05.0 - 201-217 Red River St - Castleman-Bull & Trask Houses — original pdf

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ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET CASE NUMBER: C14H-2025-0066 HLC DATE: July 2, 2025 PC DATE: CC Date: APPLICANT: Austin Convention Center (Kalpana Sutaria) HISTORIC NAME: Trask House and Castleman-Bull House WATERSHED: Waller Creek ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 201-217 (201, 201 1/2, 205, 217) Red River Street and 603 E. 3rd Street ZONING CHANGE: CBD-H to CBD (Tract 1), CBD to CBD (Tracts 2 and 3), and CBD to CBD-H (Tract 4) COUNCIL DISTRICT: 9 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Grant the proposed zoning changes from CBD-H to CBD (Tract 1), CBD to CBD (Tracts 2 and 3), and CBD to CBD-H (Tract 4). QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: The Castleman-Bull House is eligible for historic zoning under the criteria for architecture and historical associations. HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: CITY COUNCIL ACTION: June 5, 2025 – Approve Resolution No. 20250605-022, directing staff to process the applications for rezoning of City Property, to recommend appropriate rezoning, and take necessary steps to ensure an efficient rezoning process to avoid unnecessary delay. CASE MANAGERS: Kalan Contreras (512-974-2727) and Marcelle Boudreaux (512-974-8094) NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District, Austin Neighborhoods Council, City of Austin Downtown Commission, Downtown Austin Alliance, Downtown Austin Neighborhood Assn. (DANA), El Concilio Mexican American Neighborhoods, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Homeless Neighborhood Association, Lower Waller Creek, Preservation Austin, Tejano Town, Waterloo Greenway DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: Applications for Certificates of Appropriateness to relocate the Castleman- Bull House on the same property at 201 Red River Street (HR-2025-071074) and to relocate the Trask House and outbuildings from 217 Red River Street closer to their original site on Neches Street (HR-2025- 071055) will be reviewed at the July 2, 2025, Historic Landmark Commission public hearing. The rezoning application seeks to remove historic zoning from the Trask House lot so the historic structures therein may be relocated, stored, and replaced nearer to their original location at the corner of Red River and East Cesar Chavez Streets. The buildings’ footprints will then be zoned H per the attached MOU between the Historic Landmark Commission and Austin Convention Center. Interpretive material is proposed for the building’s new location. Should the Red River/East Cesar Chavez Street location prove infeasible, the building will be relocated to Pioneer Farms, where it will serve to educate visitors about early Austin’s buildings, development, and ways of life. The proposal also seeks to apply historic zoning to the Castleman-Bull House’s proposed location in preparation for the house’s relocation and reorientation onto the same lot. The house will be stored offsite and replaced in the same relative location, rotated to face the Waterloo Greenway trailhead entrance at the southern portion of the lot. BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: According to a historical narrative recorded in the late 1990s or early 2000s, the Castleman-Bull House— then referred to as the Fontaine House—was built by Austin merchant R. M. Castleman for his family between 1869 and 1873. The masonry residence was home to four generations of the Castleman family before St. David's Episcopal Church acquired it in 1963. The house is a surviving example of the nineteenth century residential structures once found throughout downtown Austin. § 25-2-352(3)(c)(i) Architecture. The property embodies the distinguishing characteristics of a recognized architectural style, type, or method of construction; exemplifies technological innovation in design or construction; displays high artistic value in representing ethnic or folk art, architecture, or construction; represents a rare example of an architectural style in the city; serves as an outstanding example of the work of an architect, builder, or artisan who significantly contributed to the development of the city, state, or nation; possesses cultural, historical, or architectural value as a particularly fine or unique example of a utilitarian or vernacular structure; or represents an architectural curiosity or one-of-a-kind building. The historical narrative (see backup materials) describes the Italianate building’s intact—and now recently rehabilitated—architectural features as follows: The house is remarkably intact, having been protected and preserved by the four generations of the original builder's family who continuously occupied the house for almost one hundred years. The historic porch, interior doors, windows, millwork, trim and fireplaces are, for the most part, intact. When the church acquired the house, they were able to use the building almost as it was, without major modification of the interior or the principal facades. […] The house…at 308 East Bois D'Arc Street was a two-story rectangular structure, with a half basement below…The walls were load-bearing masonry, limestone at the basement and foundation level and brick at the two floors above. The house had elements of the Italianate style: low pitched roof, wide eaves set on decorative brackets, tall narrow windows with arched heads and hooded trim, one story porch across the front façade...The house was symmetrical in plan, each floor having a center hall flanked by two square rooms with fireplaces in the interior walls. The room on the east end of the first floor, probably the parlor, had a large bay window in the east wall. [An] early…addition to the house was an ell-wing, constructed at the east side of the back of the house… Between 1900 and 1935, the