0 - 2505 Park View Drive — original pdf

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D.5 - 1 HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS HDP-2020-0353 2505 PARK VIEW DRIVE PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1954 house in the Air-Conditioned Village. ARCHITECTURE One-story, side-gabled, Ranch-style house with deep eaves and an extension of the front roofline to constitute a covered walkway from what was the attached carport to the front door. The house has a combination of red brick and wood siding; fenestration consists of aluminum-framed sliding windows with a clerestory pane above; grouped in a triple configuration on the front of the house. The carport has been enclosed with horizontal siding, and contains a paired set of the same windows. The porch has been modified to give the house somewhat of an Arts and Crafts appearance with tapered porch posts and stone piers at the front door. To the left of the front door is a brick-veneered wall that extends almost to the roofline; a narrow band of horizontal wood siding containing a pair of sliding windows tops the brick veneer and wraps around the left side of the house. The house has two rear additions, constructed in 1963 and 1964, the latter providing a mother-in-law apartment on-site. RESEARCH The house at 2505 Park View Drive was the Frigidaire House, designed by Ned A. Cole. S.R. Sheppard was the builder. Frigidaire was one of the air conditioning companies pairing with local homebuilders and the National Association of Home Builders to construct houses to test the cost effectiveness and appeal of central air conditioning in houses priced for middle-class consumers. This house is one of several in the Air-Conditioned Village designed by Ned Cole, a local architect and designer, who was instrumental in attracting the National Association of Home Builders to Austin to build a small neighborhood of modest homes with central air conditioning. The builder was S.R. Sheppard, a local contractor who was interested in energy efficiency and had already constructed a house with wall and attic insulation and air conditioning in a nearby West Austin neighborhood before embarking on this more modest house in the Air-Conditioned Village. Austin’s Air-Conditioned Village was the largest of several experiments throughout the country in the early 1950s to test the feasibility of designing and building homes with central air conditioning for middle class buyers. Up until that time, central air conditioning was generally only offered in more expensive homes, and the need for more homes for returning servicemen spurred an increase in developing technology for new middle-class homeowners. The Air-Conditioned Village in Austin was specifically envisioned as a neighborhood of relatively modest, if technologically-advanced houses, all with a price tag affordable to many middle-class buyers. The builders worked with the University of Texas to monitor usage over the period of two years; the buyers of these houses agreed to the terms of the experiment. Architect Ned Cole, returning to Austin after World War II, established Fabricon, which designed and constructed prefabricated wall storage units. In city directories of the 1950s, the business of Fabricon is listed rather modestly as “cabinet makers” when the company did so much more in house design and the efficiency of interior storage. Cole began designing houses that employed many prefabricated features, such as roof trusses, windows, and D.5 - 2 storage walls. He designed seven houses in the Air-Conditioned Village in Austin, and went on to design homes that were built throughout Texas. The first owners and occupants of this house were Charles and Shirliereed Ashworth, who lived here at least through the early 1960s, when they built the additions on the back for Shirliereed Ashworth’s mother. Charles Ashworth was the controller at Fabricon, Ned Cole’s company, until around 1959, when he opened the Village Launderettes, one on Burnet Road and one on North Lamar, with Oliver Strom. STAFF COMMENTS The house is beyond the bounds of any City survey to date, but would be contributing to a potential historic district for the Air-Conditioned Village. 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 embodies several of the hallmarks of the Ranch style, including the long, low configuration, deep eaves, and prominent low front porch. The house was specifically designed as a modest house to test the ability to provide central air conditioning in homes for the middle class. Although the house has been somewhat modified, its original form and contextual appearance remains intact, and may qualify for designation under this criterion.. b. Historical association. The house was designed by Ned Cole, a local architect who was instrumental in bringing the experiment of central air conditioning to Austin, and who was noted for his innovative architectural designs using prefabricated elements. This house may qualify for designation for its associations with Ned Cole. 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 within the Air-Conditioned Village, a nationally-recognized experiment in home design and climate control for the middle class in the early 1950s. This house in the Air-Conditioned Village possesses a unique location and story of development that contributes to the character of Austin. 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 Postpone to October 26, 2020 to fully evaluate alternatives to demolition. This house, while modified, still retains an important identity as a test house in the Air-Conditioned Village for potentially meeting the criterion for community value, as well as associations with architect Ned Cole.  LOCATION MAP D.5 - 3  D.5 - 4 2505 Park View Drive ca. 1954  D.5 - 5 Original rendering of the house (1954) OCCUPANCY HISTORY 2505 Park View Drive City Directory Research, Austin History Center By City Historic Preservation Office September, 2020 1959 Charles N. and Shirliereed Ashworth, owners Charles: Proprietor (with Oliver Strom), Village Launderette, 5502 Burnet Road (now the A-Town homegoods store) and 909 Lamar Boulevard. Shirliereed: Clerk, Harris School (AISD), 1711 Wheless Lane. Charles N. and Shirley R. Ashworth, owners Comptroller, Fabricon, cabinet makers, 4601 E. 5th Street. Charles N. and Shirley R. Ashworth, owners Employed by Fabricon, Inc., cabinet makers, 4601 E. 5th Street. Charles N. and Shirlie R. Ashworth, owners Controller, Fabricon, cabinet makers, 4601 E. 5th Street. 1957 1955 1954 1953 The address is not listed in the directory. NOTE: Charles N. and Shirliereed Ashworth are listed at 1005 E. 43rd Street; he was an accountant for Fabricon, cabinet makers, 4601 E. 5th Street. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Charles N. and Shirley R. Ashworth (ca. 1954 – His World War II draft card shows that Charles Nugent Ashworth was living at 309 E. 15th Street in Austin at the time of his registration in October, 1940. He was born in 1916 in Kaufman, Texas; his mother, who lived in Arlington, Texas, was his closest relative. He worked for the Texas Unemployment Compensation Commission in the Brown Building in Austin. He was 5’-11” tall, weighed 170 pounds and had a ruddy complexion with brown hair and gray eyes. He had a slight scar on his left cheek. Charles N. and Shirliereed Darwin Ashworth had a son, Charles Darwin Ashworth, in April, 1952.  D.5 - 6 Charles Nugent Ashworth was born in 1916 and died in January 2001; Shirliereed Darwin Ashworth was born in 1920 and died in 1974. Both are buried in the Ashworth Cemetery in Cedarvale, Kaufman County Texas. Water service permit to S.R. Sheppard, the builder of this house (1954) Charles N. Ashworth got a building permit for the construction of a rear addition in 1963. Georgia Darwin is listed as the owner of the property on a building permit to add another rear addition to create a duplex in 1964. Sewer service permit to Charles Ashworth for a second tap for the property (1964) corresponds to the building permit for the mother-in-law addition above.