06.0 - 1212-1214 W 6th St — original pdf
Backup

HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION PERMITS IN NATIONAL REGISTER HISTORIC DISTRICTS JUNE 4, 2025 DA-2025-055682; GF-2025-059297 1212-1214 W. 6TH STREET WEST LINE NATIONAL REGISTER HISTORIC DISTRICT 6 – 1 PROPOSAL Demolish a ca. 1951 commercial building along with ca. 1968 and 1973 rear additions. ARCHITECTURE The front portion of the building, built in 1951, is a one- and two-part commercial block with a flat roof and dramatic horizontals that complement its Mid-century Modern design. It is clad in brick and stucco and features fixed metal windows and a dramatic wing wall at the street elevation. The rear shop addition at the rear-east side of the lot was constructed between 1962 and 1968, and a second floor was added around 1973. Though the automobile bay doors have been filled in with fixed windows, they still evoke the building’s original use as an auto shop. RESEARCH The structure at 1212-1214 W. 6th Street is a connected complex of several buildings associated with the Goad, Maund, and McMorris auto dealerships during the site’s period of significance. The first commercial structure on the site was a large showroom and service center for the Goad Motor Company, who sold Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles, in 1951. West 5th and 6th Streets, from the 1920s onward, earned the name “Automobile Row” as service stations and dealerships replaced earlier industrial and residential structures along Downtown’s east-west corridors. According to author Daniel Strohl, the Goad Motor Company remained in business continuously from the 1920s through the 1990s, though operations and facilities were spread throughout Texas. T. J. Goad moved his dealership from Breckenridge to San Antonio in the 1920s and remained there until 1949, when he moved the business to the intersection of 2nd and Guadalupe in Austin.1 After commissioning an expansive new facility on the west side, Goad Motor Company opened for business in August of 1951. A large service staff ensured that customers would return frequently for tune-ups. By 1957, Charles Maund Oldsmobile-Cadillac had purchased the property. According to the draft Downtown Austin Historic Resource Survey, “Maund owned the [dealership] from 1957 to 1994. Charles Maund started buying and selling used cars at the age of 19 in Port Arthur before moving to Austin and opening his first dealership at the age of 30 at 1214 W. 6th St. Over the next couple of decades, Charles Maund expanded his business to include multiple dealerships across Texas. According to his obituary, he ‘set a multitude of records [and]received countless awards and accolades in the automobile business.’”2 Maund’s larger-than-life personality made him a local celebrity. Fellow dealership owner Wallace Lundgren told Texas Monthly reporters Katy Vine and Anna Worrel, “They called him Lucky. How he got the dealership, we never figured that out, because Cadillac was so particular…He was a fun guy. Not the kind of fun you brag about, but we drank lots of whiskey, and we really had a good time, you know? [...]Well, we didn’t kill anybody.”3 Maund made several improvements to his flagship property, including construction of a one-story service addition to the west-rear part of the property and replacement of an existing one-story stucco mechanic shop with a surface parking lot. Toward the end of the period of significance, he added a second story to the service area to match the original two-story dealership. Maund Oldsmobile-Cadillac relocated to Research Boulevard in 1977. Maund sold the property to McMorris Ford, and it remained a car dealership until the 1990s. PROPERTY EVALUATION The property is currently listed as noncontributing to the West Line National Register District; however, the draft 2025 Downtown Austin survey recommends the district nomination be updated to include the property as a contributing resource. Further, City staff has conferred with the original evaluator of the 2005 West Line NRHD nomination, Elizabeth Brummett, who determined that the property should have been listed as a contributing resource in 2005 and may also be eligible for individual local designation. 1 Strohl, Daniel. Lost Dealerships Project, https://www.hemmings.com/stories/lost-dealerships-project-goad-motor-company/ 2 H-H-M, Inc. Downtown Austin Historic Resource Survey, 2025. Appendix C: Individual Survey Forms. Draft: https://publicinput.com/Customer/File/Full/25847687-dfaa-4a8f-834f-af4dfa158a50 3 https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/erik-maund-blackmail-murder-for-hire-austin-car-dealer/ 6 – 2 Designation Criteria—Historic Landmark 1) The building is more than 50 years old. 2) The building appears to retain high integrity, though the brick has been painted. Though the westernmost addition has been modified, the 1951 portion of the property appears mostly intact; its original tiled storefront appears to have been replaced during the period of significance. 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 original portion of the building is a good example of Mid-century Modern commercial automobile-oriented architecture. b. Historical association. The property is associated with T.J. Goad’s and Charles Maund’s auto dealerships. During the heyday of car culture in Austin, these firms’ position on “Automobile Row” proved both prestigious and lucrative for the Goad and Maund auto dynasties. c. Archaeology. The property was not evaluated for its potential to yield significant data concerning the human history or prehistory of the region. However, a 1965 publication by Herbert M. Hart,4 loosely corroborated by Stephen Doty’s 2004 “History of Weather Observations, Austin, Texas 1842-1948,”5 6 suggests that an Army post was present on the land prior to its residential development during the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. d. Community value. The property was not evaluated for its ability to 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. e. Landscape feature. The property is not a significant natural or designed landscape with artistic, aesthetic, cultural, or historical value to the city. COMMITTEE FEEDBACK Return to the Committee with plans for new construction on the site. Ensure that new and old portions of the property are clearly labeled on site plan. Incorporate original portion of building into the design for new development. Do not demolish properties eligible for landmark designation or that contribute to local historic districts. