39.0-1711 Newton St — original pdf

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38 – 1 HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS JANUARY 10, 2024 PR-2023-151263; GF-2023-161708 1711 NEWTON STREET PROPOSAL ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH Renovate ca. 1915 church to create a duplex. Replace existing windows and doors with aluminum-clad windows in existing openings. Add new horizontal basement windows. Partially demolish and remodel back house. Gabled church building with horizontal siding, square steeple tower with hipped roof, and vertical two-light windows at secondary elevations. Exposed rafter tails are visible beneath the eaves of its seamed metal roof, and a double concrete stairway leads to its gabled entryway. According to the 2016 Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Survey, St. Annie’s African Methodist Episcopal Church was built around 1915. In a 2016 article by Alberta Phillips, the author notes the church’s importance to the area as a “[remnant] of a once-thriving black community of freed slaves who lived in this area following the Civil War and into the 1950s. Today, a handful of structures, including at least two African American churches, are all that is left of the so-called Brackenridge community.”1 Notably, Willie Wells of the Negro League and National Baseball Halls of Fame was laid to rest after services at St. Annie’s, his neighborhood church. Phillips notes the 2016 survey conducted by historian Terri Myers of Preservation Central, Inc., explaining the significance of the Brackenridge neighborhood: The Brackenridge community, during its apex, comprised nearly half of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. It was one of Austin’s first freedmen communities named for the former all-black Brackenridge School on Elizabeth Street, near the Texas School for the Deaf. Like other African-American communities, Brackenridge was redlined in the 1930s to prevent banks from making home and business loans to residents.2 In 2016, Myers—a long-serving member of the Historic Landmark Commission—requested initiation of historic zoning for the church, though the designation did not take place at that time.3 PROPERTY EVALUATION The 2016 Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Survey lists the church building as a high priority and contributing to a potential historic district. The survey does not address the pastor’s house separately. Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The building is more than 50 years old. 2) The building appears to retain high integrity. 3) Properties must meet two criteria for landmark designation (LDC §25-2-352). Staff has evaluated the property and determined that it meets two criteria: a. Architecture. The building is a good example of twentieth-century vernacular religious architecture. b. Historical association. The property is associated with St. Annie African Methodist Episcopal Church. 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 may 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 as a neighborhood place of worship for a primarily African American congregation. 1 Phillips, Alberta. “African American churches worth more to Austin than their land value.” Statesman.com, 2016. 2016. https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2016/09/03/african-american-churches-worth-more-to-austin-than-their-land- value/10003053007/ 2 Ibid. 3 https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2016/11/reporters-notebook-apocalypse-later/ e. Landscape feature. The property does not appear to be a significant natural or designed landscape with artistic, aesthetic, cultural, or historical value to the city. 38 – 2 STAFF RECOMMENDATION Consider initiation of historic zoning. Should the Commission choose not to initiate historic zoning at this time, approve the application for the church building, as it does not remove or obscure character-defining features and thus does not preclude the possibility of later designation. Strongly encourage a more sympathetic design for the rear building, but release the permit upon completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package. LOCATION MAP 38 – 3 PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos 38 – 4 Occupancy History City Directory Research, January 2024 Google Street View, 2022 38 – 5 1959 1955 1952 1949 1944 1941 1939 1935 1932 1929 1927 1924 1922 1918 Vacant Address not listed St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Methodist Church St. Anne’s Chapel St. Anne’s Chapel Not listed Historical Information http://www.stannieamec.org/history.html 38 – 6  Chmais, Sahar. Medium.com, 2018. https://medium.com/@keepaustinreal2018/south-austins-little-white-church-with-an- african-american-soul-a97c69d4697d 38 – 7 38 – 8 Phillips, Alberta. Statesman.com, 2016. https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2016/09/03/african-american-churches- worth-more-to-austin-than-their-land-value/10003053007/  Permits 38 – 9