most significant architectural change to the house was made. The one- story frame wing at the back of the house, shown on the early Sanborn maps, was removed and replaced with a two-story masonry wing…A two- story frame element was added at the northwest comer of the addition and the center section of the front porch was enclosed at the second story, these additions being possible storage or bath elements.1 § 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. The Castleman-Bull House was home to four generations of the Castleman-Bull family before St. David's Episcopal Church acquired it in 1963. It was built between 1869 and 1873 by R. M. Castleman, a high- profile merchant and civic activist who had worked as a claims agent and volunteered as a schoolteacher and Deputy Sheriff in Bastrop County before enlisting with the Confederacy. After an injury he returned to Austin, reportedly dubious of the war’s goal, and started a mercantile business with partner Albert Smith. Castleman led a large-scale coalition of merchants, as well as a fire brigade team. He left the house to daughter Margaret Castleman Bull, who in turn left it to daughter Margaret Moore. Moore refused to sell the house for nearly two decades before transferring it to St. David’s at the behest of her brothers; she moved out in the early 1960s, and the home was used as a rectory and educational facility. When the church 1 “Historic Structure Report for St. David’s Episcopal Church: History of Fontaine House.” N.d. See backup for full text. sought to demolish it for a new addition in the 1990s, the original portion of the building was detached from the church and moved to its current site in 2004. The ca. 2000 report describes the home’s long associations with the family: …Castleman [was] a dealer in dry goods on Congress Avenue between Pecan and Bois D'Arc Streets, probably on the land Castleman and Smith bought from Abner Cook in 1865. In 1874, the Daily Statesman reported that an extension to Castleman's large store was almost complete. Business continued to grow, as evidenced by the expanding listing given for the shop…He also gave time to civic duties. When the Texas Central Railroad demanded payment in gold instead of currency in 1872, he led a coalition of over fifty merchants in action against the policy. He was elected the First Assistant Foreman of the Washington Steam Fire Engine Company No. 1 in 1873. He continued to buy land in the city, sometimes in partnership with his father-in-law Alfred Smith and his brother- in-law James W. Smith…Castleman [acquired] farmland southeast of Austin [and], by the early 1890s, had retired from the dry goods business…By 1898, his son Richard was a farmer as well… Margaret Castleman… [was secretary for] the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. [Her husband] Richard Bull…served in the Civil War, worked in Galveston in the cotton business, went to New York City and came to Austin in about 1888. He was the steward and bookkeeper at the State Lunatic Asylum… he served on the boards of the Asylum, the school board, and the Travis County Farmers' Alliance. […] …[T]he home passed to [Margaret Castleman Bull’s] daughter, Margaret Moore…St. David's Episcopal Church was a direct force of change on this block. The rector, Rev. Sumners, approached Mrs. Moore [in 1946] about…selling the house to the church. She replied that she could not…in 1963, Mrs. Moore still did not want to sell the house [but] her brothers [convinced her]…although Mrs. Moore would not budge from her asking price of $150,000 for her three lots…[The] home to four generations of the Castleman-Bull-Moore family passed to its new owner…[and was] named Fontaine House in 1965 by Rev. Sumners, who felt it would be a fitting tribute to the founding rector, Edward Fontaine. …The individuals and families who built and occupied the house were prominent citizens of the city, and their story is an interesting one [as it follows the development of Austin’s downtown]. The house is an example of a popular style of residential architecture and represents a building type. The building as a surviving example of nineteenth century, residential downtown Austin is also of significance. [It is] eligible for historic designation at the local, state and national levels .2 PARCEL NO.: 0204041307 and 0204041306 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 7-8 BLOCK 013 ORIGINAL CITY +.127AC OF VACATED ALLEY ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX EXEMPTION: N/A APPRAISED VALUE: N/A PRESENT USE: Vacant DATE BUILT/PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: ca. 1869-1873; 1869-1975 INTEGRITY/ALTERATIONS: The Trask House was relocated to its current site from 105 Neches and zoned as a historic landmark in 1991. It was fully rehabilitated in 2008. The Castleman-Bull House, once connected to St. David’s Episcopal Church on E. 7th Street, was moved to its current site around 2004. Its exterior was fully rehabilitated in 2019. PRESENT OWNERS: Austin Convention Center ORIGINAL OWNER(S): R. M. Castleman, Thomas F. Chapman 2 Ibid. OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: The Castleman-Bull House was originally zoned “H” as part of the St. David’s Episcopal Church campus, designated by Ordinance No. 76-12160-B in 1976. The Trask House was originally designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark at its original location on 105 Neches Street in 1972 and zoned “H” in 1977 (Ordinance No. 770609-B). Historic zoning was removed from 105 Neches Street in 1989 in preparation for the move to its current Red River location (Ordinance No. 891019-D) and applied to the portion of 217 Red River Street containing the house and outbuilding in 1991 (Ordinance No. 910613-I). Photo sources: Relocation application, 2025; Texas Historical Commission via University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth671283/m1/1/ LOCATION MAP