B-05 (C14H-2020-0136 - Ellen Wyse House -- Wyseacre; District 9).pdf — original pdf

Approved Minutes

ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET CASE NUMBER: C14H-2020-0136 APPLICANT: Historic Landmark Commission HISTORIC NAME: Wyseacre, Ellen Wyse House WATERSHED: Shoal Creek HLC DATE: 8-24-2020, 9-28-2020, PC DATE: CC DATE: 10-26-2020, 11-16-2020 12-22-2020 TBD ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 2816 San Pedro Street ZONING CHANGE: SF-3-CO-NP to SF-3-CO-NP-H COUNCIL DISTRICT: 9 STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Recommend historic zoning based on the property’s historical associations and architecture. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: Architecture, historical association HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: 8-24-2020: Initiated historic zoning. 9- 28-2020: City postponement request. 10-26-2020: Applicant postponement request. 11-16- 2020: Recommended historic zoning, 8-2-1; Commissioners Featherston and Papavasiliou opposed, Commissioner Jacobs off dais. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: N/A DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: N/A CITY COUNCIL DATE: N/A ACTION: N/A ORDINANCE READINGS: N/A ORDINANCE NUMBER: N/A CASE MANAGER: Kalan Contreras PHONE: 974-2727 NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION: Austin Independent School District, Austin Lost and Found Pets, Austin Neighborhoods Council, Bike Austin, CANPAC (Central Austin Neigh. Plan Area Committee), Central Austin Community Development Corporation, Central Austin Urbanists, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Homeless Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Empowerment Foundation, Preservation Austin, SELTexas, Shoal Creek Conservancy, Shoal Crest Neighborhood Assn., Sierra Club, Austin Regional Group, University Area Partners, West Campus Neighborhood Association BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: Architecture: 2816 San Pedro is a 1.5-story stucco residence with rectangular Cape Cod plan. It is side-gabled, with a composite-shingle roof, three gabled dormers with 1:1 wood windows and lap siding, and a gabled portico supported by Classical columns. At the main elevation’s southern bay are 4:4 and 6:6 mulled windows framed with shutters. The northern bay contains a single 12:12 window with similar shutters. A fanlight and sidelights surround the inset door. A hipped-roof addition to the south has 2:2 windows and a secondary entry. Historical Associations: 2816 San Pedro Street was constructed for the Wyse family around 1924. William Riley Wyse, an independent oilman with ties to Austin’s power and water company, passed away shortly after its construction. Ellen Borroughs Wyse remained there with her son and daughter-in-law. 1 of 29B-5Ellen Wyse was a prominent writer, editor, and business owner in Austin. Early in her career, Wyse served as the society editor for the Austin Statesman, then established the Gossip Advertising firm in 1911, beginning with a single-page newspaper insert. By the 1920s, Gossip had grown into a multi-page publication and household name. Gossip’s offices were located first at the Austin National Bank Building and later at the Scarbrough Building, as noted on its state historical marker. After more than thirty years of continuous publication, Wyse’s declining health shuttered Gossip’s pressroom in 1945. In addition to owning and operating a successful business—an extraordinary accomplishment for a woman in the early twentieth century—Wyse used her talent and charisma to reach out to other women writers. She presented to the Texas Presswomen’s Association around the state, sharing strategies for entering the male-dominated advertising field and establishing successful marketing tactics with a targeted and loyal readership. She was a founding member of the Quill Club (later, the Kwill Klub), a thriving consortium whose meetings included educators, librarians, professional authors, prominent Austinites, and visiting wordsmiths from around the state. During Wyse’s lifetime, the club met at her estate, officially named “Owls’ Acre” but later dubbed “Wyseacre” by its literary-minded occupants. Wyse served in the Austin Woman’s Club, Pan-American Roundtable, and the Planning Commission. She received significant press coverage in the Austin American-Statesman for her role in planning and selecting Austin’s municipal flag design, and she is named as the concept’s originator in Mayor A. P. Wooldridge’s 1912 resolution. After attending the University of Texas, William R. Wyse, Jr. joined his mother as an editor of Gossip. A founding member of the Austin Advertising Club, Wyse headed its merchandising and advertising school during the 1930s. He then followed in his mother’s entrepreneurial footsteps by establishing a radio broadcasting company in Kansas in 1940. Wyseacre often hosted Ellen Wyse’s sister Margaret, a watercolorist and founder of the Austin Heritage Society, and her husband Wayman Adams, a renowned portrait painter. The Adamses frequently stayed with the Wyses as Wayman Adams traveled around the country for work, family in tow. Adams’ sitters included U.S. presidents, world-famous authors and artists, and