D.11.0 - 1609 Alta Vista Avenue — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION DEMOLITION/RELOCATION PERMITS JANUARY 25, 2021 PR-20-182569 1609 ALTA VISTA AVENUE D.11 - 1 Construct a 1,370-square foot addition to a ca. 1936 house that is contributing to the pending Travis Heights National Register Historic District. PROPOSAL PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS The applicant proposes the construction of a two-story addition to the rear of the house that will require the demolition of a non-original rear addition and the detached garage of undetermined age. The proposed addition is front-gabled, and will be located at the very back of the house where the current bathroom and screened porch are currently located. The addition will have horizontal cementitious fiber siding and a composition shingle roof, complementing the materials on the existing house. Fenestration in the new addition contains a combination of traditional sash windows and casements. RESEARCH The house was built in 1936 for Major and Lois Huey, who lived here at least through 1974, when Major passed away. Major Huey worked his entire career for the Gulf Oil Company, rising from chief clerk to district sales manager. Lois Huey was a prominent businessperson in Austin, managing a personal loan company, which advertised loans for autos, furniture, salary loans, and loans for diamonds and livestock, for many years. She opened her own medical and dental credit agency downtown before becoming the vice-president of Austin Finance Corporation, another personal loan agency. Lois Huey headed up a professional association for women involved in the credit industry in Austin in the 1940s and 1950s. In evaluating the city’s criteria for landmark designation, while Lois Huey stands out as an interesting and influential figure as a female businessperson in the city, the architecture of this house does not rise to the level of a landmark, so designation of this property is not likely. The house is contributing to the pending Travis Heights National Register Historic District. STANDARDS FOR REVIEW The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation are used to evaluate projects on historic-age properties. The following standards apply to the proposed project: 2. The historic character of a property shall be retained and preserved. The removal of historic materials or alteration of features and spaces that characterize a property shall be avoided. Construction of this addition will require the removal of a rear screened porch and non-historic bathroom addition which have synthetic siding which differentiates it from the original part of the house. The addition will also require the removal of a board-and-batten detached garage of undetermined age, but which does not relate stylistically or in materials to the principal house. 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. This addition is located at the very rear of the house, far back from the roof ridge. It has materials that complement the historic materials on the house, but a different style that clearly separates it from the historic construction. D.11 - 2 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. Apart from the removal of the non-original rear addition, the entirety of this house remains intact. The project meets the applicable standards. COMMITTEE FEEDBACK Not reviewed. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve as proposed. While large, this is a very sensitively-designed addition that is set as far back on the property as possible; the entire house will remain intact through construction of this addition. The house does not qualify as a historic landmark, and may still be contributing to the pending Travis Heights National Register Historic District after construction of the proposed addition. D.11 - 3 D.11 - 4 D.11 - 5 Please see PDF for side elevations of the proposed addition. 1609 Alta Vista Avenue ca. 1936 D.11 - 6 1957 1955 1952 OCCUPANCY HISTORY 1609 Alta Vista Avenue City Directory Research, Austin History Center By City Historic Preservation Office November, 2020 1959 Major W. Huey, owner Major: Lois: Lois: Lois: Assistant district manager, Gulf Oil Corporation, 1135 Springdale Road. Vice-president, Austin Finance Corporation president), 320 W. 6th Street. (C.M. Rogers, Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Assistant district manager, Gulf Oil Corporation, 1135 Springdale Road. Vice-president, Austin Finance Corporation (Curran M. Rogers, president), 320 W. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Assistant district manager, Gulf Oil Corporation, 1135 Springdale Road. Vice President, Austin Finance Corporation (Curran M. Rogers, president), loans, 320 W. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: D.11 - 7 Assistant district manager, Gulf Oil Corporation, 3809 Guadalupe Street. Manager (with Curran M. Rogers), Austin Finance Corporation, 124 E. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: No occupation listed Proprietor, Medical & Dental Bureau (although the directory shows Mrs. Selma Gilliland as the proprietor), 109-11 E. 6th Street; and manager, Motor & Industrial Finance Corporation, salary, furniture, auto, and live stock loans, 109 E. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: Employed by Gulf Oil Corporation, 5th and Chicon Streets. Proprietor (with Emery H. Hughes), Medical and Dental Bureau, credit reports, medical loans, collections, 109 E. 6th Street; and manager, Motor and Industrial Finance Corporation, salary, furniture, diamond, and auto loans, 109 E. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: No occupation listed Manager, Motor & Industrial Loan Company, salary, furniture, diamond, and auto loans, 109 E. 6th Street. Major M. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: Clerk, Gulf Oil Corporation, 5th and Chicon Streets. Manager, Motor & Industrial Loan Company, salary, furniture, diamond, and auto loans, 109 E. 6th Street Major W. and Lois Huey, owners Major: Lois: Chief clerk, Gulf Oil Corporation, 5th and Chicon Streets. Manager, Motor & Industrial Loan Company, salary, furniture, diamond, and auto loans, 109 E. 6th Street. Major W. and Lois Huey, renters Major: Lois: Chief clerk, Gulf Oil Corporation, 5th and Chicon Streets. Manager, Motor & Industrial Loan Company, salary, furniture, and auto loans, 312 Scarbrough Building. 1949 1947 1944-45 1941 1939 1937 1935 The address is not listed in the directory. NOTE: Major and Lois Huey are listed at 806 Spence Street. He was a clerk at the Gulf Refining Company, 5th and Chicon Streets; she was a stenographer for the Commercial Finance Company (Mrs. Mabel Turner, manager) personal loans, 606 Norwood Building. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Major and Lois Huey (ca. 1936 – ca. ) Major and Lois Huey appear in the 1940 U.S. Census as the owners of this house, which was worth $2,700. Major Huey was 35, had been born in Texas, and was the chief clerk for a wholesale oil company. Lois Huey was 36, had been born in Texas, and was the office manager for a small loan firm. They had no children listed with them. Major Marshall Huey registered for the World War II draft in 1942. He was living at this address and was born in Holland, Texas in 1904. He was employed by the Gulf Oil Corporation agency D.11 - 8 at 5th and Chicon Streets in Austin. He was 6’-2” tall, weighed 210 pounds, and had a ruddy complexion with brown hair and blue eyes. His 1974 death certificate shows that Major Marshall Huey was living at this address at the time of his death. He was born in 1904 in Belton, Texas, and was the district sales manager for Gulf Oil Company. There does not seem to be an obituary in the Austin newspapers. Lois Huey died in 1990 in Travis County. D.11 - 9 Lois Huey is honored by the Credit Women of Austin Austin American-Statesman, June 8, 1952 HUEY, Lois Boyd, 86, of Austin died Saturday. Services 2 p.m. today, Weed- Corley Funeral Home. Burial Austin Memorial Park. Death notice for Lois Huey Austin American-Statesman, February 19. 1990 Water service permit to Major Huey for this address (1936)