A.4.0 - E.A. Murchison House, 1304 Alta Vista Avenue — original pdf

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A.4 - 1 ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET HLC DATE: PC DATE: November 16, 2020 November 24, 2020 CASE NUMBER: C14H-2020-0113 APPLICANT: Thomas Cooke; Casey Jordan, agent HISTORIC NAME: E.A. Murchison House WATERSHED: Blunn Creek ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 1304 Alta Vista Avenue ZONING FROM: SF-3-NP to SF-3-H-NP COUNCIL DISTRICT: 9 SUMMARY STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the proposed zoning change from single family residence, neighborhood plan (SF-3-NP) combining district to single family residence – Historic Landmark – neighborhood plan (SF-3-H-NP) combining district zoning. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: The E.A. Murchison House meets the criteria for designation for its architectural significance for its Tudor Revival architecture and its historical significance for its associations with civic leader and Austin School Board leader E.A. Murchison. HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: The house is listed as a Priority 2 for research in the Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey (1984). ACTION: PHONE: 974-6454 ORDINANCE NUMBER: CITY COUNCIL DATE: December 10, 2020 ORDINANCE READINGS: 1ST 2ND 3RD CASE MANAGER: Steve Sadowsky NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION: South River City Citizens Association BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: Architecture: The E.A. Murchison House is a one-and-a-half story, irregular plan, stone-clad Tudor Revival house designed by Houston architect H.L. Murchison for his parents, E.A. and Emma Murchison. The house is a relatively large example of Tudor Revival domestic architecture, occupying a large lot for an estate setting. It exhibits the hallmarks of the Tudor Revival style, including the random ashlar stone exterior, false half-timbering in the tympanae of the prominent gables, turned brackets, an asymmetrical composition, and a stone exterior chimney with clay chimney pots. The limestone on the house reputedly was salvaged when the Whitis Mansion on W. 27th Street was razed for the construction of the Scottish Rite Dormitory. The house has a primarily side-gabled roof with two prominent front-facing gables on either side of a central block, which contains a shed-roofed dormer. Fenestration in the house consists of 6:6 wood-frame windows in single, double, and triple configurations. There have been some additions and modifications to the house, all of which are in keeping with the original Tudor Revival style and articulation of the house, including the construction of a carport (1982), a pool and pool and pool house in the back yard (1987), enclosure of the rear porch (1992), stone hardscaping and the front wall and gates, and the installation of a slate roof in 2013. The bay window in the left front gable is not original but was installed into the existing window opening, and does not detract from the overall style and design elements of the house. A.4 - 2 E.A. Murchison House, 1304 Alta Vista Avenue A.4 - 3 Detail of non-historic bay window and carport Historical Associations: Eugene A. Murchison, a native of Bastrop County, Texas, purchased this lot in the newly- developed Travis Heights subdivision in 1920. Travis Heights was designed to be a middle- to upper-middle class neighborhood in South Austin with views out over the Colorado River to downtown. The hilly terrain of the neighborhood is marked by curved streets, large, irregularly- shaped lots, and short blocks, many labeled “terraces” and “places,” all in keeping with the tenets of the City Beautiful Movement of the early 20th century. This house is the middle of three estates on Alta Vista Avenue, and represents one of the high-style architectural gems of the neighborhood. Eugene A. Murchison was raised on a Bastrop County farm and attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he obtained his teacher’s certificate. He went on to teach in rural schools in Bastrop County for several years before serving in the Spanish- American War. Upon his return to central Texas, he worked in a general store in Del Valle in eastern Travis County before moving into Austin around 1905. Murchison is listed for the first time in Austin city directories in the edition of 1906-07, when he is listed as living at 1303 E. 12th Street and was a partner with William F. Caldwell and H.B. Lee in Caldwell-Murchison- Lee, which sold dry goods, groceries, and feed at 600-06 E. 6th Street, and was a successor to the business of William F. Caldwell and Tom Anderson at the same location. A.4 - 4 The building at 600-04 E. 6th Street (corner of Red River Street) where E.A. Murchison had his first grocery business with William F. Caldwell and H.B. Lee from around 1905 until the mid-1910s. By the mid-1910s, Murchison was the president of Murchison-Lee, selling groceries, dry goods, and produce at 325 E. 6th Street. By 1920, Murchison had moved to Travis Heights, living at 1200 Travis Heights Boulevard, and operating Murchison-Lee at 222-24 E. 5th Street. Their stock was limited to groceries. Murchison-Lee remained in operation under that name until the mid-1920s, when H.B. Lee moved to New Mexico and Murchison opened Murchison’s Nu-Way Grocery Store at 1011 Congress Avenue. Murchison’s NuWay Grocery Store remained in business at that location and under that name until 1931, when he changed the name to the Rite-Way Grocery Store. The 1930-31 city directory also shows Murchison’s Fruit Store at 1009 Congress Avenue, next door to the grocery store. Murchison’s Fruit Store was managed by an Arthur Smith. Murchison remained in the grocery business on Congress Avenue until 1935, when he retired an was appointed to serve as the city and county probation officer, a post he would hold until 1948. Murchison’s first wife, Emma was the proprietor of a boarding house while E.A. Murchison was in the grocery business. Emma Murchison first had a boarding house at 307 W. 