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Consider initiation of historic zoning for the original intact portion of the building. Should the Commission decide against historic zoning, staff recommends that it strongly encourage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse that incorporates the 1951 portion of the building into the new site development before approving the demolition upon completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package and a plan for archaeological monitoring during site development (should remnants of the purported nineteenth-century Army post be discovered during excavation). Demolition permits in National Register Historic Districts may not be released until the Historic Landmark Commission has reviewed plans for new construction on the property. 4 The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 31 Oct 1965: 23. 5 Doty, Stephen. “History of Weather Observations, Austin, Texas 1842-1948.” https://mrcc.purdue.edu/files/FORTS/histories/TX_Austin_Doty.pdf 6 Barkley, Mary Starr. History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899. https://archive.org/details/historyoftravisc00bark/page/n123/mode/2up LOCATION MAP 6 – 3 PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos 6 – 4 Google Street View, February 2024 6 – 5 https://www.ecrtx.com/properties/west-side-village/ 6 – 6 https://www.showcase.com/1214-w-6th-st-austin-tx-78703/30041752/ 6 – 7 N.d, CommercialCafe.com: https://www.commercialcafe.com/commercial-property/us/tx/austin/west-side-village/ 6 – 8 Ca. 1956. Rich Baron for CurbsideClassic.com, https://i0.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp- content/uploads/2024/04/metapth19520_xl_nd-56-398c-01.jpg?ssl=1 Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, July 31, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74694: ), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Douglass, Neal. Goad Motor Company, photograph, July 16, 1952; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth33180/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. 6 – 9 Douglass, Neal. Goad Motor Company, photograph, January 8, 1952; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth33187: ), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, October 17, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74705/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, December 15, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74706/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. 6 – 10 Douglass, Neal. Goad Motor Company, photograph, July 16, 1952; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth33182/m1/1/: accessed May 19, 2025), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, August 10, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74700/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library 6 – 11 Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, August 10, 1951; https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74702/m1/1/ Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, August 10, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74701/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. 6 – 12 Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, August 13, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74704/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Douglass, Neal. [Goad Motor Company], photograph, July 31, 1951; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74695/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. 6 – 13 1940, 1958 aerial photos 1965, 1976 aerial photos Occupancy History City Directory Research, April 2025 1959 1957 1955 1952 Charles Maund Olds Cadillac Goad Motor Co. Autosales Goad Motor Co. Autosales Goad Motor Co. Autosales Historical Information 6 – 14 1961 Sanborn map The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 27 Apr 1950: 3. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 02 July 1951: 8. 6 – 15 The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 09 Aug 1951: A13. 6 – 16 The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 09 Aug 1951: B5. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 08 Aug 1951: 16. 6 – 17 The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 14 June 1953: B8. Tothill, Tracy. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 30 Oct 1953: 1. 6 – 18 The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 17 Nov 1954: 17. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 17 Jan 1955: 5. The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 23 Oct 1955: B4. 6 – 19 The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 03 Nov 1955: A18. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 26 Mar 1956: 6. The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 09 June 1957: A10. 6 – 20 CAROLYN SEAY BENGTSON. The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 05 May 1963: B14. The Austin American (1914-1973); Austin, Tex.. 31 Oct 1965: 23. 6 – 21 ALYCE GUYNN Staff Writer. The Austin Statesman (1921-1973); Austin, Tex.. 01 Mar 1970: B1. 6 – 22 The Austin American - Statesman (1973-1980), Evening ed.; Austin, Tex.. 10 July 1974: 9. The Austin American - Statesman (1973-1980), Evening ed.; Austin, Tex.. 17 July 1977: C16 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/statesman/name/charles-maund-obituary?id=27993622 6 – 23 Daniel Strohl for Lost Dealerships Project, https://www.hemmings.com/stories/lost-dealerships-project-goad-motor-company/ crediting Douglass, Neal. Goad Motor Company, photograph, May 27, 1949; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth62979/m1/1/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Permits 6 – 24 Building permit, 1950 Water tap permit, 1951 6 – 25