notable academics. Upon retirement, Wayman and Margaret Adams moved back to Austin to be close to the Wyses. Their San Gabriel house and studio, “Encina Linda,” burned to the ground in 1976. Ellen Borroughs Wyse passed away in 1947. Like her late husband, Wyse requested that her funeral service be held at the estate they both loved. Billy Wyse died three years later. The house’s ownership passed to Colonel O. Parke Houston, Fort Hood’s chief of staff. A series of renters then occupied the home until it was purchased by Dr. William S. Burford in the 1960s. PARCEL NO.: 0216010615 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: E175.4 FT AV OF LOT 5 OLT 66 DIV D GRAHAM SUBD ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX ABATEMENT: $2,322 (City portion, non-homestead) APPRAISED VALUE: $1,000,000 PRESENT USE: Single-family residential CONDITION: The building appears to retain moderate integrity. PRESENT OWNERS: Cater Joseph DATE BUILT: ca. 1924 2 of 29B-5ALTERATIONS/ADDITIONS: The pool, deck, and auxiliary structure were added after the period of significance. Other modifications, including the side addition, appear to have been constructed before 1970. Some windows and siding at dormers appear to have been replaced. ORIGINAL OWNER(S): W. R. and Ellen Wyse OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: None LOCATION MAP 3 of 29B-5PROPERTY INFORMATION Photos Source: Trulia.com, 2020 Source: Code officer Jillian Holbert, report #19-221779 4 of 29B-5Source: Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., 2019 Occupancy History City Directory Research, August 2020. Note: Due to facility closure, post-1959 directory research was unavailable. 1959 Wm S. Burford, renter 2816 ½ San Pedro: William D. and Mary R. Blaydes, owners UT Student Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Editor 1939 Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) 1957 1955 1952 1949 1947 1944 1941 1937 1935 1932 Laura L. Hawkins, renter Supervisor, State Hospital Milner S. and Anna L. Thorne, renters Physician, 711B W. 14th St. Wallen Allen Daley Jr., renter UT student Ellen B Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Gossip Advertising, 807 Scarbrough Bldg. William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, renters Gossip Advertising Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Gossip Advertising, 507 Scarbrough Bldg. William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, renters Gossip Advertising William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, renters Gossip Advertising William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, owners Gossip Advertising 5 of 29B-51930 Ellen B. Wyse, owner (wid. William R.) Gossip Advertising William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, owners Gossip Advertising 1929 William R., Jr. and Bessie Wyse, owners Gossip Advertising, 359 Austin National Bank Bldg. Ellen B. Wyse, renter (wid. Riley) Gossip Advertising 1927 E. B. Wyse, owner (wid. Riley) Editor, Gossip Advertising William and Bess M. Wyse Assistant editor, Gossip Advertising UT student W. R. and Ellen Wyse, owners 1924 William R. Wyse, Jr. UT student 1922 Address not listed Biographical Information The Austin Statesman: Aug. 21-23, 1925 6 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: Feb 8-9, 1947 7 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: Feb 10, 1947 8 of 29B-5 The Austin Statesman: Jan. 17-19, 1950 Austin Daily Statesman: Apr. 21, 1901 The Houston Post: May 8, 1914 9 of 29B-5San Antonio Express: May 11, 1914 10 of 29B-5 The Austin Statesman and Tribune: Nov. 17, 1915 and The Statesman: Feb 22, 1917 The Statesman: June 23, 1918 11 of 29B-5 The Statesman: Apr. 23, 1919 12 of 29B-513 of 29B-5 14 of 29B-5Flag resolution, Apr. 12, 1919: http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=90107 15 of 29B-5 The Statesman: Aug. 17, 1919 16 of 29B-5 The Austin Statesman: Mar. 23, 1924 17 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: Jun. 15, 1925 18 of 29B-5The Austin American: Oct. 25, 1925 and Nov. 15, 1925 The Austin American: Jul. 11, 1926 The Austin American: Apr. 10, 1927 19 of 29B-5 The Austin Statesman: Apr. 15, 1930 20 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: Mar. 8, 1934 The Austin Statesman: Oct. 14, 1935 21 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: May 15, 1944 The Austin Statesman: May 12, 1946 22 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: Apr. 24, 1953 The Austin Statesman: Aug. 24, 1976 23 of 29B-5 The Austin American Statesman: Jan. 5, 1980 Source: Purcell, John M.; Croft, James A.; Monahan, Rich. American City Flags (PDF). North American Vexillological Association. pp. 26–27. 24 of 29B-5 The Austin American Statesman: Oct 12, 2016. 25 of 29B-5Source: Handbook of Texas Online, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fad09 Source: Austin History Center, Wayman Adams papers: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00597/00597-P.html 26 of 29B-5The Austin Statesman: May 13, 1947 and Jun. 19, 1950 27 of 29B-5Maps and Building Permits 1935 Sanborn fire insurance map 1940 aerial image 1962 Sanborn fire insurance map 28 of 29B-5Sewer tap permit, 6-15-27 Remodel permit and inspection card, 8-10-61 29 of 29B-5