19th Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) in the mid-1920s. Around 1928, the E.A. and Emma Murchison moved to 1010 Lavaca Street, where Mrs. Murchison operated the Murchison House, a boarding house, until her death in 1932. E.A. Murchison retained ownership of the Lavaca Street property after Emma’s death, and lived there off-and-on during the next few years, even after the house on Alta Vista was completed. City directories of the period also show their son, Herman L. Murchison, living with them at the Lavaca Street house; Herman L. Murchison was a draftsman for prominent local architect Roy L. Thomas, and designed the house for his parents on Alta Vista Avenue. A.4 - 5 The Travis County Domestic Relations Office building now occupies the site of the Murchison Boarding House at 1010 Lavaca Street, just west of the Governor’s Mansion. The house at 1304 Alta Vista Avenue was completed in 1931; city directories indicate that E.A. and Emma Murchison moved from their boarding house at 1010 Lavaca into their Travis Heights estate, but family history has it that Emma Murchison did not live long enough to move into the Alta Vista house, and a heartbroken E.A. Murchison remained in the Lavaca Street boarding house. He rented out the house for a short period of time, before marrying his second wife, Maggie, a school teacher. They lived on Hillside Avenue in South Austin for a short period of time just after their marriage, then moved into the Alta Vista Avenue house, where they lived until 1959, when they sold the property and moved to a house on West Avenue. E.A. Murchison was a very active civic leader throughout his life, especially in Austin schools, where he served on the Austin School Board from 1919 until the mid-1940s, and was the longest- serving president of the school board. During his tenure, the city of Austin grew tremendously, and with it, its school population. Murchison was instrumental with school superintendent A.N. McCallum in getting bonds passed that would allow the school board to build more school buildings, gymnasiums, and playgrounds, and repair many others. Murchison advocated tax increases in order to pay Austin teachers higher wages, oversaw the creation of the first Parent- Teacher Association in Austin, and advocated for the creation of a ROTC program in the early 1940s, as well as for industrial education during the Second World War. Murchison appears to have cared equally for Austin’s white and non-white students, even at a time when Austin schools were completely segregated. While Murchison served, the school board built several new schools, including Becker, Zavala, Govalle, Travis Heights, Brykerwoods, Lee, and Ridgetop Elementary and Austin High School (now ACC Rio Grande). The board opened an experimental Opportunity School at Bickler School, allowing students to progress at their own pace, and helped institute district-wide testing to ensure that all students were receiving a good education. More striking, however, was Murchison’s compassion for the students. In a story in the Austin newspaper from 1939, Murchison was noted for providing for students too impoverished to buy their own school supplies, books, and in some instances, even their clothing and shoes. His great humanitarianism moved him into other important areas of civic life. After retiring from the grocery business in 1935, he devoted the rest of his life to serving as a mentor to boys and young men in various capacities, as the city and county juvenile probation officer, as an early Boy Scout leader, and as the young men’s Sunday School leader at the First Methodist Church. A.4 - 6 As probation officer, Murchison viewed his position as an opportunity to help reform troubled youth in the city. Austin newspapers detail a “reign of terror” by juvenile delinquents in Austin in the late 1940s, many of whom ended up reporting to Murchison as a condition of their freedom from jail. Murchison’s approach was to encourage young men to return to a lawful life. His service to this community was recognized with the naming of Murchison Middle School on North Hills Drive after him in 1967, and several distinguished service awards from various organizations in the city, including the Texas Heritage Foundation and the Rotary Club. E.A. Murchison, “Why I am a Scoutmaster” Austin Statesman, Mary 2, 1922 A.4 - 7 Front-page news of the death and funeral of Emma Murchison Austin Statesman, November 26, 1932 A.4 - 8 E.A. Murchison becomes the Travis County Probation officer Austin American-Statesman, May 19, 1935 A.4 - 9 A.4 - 10 A.4 - 11 News story of the humanitarian efforts of E.A. Murchison to provide necessary supplies for Austin schoolchildren Austin Statesman, September 20, 1939 A.4 - 12 A.4 - 13 E.A. Murchison tenders his letter of resignation as the Travis County Probation Officer Austin Statesman, April 9, 1948 A.4 - 14 A.4 - 15 E.A. Murchison is nominated as Austin’s Most Worthy Citizen Austin Statesman, December 17. 1953 A.4 - 16 A.4 - 17 Obituary of E.A. Murchison Austin Statesman, October 7, 1964 A.4 - 18 A.4 - 19 A.4 - 20 Portion of the news article for the upcoming dedication of Murchison and Martin Junior High Austin Statesman, February 28, 1968 Schools  A.4 - 21 Funeral for Maggie Murchison Austin Statesman, August 5, 1970 A.4 - 22 Water service permit for this address (1931) PARCEL NO.: 0301020303 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 11&12 *ADJ ALLEY & E25' LOT 23&24 BLK 3 TRAVIS HEIGHTS ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX ABATEMENT: $8,500 (owner-occupied); city portion: $2,500 (capped). A.4 - 23 APPRAISED VALUE: $1,052,200 PRESENT USE: Residence CONDITION: Excellent PRESENT OWNERS: Thomas F. and Beverly J. Cooke 1304 Alta Vista Avenue Austin, Texas 78704 DATE BUILT: ca. 1931 ALTERATIONS/ADDITIONS: See narrative; includes bay window, carport, pool and pool house in back yard, stone wall in front. ORIGINAL OWNER(S): E.A. and Emma Murchison (1931) OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: None. LOCATION MAP A.4 - 24 A.4 - 25 A.4 - 26 A.4 - 27 A.4 - 28 A.4 - 29 A.4 - 30 A.4 - 31