D.12.0 - 3003 E. 18th Street — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION JANUARY 25, 2021 DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS PR-20-183698 3003 E. 18TH STREET D.12 - 1 PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1950 house. ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH One-story, rectangular-plan, side-gabled frame house with a front-gabled entry hood; single 2:2 fenestration; synthetic siding. The house is one of two nearly identical houses built by Mae De Lewis in this block in 1950 (the other is just to the west, at 3001 E. 18th Street). Mae De Lewis was an Austin educator and founded several service organizations at Anderson High School, where she taught from the 1920s until 1956. This house was rented by Perry Winston, Jr. until around 1958, when his ex-wife, Mary Frances Winston, also a public school teacher, is listed separately here while Perry Winston and his new wife are listed at another address. Perry Winston, Jr. was the manager of a fried chicken restaurant before he moved into this house; he was an insurance agent for a short period of time, and by the mid-1950s, was employed by the Austin Police Department. He made the newspapers in 1953, when he was involved with Texas Rangers in the arrest of a “witch doctor” with potions and powders. 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 does not squarely meet the criteria for landmark designation as set forth in City Code: a. Architecture. The house is a very plain and utilitarian house that has no architectural distinction. b. Historical association. The house, as well as the house next door, was built by Mae De Lewis, an African-American teacher at Anderson High School, who was also very active as a leader in school service programs and other activities. It is not known whether Ms. De Lewis had a more comprehensive social agenda to provide housing for African-American families in McKinley Heights, but the houses are similar in scale and style to houses in Cedar Valley, another post- World War II African-American neighborhood in East Austin. It is also not known how many other houses Ms. De Lewis built, or whether these two houses were simply two rental properties she owned for the income they produced. This house was rented by an African-American police officer for the first decade or so of its existence; one of his wives who lived here was a public school teacher. The house may have significance to their relationship to Ms. De Lewis and as a depiction of blue collar housing in a post-war African- American neighborhood, but it is certainly not clear that she had a purpose other than building these rental houses for any reason other than their ability to provide her with additional income. 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. D.12 - 2 STAFF RECOMMENDATION Encourage rehabilitation and adaptive re-use, then relocation over demolition, but release the 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. The house does not meet the criteria for individual designation as a historic landmark.  LOCATION MAP D.12 - 3  D.12 - 4 3003 E 18th Street ca. 1950 OCCUPANCY HISTORY 3003 E 18th Street City Directory Research, Austin History Center By City Historic Preservation Office November, 2020 1959 Mary F. Winston, renter Teacher Campbell School NOTE: Perry Winston, Jr. and his wife, Christine J., are listed at 3014 E. 12th Street; he was a city policeman; she was a nurse at Brackenridge Hospital. 1957 1955 1952 1949 Perry, Jr. and Mary Frances Winston, owners Perry: Mary: City policeman Teacher, public schools Perry, Jr. and Jane W. Winston, renters Employed by the City Police Department Perry Winston, renter Agent, United Insurance, 609 W. 6th Street. The address is not listed in the directory.  D.12 - 5 NOTE: Perry, Jr. and Mary F. Winston are listed at 1701 E. 16th Street; he was the manager of Chuffie’s Chicken Shanty (Pearlie Alexander, proprietor), 1719 Rosewood Avenue; Mary F. Winston was a teacher at Rosewood School. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Perry Winston, Jr. and Mary Frances Winston (ca. 1950 – ca. 1958); Mary Frances Winston (ca. 1950 – ) The 1930 U.S. Census shows Perry Winston, Jr. as the 11-ear old son of Perry and Emma Winston of Bastrop County, Texas. Perry Winston, Jr. was born in Texas and had no occupation listed. His father, Perry Winston, Sr. was a 49-year old Texas-born tenant farmer; his mother, Emma Winston, had been born in Texas and was a farm laborer. Perry, Jr. had a younger sister, Lulla Mae, 7, who had been born in Texas. His 1940 World War II draft registration card shows that Perry Winston was living with his mother, Mrs. Emma Winston, at 900 Lincoln Street in Austin. He was born in Litton [sic] Springs, Texas in 1918. He was employed by Samuel Alexander on Rosewood Avenue. He was 5’-8” tall, weighed 185 pounds and had a dark brown complexion, black hair and brown eyes. Perry Winston, Jr. was married several times: to Mary Frances Coleman in Travis County in February, 1949, and then apparently again in the mid-1950s, to Christine Juanita Jones in Travis County in August, 1958, Lucille Griffin in Bastrop, Texas in April, 1968. It appears that Perry and Mary Frances Winston divorced around 1958, and she remained in this house. Perry Howard Winston, Jr. was born in 1918 and died in Brazoria, Texas in 1983. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and is buried in Austin. His wife, Mary Frances Coleman Winston, was born in 1927 in Denison, Texas and died in 2001; she is buried in Dallas. Portion of news article on an unusual arrest involving Austin Police Officer Perry Winston, Jr. Austin Statesman, September 1, 1953 D.12 - 6 News story on the coronation of the daughter of Perry and Mary Frances Winston as Queen Regent of the Ebenezer Baptist Church Austin American-Statesman, August 29, 1965 D.12 - 7 Building permit for the construction of this house (1950) Water service permit for this address (1950) D.12 - 8 Sewer service permit for this address (1950) Building permit for the construction of a detached carport (1956?)  D.12 - 9 Building permit to apply asbestos siding to the house (1960)