06.0 - C14H-2026-0018 - 1906 Maple Ave - Hill-Thompson House — original pdf

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ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET CASE NUMBER: C14H-2026-0018 HLC DATE: April 1, 2026 PC DATE: TBD CC Date: TBD APPLICANT: Historic Landmark Commission (commission-initiated) HISTORIC NAME: The Hill-Thompson House WATERSHED: Boggy Creek ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 1906 Maple Avenue, Austin, Texas 78722 ZONING CHANGE: SF-3-HD-NP to SF-3-H-HD-NP COUNCIL DISTRICT: 1 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the proposed zoning change from family residence- historic district-neighborhood plan (SF-3-HD-NP) to family residence-historic landmark-historic districtneighborhood plan (SF-3-H-HD-NP) combining district zoning. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: Historical associations and community value. HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: CITY COUNCIL ACTION: CASE MANAGER: Austin Lukes, 512-978-0766 NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District, Austin Neighborhoods Council, Del Valle Community Coalition, East Austin Conservancy, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Homeless Neighborhood Association, Overton Family Committee, Preservation Austin, Rogers Washington Holy Cross, Upper Boggy Creek Neighborhood Planning Team DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: The 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey recommended the property as contributing to a potential local historic district. The property was subsequently listed as a contributing resource in the 2020 ordinance designating the Rogers Washington Holy Cross 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. The Hill-Thompson house has numerous significant historical associations, including with architect John Saunders Chase, zoologist and geneticist Oscar Leonard Thompson, and several generations of the prominent Hill family. John S. Chase was an Austin-based architect responsible for the designs of numerous houses and other buildings in the city, as well as around Texas, including several buildings and the campus master plan at Texas Southern University. In the early 1950s, Chase became the first African- American graduate of the University of Texas School of Architecture. Though he was unable to find work at any white firms after graduation, he would go on to have success with his own practice beginning in 1952. The types of projects that his firm was involved with were numerous and located throughout Texas. As historian Lori Martin writes, Chase’s documented Austin works—including the 1952 Colored Teachers State Association of Texas (CTSAT) David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church (1959), and the Phillips/Phillips- Banks (Della Phillips) House at 2310 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. mid-1960s)—demonstrate a consistent modernist vocabulary adapted to Black institutional and residential needs in East Austin. The Irene Hill Thompson House at 1906 Maple Avenue aligns with this body of work through its mid-century modern planning, climate-responsive roof/overhang system, and its privacy-conscious residential approach in its design. The home on Maple Avenue was Chase’s first residential project. Later in his career, after the successful designs including the Hill-Thompson House, Chase had several branches of his firm located across Texas. He was later involved, along with 12 other archtiects, with the founding of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Like Chase, Oscar Thompson was enrolled at the University of Texas in the 1950s, where he was the one of the first African-American students admitted to the university. There he worked towards a master’s degree in zoology and graduated in 1952 as the first black graduate from the university. At this time, he also met Irene Hill, and they were married on August 9, 1952. Soon after they moved into the house at 1906 Maple Avenue, designed by their friend and rising architect John Chase. Thompson would continue work in the sciences, and was pursuing a Ph.D. and teaching at Huston- Tillotson University until his death in 1962 at the age of fifty-five. In his honor, flags at the University of Texas were flown at half-mast. Irene Hill and her family were deeply involved in professional and civic roles throughout East Austin. Her siblings James Hill and Waldron Wray Plicque achieved academic successes that were in service of civic engagement and the pursuit of broader education opportunities. James Hill would serve for a time as a senior vice president at the University of Texas and later as a vice president for community and school relations. Waldron Wray worked for many years in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), including as assistant principal at Fulmore and Dobie Jr. high schools and eventually as Assistant Director of Personnel for the district. Irene also worked with AISD, with her tenure lasting 34 years, many of which were at L.C. Anderson High School. § 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 Maple Street property, with all of the prominent individuals associated directly with it, also became a meeting place for civic engagement, especially for political organizing and social gathering for the greater East Austin African American community. During the 1964 presidential campaign of Lyndon Johnson, Irene Hill-Thompson and her daughter served as “Blue Birds,” who were tasked as liaisons between the campaign and the larger African American community in East Austin in an effort to rally support. The house would later serve as an gathering space for other political campaigns and causes, which generated a catalyst of grassroot engagement in this section of the city, and particularly the Rogers Washington Holy Cross neighborhood. The decades-long family support and drive for a political voice created a value to and of the community that became sought after by local and statewide political figures. PARCEL NO.: 0212101516 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 10 WASHINGTON SUBD ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX EXEMPTION (homestead, capped): AISD $2,459.06 COA $2,441.06 TC $1,598.31 TC Health $501.90 Total $7,000.33 APPRAISED VALUE: Land: $361,277; Improvement: $350,935; Total: $712,212 PRESENT USE: Residence DATE BUILT/PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: 1963; 1963-1970 INTEGRITY/ALTERATIONS: The house retains strong integrity from its original construction. The unique John Saunders Chase design is apparent and architectural features such as the elevated front porch with stone base is in good condition and has not been altered. Some deterioration has occurred as a result of weathering and use, but nothing that is beyond repair or like replacement. PRESENT OWNERS: Marilynn Poole Bailey ORIGINAL OWNER(S): Irene Hill Thompson OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: Contributing resource to the Rogers Washington Holy Cross local historic district Front of the Hill-Thompson House, 2026