9 - 809 Lydia St - HLC Letter of Support — original pdf

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The Architectural Review Committee of the Historic Landmark Commission voices its strong support for approval of any license agreements, variances, and/or alteration of any City infrastructure required to allow for the reproduction of the historic awning at the historic Guajardo Grocery Building at 809 Lydia. We are a committee of three landmark commissioners with a specific focus on design and alterations, working with applicants to help them develop a design most likely to be accepted by the full commission. We could submit this letter of support for approval of the full commission, though I understand that to be beyond the timeline of the current application process. The historic canopy co-existed with the light pole historically, as evidenced in historic photographs. The attached photo is the oldest photograph, dating to about 1940. The canopy was removed many years ago. The applicant would like to reconstruct it based upon the historic evidence and physical clues left on the facade, reusing the historic anchor locations, meeting the building in the same size and location as it did historically, in perfect compliance with historic design standards. Austin has a low percentage of historically designated properties compared to our peer cities in Texas and throughout the country. Those that are designated and protected are largely in downtown and west Austin, a physical reflection of the historic racial and socioeconomic inequalities that are an unfortunate reality of our City's history, which we are now trying to address. Finding owners willing to designate their properties as historic, and willing to maintain them, much less willing to restore their historic features, is also a rarity. In this case, we have a real unicorn, right where we need it - an East Austin property owner looking to restore historic integrity on their own dime, on a building with true community history as an anchor commercial structure, on a prominent corner within a local historic district. We want to do all we can to support the reconstruction of this feature, contributing to the restoration of an important part of East Austin history.