D.6.0 - 310 E.3rd Street — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS OCTOBER 25, 2021 GF-21-154919 308-10 E. 3RD STREET D.6 – 1 PROPOSAL ARCHITECTURE Demolish a ca. 1938 commercial building. One-story, rectangular-plan, flat-roofed brick commercial building with modern replacement metal-framed fixed-sash fenestration and a modern, metal-framed entry door. In 2008, the building has a fluted full-width masonry canopy band, which was its only ornamentation; that has since been removed. RESEARCH The building was constructed in 1938; the first tenant was the Brown Cracker and Candy Company, which used the building as a warehouse. The space was used through the early 1940s as a cracker company warehouse. Ben Blond’s electrical supply business was located next door to the west at 308 E. 3rd Street in the early 1940s; that building has since been demolished, but Blond used this this building as his warehouse after the cracker companies moved out from the 1950s through the 1980s. PROPERTY EVALUATION The building is not listed in the Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey (1984) likely because it was not 50 years old yet; staff would assess this building as a low priority for preservation as it has been significantly modified, and only the form remains. Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The building is more than 50 years old. 2) The building appears to retain low integrity. The windows and doors have been replaced, and the only ornamentation on the building, a fluted canopy band across the front above the door and windows, has been removed. 3) Properties must meet two criteria for landmark designation (LDC §25-2-352). Staff has evaluated the property and determined that it may meet two criteria: a. Architecture. The building retains its form but little else; the form is an example of a utilitarian warehouse building with little ornamentation, but which has been compromised by modifications so would no longer qualify under this criterion. b. Historical association. The property does not have much in the way of individual significance, and prior to the modifications, would have had a larger role in relating the story of the district of warehouses on the east side of downtown that includes buildings on San Jacinto, Trinity, Neches, and Brazos Streets. c. Archaeology. The property was not evaluated for its potential to yield significant data concerning the human history or prehistory of the region. d. Community value. The property is within an identifiable area of warehouses on the east side of downtown along the railroad tracks; these buildings provide a context for the history of this building and the extended warehouse district. This building would have qualified under this criterion as part of a larger evaluation of this area of downtown but the modern alterations have so damaged its integrity that this building no longer can relate its history. e. Landscape feature. The property is not a significant natural or designed landscape with artistic, aesthetic,9 cultural, or historical value to the city. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Release the permit. The modifications to this building have rendered it ineligible for consideration as a historic landmark and preparation of a documentation package of current conditions is no longer warranted. While staff generally appreciates the reuse of a historic age building, that reuse must be more sensitively done than occurred here so that the historic character of the building remains articulated. LOCATION MAP D.6 – 2 PROPERTY INFORMATION 310 E. 3rd Street ca. 1938 D.6 – 3 2008 photo Current photo D.6 – 4 OCCUPANCY HISTORY 308-10 E. 3rd Street City Directory Research, Austin History Center By City Historic Preservation Office November, 2008 NOTE: The building at 308 E. 3rd Street has been demolished. Blond Electric Company, which occupied 308 E. 3rd Street for many years, also had the building at 310 E. 3rd Street as their warehouse from the mid-1950s on. 1987 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electric Company, Inc. Benjamin Blond, proprietor 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electric Company, Inc. Benjamin Blond, proprietor 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electric Company, Inc. Benjamin Blond, proprietor 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electric Company, Inc. Wholesale electrical supplies Benjamin Blond, proprietor NOTE: The address is listed as 308-10 E. 3rd Street. 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electrical Supply Company Benjamin Blond, proprietor 310 E. 3rd Street Sunshine Biscuits, Inc. Earl G. Bryson, Jr., manager 308 E. 3rd Street Blond Electrical Supply Company Wholesale electrical supplies Morris Lerner, manager 310 E. 3rd Street Sunshine Biscuits, Inc. Ira A. Hayes, branch sales manager 310 E. 3rd Street Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company Brown Cracker and Candy Division Ira A. Hayes, branch manager 308 E. 3rd Street is a residential address. 1977 1967 1957 1953 1949 1944-45 1941 310 E. 3rd Street Brown Cracker and Candy Company George W. Todd, manager 1937 Both 308 and 310 E. 3rd Street are residential listings. NOTE: Brown Cracker and Candy Company was located at 120 E. 4th Street. D.6 – 5 Advertisement for Brown’s Crackers Austin American, November 7, 1928 D.6 – 6 Obituary of Benjamin Blond, the owner of Blond Electric Company at 308 E. 3rd Street (now demolished), which expanded into this building as additional warehouse space in the 1950s. Austin American-Statesman February 7, 1990 D.6 – 7 Obituary of Benjamin Blond Austin American-Statesman, February 7, 1990 Building permit for the construction of the warehouse at 310 E. 3rd Street (1938) D.6 – 8 Sewer service permit for 310 E. 3rd Street (1938) Building permit to construct the building (now demolished) at 308 E. 3rd Street (1947) The 1935 Sanborn map shows two residential structures at 308 and 310 E. 3rd Street (bottom right corner). D.6 – 9 The 1961 Sanborn map shows the building at 310 E. 3rd Street at the right of the map; the back opened up onto the railroad tracks. Benjamin Blond’s wholesale electrical supply business was located at 308 E. 3rd Street with additional space at 310 E. 3rd Street.