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CASE NUMBER: C14H-2025-0077 ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET HLC DATE: August 8, 2025 PC DATE: TBD CC Date: TBD APPLICANT: Historic Landmark Commission with owner agreement from Parks and Recreation Department HISTORIC NAME: Palm Park Shelter House WATERSHED: Waller Creek ADDRESS: Sir Swante Palm Neighborhood Park, 200 N. IH-35 Svrd. SB ZONING CHANGE: P (pending) to P-H. See department comments below. COUNCIL DISTRICT: 9 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Grant the proposed zoning change from public use (P) (pending) to public use-historic landmark (P-H) combining district zoning. (See Department Comments for explanation of zoning timeline). LANDMARK DESIGNATION QUALIFICATIONS: architecture, community value, historical associations HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: July 2, 2025: Initiate historic zoning (10-0). PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: TBD CITY COUNCIL ACTION: May 8, 2025: Adopt Resolution No. 20250508-042, initiating zoning for Palm Park to a base zoning that is appropriate based on its current use and directing staff to pursue historic landmark zoning for the shelter house to comply with Heritage Preservation Grant funding regulations. CASE MANAGERS: Kalan Contreras, Planning Department, 512-974-2727/kalan.contreras@austintexas.gov Paul Books, Austin Parks and Recreation Department 512-978-1315/paul.books@austintexas.gov NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District, Austin Neighborhoods Council, City of Austin Downtown Commission, Downtown Austin Alliance, Downtown Austin Neighborhood Assn. (DANA), East Austin Conservancy, El Concilio Mexican American Neighborhoods, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Homeless Neighborhood Association, Lower Waller Creek, Preservation Austin, Tejano Town, Waterloo Greenway DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: The shelter house’s zoning to public use (P) is currently pending, as it is located on an unzoned (UNZ) portion of land. City Council will hear the zoning application applying public (P) zoning (C14-2025-0072), as directed by Resolution No. 20250508-042, in October 2025. The subsequent rezoning from P to P-H will be heard in tandem at the same Council meeting. The property owner has received a Heritage Preservation Grant from the Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment. The Historic Landmark Commission will review a Certificate of Appropriateness for the grant-funded rehabilitation of the shelter house on August 6, 2025. A 2022 survey report conducted for the Texas Department of Transportation identified the park and its assets as eligible for individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places. 1 BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: § 25-2-352(3)(c)(i) Architecture. The property embodies the distinguishing characteristics of a recognized 1 Mitchell, R., and E. Pettis. “Historical Resources Survey Report: Capital Express Central – Intensive-level Survey: Palm Park, 200 North Interstate Highway I-35” (No. 0015-13–388, Texas Department of Transportation), 2022. 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 Palm Park Shelterhouse embodies the distinguishing characteristics of the National Parks Rustic style, often called “Parkitecture.” Austin examples were heavily influenced by Hugo Kuehne’s interpretation of this style in the 1930s. A collection of seven other Rustic structures in Austin’s parks, though Palm Park’s castle design is unique. Preservation of each is imperative to maintain the aesthetic and historical connections among Austin’s historic-age public parks. The historical narrative provided by the Parks and Recreation Department describes its characteristics and significance in detail: [The National Parks Rustic] style is characterized by…simple local materials that blend with the surrounding park setting. Building forms are simple, pulling from vernacular architecture of the region, and focus on hand building methods, organic lines, and unaltered natural materials. In the case of the Palm Park shelter house, this is articulated through the striking use of uncut field stone masonry walls…The shelter house features a dog-trot layout, with two enclosed areas connected by a central covered breezeway…The structure is topped by a flat parapeted roof above arched wooden doors to the storage space on one side, and two restrooms on the other. Along the west elevation…the walls of the tower extend into low, decorative wing walls, terminated in stone square pillars. Today, the shelter house appears largely as it did upon its completion in 1933. While the Palm Park shelter house is an excellent example of the National Parks Rustic aesthetic… [the structure is] part of a larger network of historic park shelter structures in Austin from the same period…the eight shelter houses designed or heavily influenced by Huge Kuehne in the 1930s present…a distinct moment in architectural history when considered as a complete collection... It is therefore imperative that the Palm Park shelter house be preserved not just for its own sake, but to maintain the connections between these historical assets within the city.2 § 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. Palm Park’s shelter house holds historical importance for its strong association with Austin’s Mexican American community, and as a physical manifestation of a national movement pertaining to parks and park programing in the early twentieth century. Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department describes the Palm Park Shelter House’s multifaceted historical importance as follows: Palm Park has served as a community hub for the families of the lower Waller Creek district since its construction in 1933. At the time of Palm Park’s construction, the surrounding area was an ethnically mixed neighborhood, with a growing Mexican American population. Many Mexican American children attended Palm School…and various businesses and churches catering to the Latino population were in the park’s vicinity. Though the city’s segregationist policies barred Mexican Americans from using the pool, Palm Park…became strongly associated with Austin’s Mexican American community, and that association continues today. …The shelter house at Palm Park [exemplifies] a national movement championing the civic and public health role of…parks programming in the first half of the twentieth century. Following the Great Depression, an interest in structured recreational programs emerged as a solution for the perceived problem of the increasingly urban population’s unfilled leisure hours … When it opened in 1933, Palm Park was complete with a pool, playground, and the shelter house, which was described as a “combination shelter house, open air theater, and dressing rooms”. In many ways, the Palm Park shelter house was the physical manifestation of this new recreation philosophy, serving as a flexible hub 2 Austin Parks and Recreation Department, “Historical Narrative.” Palm Park Shelterhouse historic zoning application, 2025. for community programming and recreation, that enabled decades of successful, structured park programming…the this programming…productions were staged in the open-air portion of the shelter house, with backdrops hung to frame the stage, and the storage and restroom areas serving as backstage areas. shelter house provided a natural center and staging ground for …The shelter house at Palm Park is emblematic of a critical moment of park and programming expansion in the city, echoing larger national trends in recreation. As a brick-and-mortar manifestation of the City’s and nation’s efforts to further public health, [it] demonstrates the influence of changing national conceptions of recreation on [Austin parks] …The Palm Park shelter house is a primary visible symbol of this era of park development in the city of Austin.3 § 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. In the 2025 application for historic zoning, Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department describes the Palm Park Shelter House’s importance to the Mexican American community in Austin: Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century and into the twenty first, several developments strained the connections between Palm Park and the Latino community. Midcentury urban renewal efforts encouraged redevelopment and removal of prominent Latino American businesses, residences and churches from the area, pushing the Latino community south and east; a trend that has only continued in recent years. The construction of I-35 in the 1960s, followed by the closure of Palm School in 1976, and rapid development of the Waller Creek district…further strained the direct physical connection between Palm Park and the Latino community. Despite all of this, Palm Park remained central to the local Latino community and had even taken on the important role of representing the resilience of the Mexican American community in the face of discrimination. El Concilio, a coalition of Latino advocacy and neighborhood organizations, organized to keep the park’s amenities open, despite interest from Council in shuttering them in the mid-1990s. Paul Hernandez, the founder of El Concilio, noted in 1996: “Many of us remember the racism we grew up with in Austin. We couldn’t even come to this pool…Now the pool is our symbol for the struggle to keep East Austin a viable minority community.” This sentiment is still deeply felt today. During 2016 community engagement sessions that specifically sought out Palm School alumni and residents of east Austin, 46.5% of respondents indicated that Palm Park’s history was among its greatest assets. Similarly, the park’s deep ties to the Mexican American community emerged as a recurring theme during the Palm Park Conversations series, which included several open-ended community engagement discussions held in 2024… …The Palm Park pool…was demolished in 2023…As one participant in the Palm Park community engagement session noted, “It would be amazing to see the historic shelter house celebrated and lifted up as both a park centerpiece and backdrop for communal gatherings.” As the shelter house is currently the only major original built structure that remains from this period of great importance to the Mexican American community, its preservation as an embodiment of that community history becomes even more critical.4 PARCEL NO.: 0204041701 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: BLOCK 012 ORIGINAL CITY PLUS VAC ALLEY & 1/2 ADJ VAC STREET ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX EXEMPTION: None APPRAISED VALUE: N/A PRESENT USE: Recreational, vacant DATE BUILT/PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: 1933/1933-1975 INTEGRITY/ALTERATIONS: A Certificate of Appropriateness is currently in review for its rehabilitation 3 Austin Parks and Recreation Department, “Historical Narrative.” Palm Park Shelter House historic zoning application, 2025. 4 Ibid. per 2025 ACME Heritage Preservation Grant specifications. The roof has deteriorated and windows at the east and west elevations have been filled in. The added ramp and handrails do not alter the structure itself. Its defining characteristics—rustic fieldstone masonry, parapeted roof, and dog-trot layout—remain intact.5 PRESENT/ORIGINAL OWNER: Parks and Recreation Department OTHER DESIGNATIONS: None 5 Austin Parks and Recreation Department, “Historical Narrative.” Palm Park Shelter House historic zoning application, 2025.