B-11 (C14H-2021-0180 - Casa McMath; District 10)_Part1.pdf — original pdf

Backup

CASE NUMBER: C14H-2021-0180 HLC DATE: August 23, 2021 ZONING CHANGE REVIEW SHEET PC DATE: December 14, 2021 September 27, 2021 October 25, 2021 January 25, 2022 February 8, 2022 February 22, 2022 APPLICANT: Historic Landmark Commission (owner-opposed) HISTORIC NAME: Casa McMath ADDRESS OF PROPOSED ZONING CHANGE: 2501 Inwood Place ZONING CHANGE: SF-3-NP to SF-3-NP-H COUNCIL DISTRICT: 10 WATERSHED: Johnson Creek NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN: Central West Austin Combined STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff finds that the house meets the criteria for landmark designation and thus recommends the proposed zoning change from SF-3-NP (single family residence – neighborhood plan combining district zoning) to SF- 3-NP-H (single family residence – neighborhood plan – historic landmark combining district zoning). Should the Commission choose to release the permit, the staff recommendation is to require completion of a City of Austin Documentation Package, including documentation of the site and exterior and interior architectural features. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION: Architecture, historical associations, and landscape feature HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION ACTION: August 23, 2021: Postponed to September 27, 2021. September 27, 2021: Initiated historic zoning. October 25, 2021: Recommended historic zoning for architecture, historical associations, landscape feature, and community value on a motion by Commissioner Koch. Commissioner Wright seconded the motion. Vote: 9-0 (Commissioners Castillo and Larosche absent). PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: December 14, 2021: Postponed to January 25, 2022. January 25, 2022: Postponed to February 8, 2022. February 8, 2022: Postponed to February 22, 2022. February 22, 2022: DEPARTMENT COMMENTS: The house is beyond the bounds of the Comprehensive Cultural Resources Survey (1984) and has never been included in a city survey. CITY COUNCIL DATE: ACTION: ORDINANCE READINGS: ORDINANCE NUMBER: CASE MANAGER: Elizabeth Brummett PHONE: 512-974-1264 NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Independent School District, Austin Lost and Found Pets, Austin Neighborhoods Council, Central West Austin Neighborhood Plan Contact Team, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Empowerment Foundation, Preservation Austin, SELTexas, Save Barton Creek Assn., Save Historic Muny District, Sierra Club, Austin Regional Group, TNR BCP - Travis County Natural Resources, Tarrytown Alliance , Tarrytown Neighborhood Association, West Austin Neighborhood Group 1 of 43B-11 BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: Historical Associations: The house was owned and occupied by Hugh and Frances McMath from the time of its construction until their deaths, and it remained in the McMath family until this year. Hugh McMath was a professor of architecture at the University of Texas who specialized in the study of Mexican architecture and was prominent in integrating Mexican schools of architecture into a larger sphere of American architectural studies. Hugh McMath (1904–1992) taught at the University of Texas School of Architecture for 44 years. He was a renowned professor with a specialization in Mexican architecture, and he was instrumental in introducing his students to its principles. He primarily wrote and developed courses in pre-Hispanic and Colonial architecture. During the 1950s, he arranged annual summer trips of U.S. students to the Instituto Tecnologico of Monterrey, Mexico. His sponsorship helped the institute gain admission to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, an international association of accredited architectural degree programs. McMath later organized architectural tours to promote interest in Mexican heritage and architecture. McMath served as chair of the School of Architecture from 1946–1948, director from 1948–1950, and acting director from 1953–1956. During this time, McMath encouraged John S. Chase to apply to the architecture program, telling him about the pending Sweatt v. Painter case that desegregated the university. Chase went on to many firsts as an African American: the first to enroll at the University of Texas, the first to graduate with an architecture degree, and the first in Texas to become a licensed architect. Beyond academia, McMath served in other leadership roles in architecture. He was co-chair of a committee to draw up a long-range plan for Pioneer Farms when it was formed in 1956. McMath also served as president of the Central Texas branch of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1958. He served on the AIA National Committee on Education and Foreign Relations. The Royal Society of Arts of Great Britain made McMath a Fellow to recognize his work to develop cultural relations with Mexico. Frances McMath (ca. 1905–1986) graduated from the University