15.0 - 1702 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd — original pdf

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15 – 1 HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION PERMITS DECEMBER 4, 2024 PR-2024-043035; GF-2024-058054 1702 EAST MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BOULEVARD PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1916 house and 1942 rear house. ARCHITECTURE One-story National Folk house with pyramidal hipped roof, board-and-batten siding, and inset partial-width porch supported by turned posts. Fenestration includes 1:1 and 4:1 wood windows; one of the original double entry doors has been converted to a window. Two decorative jigsawn brackets remain and two chimneys are present. The back house is a gabled, one-story building with horizontal wood siding and a partial width inset porch. RESEARCH The front house at 1702 East Martin Luther King was constructed around 1916 as a rental property. Its architectural detailing marks it as an example of 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 houses of this style and original use remain within the East Austin Historic Resource Survey area,1 though several have since been demolished. 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, associated with the Antioch settlement, and its later owners, the Gooden family. 1702 East Martin Luther King’s first resident listed in city directories was Oliver D. Kavanaugh, a Hays County native. Kavanaugh grew up in the Antioch freedom colony, according to Amber Leigh Hullum in a publication by Texas State University’s Center for Texas Public History. Hullum notes: The physical remains of Antioch have disappeared over the years, and its memory has virtually faded from the local vernacular. Yet Antioch was once…a community full of hardworking and independent African Americans freed from the bonds of slavery. […] The 1870 Agricultural Schedule suggests the settlement of Antioch predates official record and was most likely established by formerly enslaved people…After emancipation, most black families in the area took the last name of their previous enslavers: Smith, Beard, Kavanaugh, Champ, and Bunton. These families became the first unofficial settlers […] By the early 1900s…Oliver Kavanaugh had a mule-powered mill for bran and corn…Antioch School District 5’s [first trustees were] George Kavanaugh, Elias Bunton, and Cyprus M. Carpenter…by 1880 nearly every child between the ages of 7-18 could read and write.”3 According to Oliver D. Kavanaugh’s death certificate, George Kavanaugh was his father; Kavanaugh likely used his education to help him form a successful business as a contractor in Austin. Some extant Hofheinz houses do not retain decorative details as the house at 1702 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. has; Kavanaugh’s occupation as a carpenter, 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. 3 Hullum, Amber Leigh. “A City Upon A Hill Country: The Story of the Antioch Colony.” Intersect: Perspectives in Texas Public History Spring 2020: 5-14. https://gato-docs.its.txst.edu/jcr:15dce716-b93c-4864-ae9b-b0277f71a430/Intersect_Journal_September_2020.pdf. 15 – 2 contractor, blacksmith, and builder may explain its jigsawn brackets. Oliver Kavanaugh left the house before 1922. Short-term renters, also from Antioch families, occupied it until the end of the 1930s. Brister and Mary Worlds and their family moved in around 1939, and the back house was added in 1942. Brister Worlds worked as a yardman and was an active Mason at the Grand Lodge on East 11th Street, one of the most prominent Black Masonic congregations. The Antioch colony itself has been meticulously documented by University of Texas archeologist Maria Franklin and her team, and extensive research conducted in conjunction with descendants of the colonies.4 In 2009, a Texas historical marker was installed in Hays County to commemorate the colony.5 After the previous owners’ deaths, the property passed to Mrs. Winifred Hill Gooden, a native of Creedmoor who had worked 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- class Black families.6 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.7 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. PROPERTY EVALUATION The 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey lists the property as contributing to a potential historic district. It does not recommend individual designation. 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. Some brackets are missing from the porch. 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: 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 corner porch with turned posts. b. Historical association. The buildings are most recently associated with the Gooden family. The front house is associated with contractor Oliver D. Kavanaugh and other families from the Antioch Freedom Colony, a Hays County community that is mostly no longer extant. However, the story of the Antioch colony has been previously documented through an official State Historical Marker in 2016, and the work of archaeologist Maria Franklin. Though the structure itself would be lost through demolition, the property could play a role in future interpretive opportunities on the migration of freedmen from outside the city into Austin, connecting the intact and robust archaeological legacy and historical documentation of Antioch’s residents to their Austin journey. 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. 4 Franklin, Maria for Sapiens.org: https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/antioch-colony-texas/ 5 https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details?fn=print&atlasnumber=5507016255 6 Wallace, Dr. Javier L. Letter to the Historic Landmark Commission, June 5, 2024. 7 Legacy.com, Oct. 15, 2022. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/milton-gooden-obituary?id=36810366 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 Encourage relocation over demolition, but release the demolition permits only upon completion of City of Austin Documentation Packages for both houses. Relocation of the front house within the same area of East Austin would not preclude later historic zoning; however, efforts to relocate the building have not been fruitful. Additionally, removal of the house does not preclude the overall potential to tell the story of Antioch’s importance to Austin: though the structure itself would be lost through demolition, the property could still play a role in future interpretive opportunities on the migration of freedmen into Austin, connecting the intact and robust archaeological legacy and historical documentation of Antioch’s residents to part of their Austin journey. 15 – 3 LOCATION MAP 15 – 4 PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos 15 – 5 Google Street View, 2024 Demolition permit application, 2024 Google Street View, 2019 15 – 6 15 – 7 Occupancy History City Directory Research, May 2024 A: Brister Worlds, renter Franklin Worlds, renter Franklin Worlds, Jr., renter B: George and Rosie Wimberly, renter A: J. B. Tennon, renter B: George Wimberley, renter A: J. B. and Odessa Tennon, renters – porter B: Edgar Gregg, renter Mary Worlds, renter Brister and Mary Worlds, renters – yardman Brister and Mary Worlds, renters – yardman Frank and Odessa Worlds, renters Brister and Mary Worlds, renters – yardman James Black, renter John Glasco, Jr., renter Address listed as 1302 E. 19th Street Lurl Martin, renter Walter Beck, renter Vacant Oliver D. and Mary Kavanaugh, owners – farmer Oliver D. and Mary Kavanaugh, owners – blacksmith Eliza Kavanaugh, renter Georgia Kavanaugh, renter Bernice Kavanaugh, renter Oliver D. Kavanaugh, owner – carpenter 1959 1955 1952 1949 1944 1941 1939 1935 1932 1929 1924 1922 1920 1918 1916 1910 Address not listed. Oliver Cavanaugh, carpenter, contractor, and builder, is listed at 1407 W. 12th Street Historical Information 15 – 8 The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 26 July 1964: A10. Draft card for O. D. Kavanaugh. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/2272/images/40394_b062136-01487?pId=23715758 Obituary for Winifred Hill Gooden. The Austin American-Statesman; Austin, Tex.. 1 June 2001: 43. Permits 15 – 9