20.0 - 1704 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS JUNE 5, 2024 PR-2024-043844; GF-2024-058061 1704 EAST MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BOULEVARD 20 – 1 PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1916 house. ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH One-story L-plan National Folk house with hipped roof, board-and-batten siding, and partial-width front porch supported by turned posts. Fenestration includes 2:2 wood windows; one of the original double entry doors has been converted to a window. The back house is a gabled, one-story building with horizontal wood siding and a partial width inset porch. The front house at 1704 East Martin Luther King, originally addressed as 1304 East 19th Street, was constructed around 1916 as rental property. Its architectural details define it as a “Hofheinz house,” distinctive National Folk houses rented to working-class East Austin families during the early years of the twentieth century by Edmund and Oscar Hofheinz. According to a 2019 Historic Preservation Office report, 11 known and 13 possible Hofheinz houses remain within the East Austin survey area,1 though several have been demolished since then. The East Austin Context Statement notes their impact on development patterns: The first two decades of the 1900s were rampant with development throughout East Austin…residential construction in these new developments reflected evolving trends in domestic designs, as the eclectic tastes of the Victorian era waned and simpler styles…became more widespread…new [working-class] house types began to replace more traditional forms. The linear, one‐ room‐deep plans that featured gabled roofs…gave way to deeper, more box‐like plans and often had hipped or pyramidal roofs with inset porches. The effect created a more vertical emphasis. The rental houses of brothers Edmund (“E. J.”) Hofheinz and Oscar (“O. G.”) Hofheinz exemplified this trend. E. J. Hofheinz (ca. 1870–1949) was a real estate dealer and accountant, while O.G. Hofheinz (ca. 1880–1957) was an insurance salesman and developer. Together, the brothers subdivided land and built houses in East Austin and Clarksville. Real estate transaction articles in the Austin American Statesman indicate that the Hofheinz brothers both speculatively sold the houses that they built and retained them for rental income.2 Though the Hofheinz brothers rented some of their properties to tenants of color, their purchase of smaller lots and homes made property ownership even more difficult for East Austin residents. Even if African American homebuyers could secure a loan large enough to purchase a lot—a difficult feat in the era of segregation and discriminatory loan policies—the continual depletion of the stock of smaller homes by speculative buyers often forced African American residents into renting, rather than buying, a house. Thus, the Hofheinz brothers should be secondary to the historical importance of the building’s occupants and later owners, the Gooden family. The back house was added in 1942, at the same time as the back house was constructed next door. Residents of the houses were mostly short-term renters and single people in the early years, but by the 1940s longer-term occupants and their families began renting as veterans returned from the war. Porter Julius Roberson and his wife, Rosalee, were among these, as well as plumber Levi Holland and his wife, Ruby. After the previous owners’ deaths, the property passed to Mrs. Winifred Hill Gooden, a native of Creedmoor who had worked as a domestic laborer for the Hofheinz family for many years. In a letter to the Historic Landmark Commission, Dr. Javier Wallace, educator and founder of Black Austin Tours, describes Mrs. Gooden’s initiative and self-reliance amidst the challenges of life in segregated East Austin: My grandfather’s sister, Mrs. Winifred Hill Gooden, labored as a domestic worker in the Hofheinz residence for decades. As a Black woman born in the early 20th century to tenant farmers in rural Travis and Caldwell Counties, domestic work was one of the few employment opportunities available to her. Through her hard work, she was able to acquire many homes that the Hofheinz family reserved for “Colored” renters in the former Negro District of East Austin. This acquisition was a defining moment for Black property ownership in the area, representing a significant step toward economic empowerment for working- 1 “HDP-2019-0179: 2202 E. 12th Street.” City of Austin Historic Preservation Office, 2019. https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=318278 2 East Austin Context Statement. East Austin Historic Resource Survey, Vol. 1: I-40. 20 – 2 Winifred Hill Gooden married Milton Gooden, Sr., in 1951; Gooden served in the Korean War before enrolling at HTU and became Chairman of the Employment Committee of the Austin NAACP, helping African Americans procure fair employment in the public sector.4 Throughout her tenure as a landowner and with her later work at the University of Texas, Mrs. Gooden was able to help provide for her family throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. class Black families.3 PROPERTY EVALUATION The 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey lists the property as contributing to a potential historic district. Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The buildings are more than 50 years old. 2) The buildings appear to retain high to moderate integrity. Windows and doors are boarded, and one of the original double entry doors at the front house has been converted to a window. 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 for landmark designation, but is not as strong a candidate for designation as the adjacent front house at 1702 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.: a. Architecture. The front building embodies the distinguishing characteristics of early twentieth-century rental homes’ modest interpretation of the National Folk style, including a hipped roof and partial-width porch with turned posts. This building is less intact than the building next door at 1702 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. b. Historical association. The buildings are most recently associated with the Gooden family. According to the East Austin Historic Resource Survey, the buildings were constructed by the Hofheinz brothers, who had a significant impact on the development patterns of East Austin, and were occupied by a series of working-class African American tenants throughout their service as rental properties. However, the buildings do not retain the depth of association with Antioch, nor the length of resident tenure, as the house at 1702 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. 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 does not appear to have 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. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Strongly encourage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse, then relocation over demolition, but release the demolition permit upon completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package for both houses. While the building retains some integrity, it does not appear to have the same level of connection with the families of Antioch as the house at 1702 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. 3 Wallace, Dr. Javier L. Letter to the Historic Landmark Commission, June 5, 2024. 4 Obituary of Milton Gooden, Sr. Legacy.com, Oct. 15, 2022. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/milton-gooden- obituary?id=36810366 LOCATION MAP 20 – 3 PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos 20 – 4 Google Street View, 2024 20 – 5 Demolition permit application, 2024 Occupancy History City Directory Research, May 2024 1704 A: Vacant 1704 B: Levi and Rubie Holland, renters – plumber; maid at 3305 Balcones Dr. 1704 A: Henry Davis, renter 1704 B: Levi and Rubie Holland, renters – plumber 1704 A: Julius and Rosa Roberson, renters – porter at Greyhound and cook at Kappa Alpha fraternity 1704 B: Levi and Ruby Holland, renters – helper at Carl Holland Plumbing, 1807 E. 19th St. 1704 A: Julius Robinson, renter 1704 B: Thomas J. Wilson, renter 1704 C: Julius and Rosa Roberson, renters – porter 1704 A: Julius and Rosalee Roberson, renters – shoe shiner 1704 B: Thomas Wilson, renter 1704 C: L. D. Clark, renter 1959 1955 1952 1949 1944 1941 1939 1935 1932 1929 1924 1922 1920 1918 1916 1914 Beulah Clark, renter Beulah Clark, renter – cook Elizabeth Moore, renter Clint Boggs, renter Clint and Pearl Boggs, renters Arthur Durse, renter William Wilson, renter William Wilson, renter George Williams, renter Joseph Gibson, renter Address not listed Historical Information 20 – 6 The Austin Statesman (1902-1915); Austin, Tex.. 13 Nov 1913: 2. Draft card for Julius Roberson, Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui- content/view/19386148:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=17276b94-c936-4158-8543- c45a77ee494b&_phsrc=JfX4&_phstart=successSource The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 02 May 1962: A8. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 06 May 1967: 34. Death certificate for Julius Roberson, Ancestry.com https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui- content/view/1623436:2272?tid=&pid=&queryId=17276b94-c936-4158-8543- c45a77ee494b&_phsrc=JfX4&_phstart=successSource Obituary for Winifred Hill Gooden. The Austin American-Statesman; Austin, Tex.. 1 June 2001: 43. Permits 20 – 7