of Texas in 1924. In addition to working for a nonprofit and in public education, she held multiple positions at the university, as secretary to the dean of the Graduate School and to the president of the university, and on the staff of the Dean of Women. She co-led or accompanied many trips to Mexico. She supported women at the university, including sponsorship of a university club welcoming female architecture students and wives of students, and involvement with the university’s alumnae association of the Mortar Board, an honor society. Architecture: The landmark designation criterion for architecture recognizes a range of architectural expression—from a place that clearly embodies the distinguishing characteristics of a recognized style to an architectural curiosity or one-of-a- kind building. Casa McMath bridges these categories, with its eclecticism as part of its significance. The house is a one-story, irregular plan, flat- and low gable-roofed house with elements Mid-Century Modern design, plus eclectic modifications that can be interpreted through the lens of Critical Regionalism. The house was constructed in 1948 with 1952 and other undated additions. The original design may be the work of architect Ned Cole in association with Plan Con, the builders of the house. Hallmark Mid-Century Modern elements include a blocky exterior softened through the use of local, natural materials, the blending of the outside with the inside, and use of large windows. The house has expansive roof overhangs, a combination of horizontal and vertical wood siding, and stone veneer. Stands of oaks, along with stone planters, walls, and steps extending from the house, lend a strong connection between the house and landscape. Stonework on the chimney and walls is narrow random ashlar, while planters and site walls are uncoursed rubble stonework of later construction. Windows are groupings of steel casements that meet at building corners, with a floor-to-ceiling commercial storefront window that steps in next to the main entry. The house appears to retain high integrity, with alterations made during the McMaths’ ownership. These changes may represent Hugh McMath’s evolving architectural interests and experimentation at his own home, bringing in influences from Mexican architecture and further grounding the house in its site. Modifications to the house include the addition of turned wood columns, geometric wood medallions, and vintage lighting fixtures. Pops of color punctuate the exterior, with green on the windows and cobalt blue on the doors and turned posts. On the interior, the house has smooth and ribbed wood paneling and wall storage units constructed by Fabricon, a partner company to Plan Con. Some of the wood has a natural finish, while other areas are painted bright red. The two bedrooms have pink walls and storage units. Flooring throughout the house is Saltillo tile. A utility room addition to the side of the entryway has air-conditioning equipment that appears to tie into ductwork retrofitted under the gabled portion of the roof. 2 of 43B-11 Off of the living room, an alcove added behind the fireplace is painted cobalt blue and has a geometric stained-glass window. Plan Con, Fabricon, and Ned A. Cole The house at 2501 Inwood Pl. was built in 1948–49 by Plan Con, a local building construction firm that shared its location with Fabricon at 4601 E. 5th Street. Plan Con was operated by Carl B. Morris, president of Materials Distributing Company, with Maurice W. Cole as vice-president, Russell Horn as secretary, and Ned A. Cole as treasurer. Carl Morris’s obituary noted that he was a real estate developer and home builder. Maurice Cole was the proprietor of Metal Equipment Company, a welding company at 4607 E. 5th Street. His brother Ned Cole was president and one of four founders of Fabricon. Russell J. Horn was a student at the University of Texas at this time. Plan Con constructed tract houses in the Pecan Orchard (2000–2100 Peach Tree St.) and Sun Terrace subdivisions in 1949. Beyond their affordable price points ($6,950 to $8,450; in the mid-1950s, $12,000 to $14,000 was considered a median price), an advertisement billed a comprehensive package of design, construction, and loan negotiations; home features included Fabricon wall storage units, central heating, and large metal casement windows. Fabricon is listed as cabinet makers in the Austin city directories of the late 1940s but was more accurately a manufacturer of pre-fabricated wall storage units, roof trusses and windows—a pioneer in home design and the efficiency of interior storage. The firm, a collaboration of four GIs returning from World War II, planned houses with prefabricated wall units and increased interior storage. Plan Con was relatively short-lived, appearing in city directories and newspaper searches in 1949, as compared with Fabricon, which operated from 1946 through at least 1960. Ned Cole graduated from the University of Texas School of Architecture in 1939. He was the