5.0 - 4310 Avenue H — original pdf

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ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET CASE NUMBER: C14H-2024-0123 HLC DATE: November 6, 2024 PC DATE: TBD CC Date: TBD APPLICANT: Holly Tachovsky (owner-initiated) HISTORIC NAME: Whitney House WATERSHED: Waller Creek ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 4310 Avenue H ZONING CHANGE: SF-3-HD-NCCD-NP to SF-3-H-HD-NCCD-NP COUNCIL DISTRICT: 9 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the proposed zoning change from family residence- historic district combining district-neighborhood conservation combining district-neighborhood plan (SF- 3-HD-NCCD-NP) to family residence-historic landmark-historic district combining district-neighborhood conservation combining district-neighborhood plan (SF-3-H-HD-NCCD-NP) zoning. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: Historical associations and community value. HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: TBD PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: TBD CITY COUNCIL ACTION: TBD CASE MANAGER: Austin Lukes, 512-978-0766 NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District, Austin Lost and Found Pets, Austin Neighborhoods Council, Central Austin Community Development Corporation, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Friends of Hyde Park, Homeless Neighborhood Association, Hyde Park Neighborhood Assn., Hyde Park Neighborhood Plan Contact Team, Neighborhood Empowerment Foundation, North Austin Neighborhood Alliance, Preservation Austin, SELTexas, Sierra Club, Austin Regional Group DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: The house is listed as a contributing resource to both the Hyde Park National Register district as well as the Hyde Park local historic district. BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: § 25-2-352(3)(c)(ii) Historical Associations. The property has long-standing significant associations with persons, groups, institutions, businesses, or events of historical importance that contributed significantly to the history of the city, state, or nation or represents a significant portrayal of the cultural practices or the way of life of a definable group of people in a historic time. This property has connection to Dr. Francis Luther Whitney, who moved along with his wife Grace Whitney to Austin 1908 after declining a faculty position at the University of Michigan. Instead, Dr. Whitney took a professorship at the University of Texas’s newly formed paleontology department within the Department of Geological Sciences. He served in this role for the next 40 years, until his retirement. During the 1920s, he would serve as chair of the department, in addition to teaching, including a course of micropaleontology that was likely one of the first in the academic world. The opportunities for geological and paleontological research and development were immense in Texas during this time, and Dr. Whitney’s work spanned from acquiring collections of mollusk fossils still in the university’s possession to developing mathematical models to identify structures that would be used directly by the oil and gas industry to identify deposits. Dr. Whitney’s research and academic curiosity also extended to the property at 4310 Avenue H, where he would build his own cameras and setups for photographing geological phenomena to better document and disseminate his discoveries. For a time, the house featured a dark room for photo development. His acquisition and interest in machinery and tools relating to his work may have also contributed to the need for the family to move from 4310 Avenue H in 1931 to a larger house located at 2715 Wooldridge Drive. § 25-2-352(3)(c)(iv) Community Value. The property has a unique location, physical characteristic, or significant feature that contributes to the character, image, or cultural identity of the city, a neighborhood, or a particular group. The house at 4310 Avenue H is notable for being the first constructed on its side of the block, part of the larger northern expansion of the Hyde Park neighborhood. The Whitneys were also responsible for the design of the bungalow architecture of the residence, which now fits well amongst its neighbors and may well have influenced the design style of this era of new construction in the neighborhood. As mentioned in the historical associations basis for recommendation, the larger movement of talent to the University of Texas in the first decades of the 20th century contributed to its designation in 1929 by the Association of American Universities of being a first-class research university. Dr. Whitney’s contributions to the academic community are especially notable due to their connections to the rapidly expanding oil and gas industries in the region and state. He was also involved with community efforts related to his area of expertise, such as organizing and conducting summer geology camps, serving on a building committee at the University of Texas where he advocated for state-of-the-art facility construction, and fossil discovery and interpretation across the state, particularly in West Texas. Grace Whitney was also highly involved with the community, particularly with the Hyde Park Reading Club, which was organized in 1908 and served social, educational, and advocacy functions for neighborhood residents, and in turn had impacts throughout the broader Austin community. Some of these functions included supporting the effort during World War I by sewing clothing and bandages for servicemembers, as well as advancing support for higher educator salaries and campaigning for women’s suffrage. Meetings were held at houses throughout Hyde Park, including at the Whitney House. Grace was also involved in writing and illustrating children’s books, several of which were published and distributed. PARCEL NO.: 0220061510 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 27&28 BLK 17 HYDE PARK ADDN NO 1 ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX EXEMPTION (homestead, capped): AISD $2,244.67 COA $1,862.80 TC $1,273.02 TC Health $420.75 Total $5,801.23 APPRAISED VALUE: $797,319 ($550,000 Land; $247,319 Improvement) PRESENT USE: Single-family residential DATE BUILT/PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: 1915; 1915-1931 INTEGRITY/ALTERATIONS: High integrity is retained. The original front appearance is intact, with front windows, built in a unique pattern and symmetrical across the façade, still present. Original siding appears to be intact at the front and sides, and windows are original and still operational. There was a two-story rear addition constructed in 1976, but it is minimally visible from the street and siding matches the horizontality of the original structure. This intervention also saw the enclosure of the rear sleeping porch. All alterations are held to the rear of the house and would comply with current Austin Historic Design Standards if proposed today. PRESENT OWNERS: Holly Tachovsky & John Tachovsky ORIGINAL OWNER(S): Francis Luther Whitney & Grace Whitney OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: Local historic district (Hyde Park), contributing resource; National Register of Historic Places historic district (Hyde Park), contributing resource