architect of many of Fabricon’s home designs. While research has not identified his specific contributions to Plan Con, he presumably played the same role as the sole architect within the company’s leadership. Given Cole’s his connections to Plan Con and likelihood that he studied under McMath at the University of Texas, there is a distinct possibility he was the architect of 2501 Inwood Place; however, no definitive connection was identified in the Hugh L. McMath papers at the Alexander Architectural Archive at the University of Texas at Austin. As an architect and homebuilder, Cole rose to national attention in 1952–53 with his design of the National Association of Home Builders Trade Secrets house, a culmination of this national trade organization’s efforts to incorporate innovative cost-cutting strategies and improve homebuilding quality. The home included signature features of Cole’s architectural practice: tilt-up walls with precut lumber and modular windows, roof trusses that eliminate the need for interior bearing walls, and prefabricated storage partitions. Cole was the architect of seven houses in the Austin Air-Conditioned Village, designed in 1954 with Fabricon products, and built homes throughout Central Texas. He moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1961, where he continued his long career, including serving as a consultant on the construction of the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. While contemporaneous with Plan Con’s tract houses, McMath’s house is a unique design, constructed at a higher cost of $9,500 with varied materials and articulation. As compared with Cole and Fabricon’s later homes, this house is more traditional in its design and construction. In lieu of non-bearing wall panels and storage units dividing the space, load- bearing stud walls are a necessity with the house’s sprawling plan and flat roof. Critical regionalism The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (2nd ed.) describes critical regionalism as a response to Modernism: “a strategy for achieving a more humane architecture in the face of universally held abstractions and ) and Liane Lefaivre in 1981, the term was seized upon by international clichés. Coined by Alexander Tzonis (1937– [architectural theorist Kenneth] Frampton, who argued that architects should seek regional variations in their buildings instead of continuing to design in a style of global uniformity using ‘consumerist iconography masquerading as culture’, and should ‘mediate the impact’ of universal civilization with themes drawn indirectly from the individual ‘peculiarities of a particular place’.” In Texas during this era, Critical Regionalism is most closely associated with San Antonio architect O’Neil Ford, whose work sought to integrate regional architectural traditions with modern technology. Ford’s designs were known for abstractions of traditional forms and use of richly textured local materials. Although Hugh McMath did not design this house, his interventions quite literally take a modernist architectural form and seek to ground it, both through integration into the landscape and borrowing from regional architectural traditions. As built, the house already contrasted large metal windows and geometric forms with natural materials including unfinished wood siding and limestone. Subsequent changes took these aspects a step further, introducing wider roof overhangs, additional natural wood siding, and fieldstone planters that integrate the house into the site. McMath’s study of Mexican architecture and traditional buildings, as well as a sense of creativity and reinvention, are evident in the modifications to the house—the 3 of 43B-11 use of color on the interior and exterior, geometric painted wood medallions, eclectic lighting fixtures, geometric stained glass, turned wood porch posts, and a carved wood oxen yoke hanging over the doors to the back patio. Unfortunately, these modifications were made without building permits and do not meet code requirements. The extended overhangs are structurally undersized. Lighting fixtures are not exterior grade and are plugged into added electrical outlets. Aspects of the work appear unfinished, such as the varied soffit materials. Landscape Feature: McMath’s interventions extend into the site, which represents a significant designed landscape with artistic and aesthetic value. A natural drainage crosses the lot near the intersection of Inwood Place and Possum Trot, spanned by a wooden bridge leading to a concrete driveway. Curvilinear stone retaining walls frame the driveway and doors to the two-car garage. Low stone walls step up as the wooded site rises toward the house. Curving stone stairs lead from the garage to a sidewalk to the front door. To the rear of the house is an exposed aggregate concrete patio, with an outdoor table under a deep roof overhang supported by turned posts. An adjacent patio has Saltillo tile set into pavers and is framed by stepped rectilinear retaining walls. PARCEL NO.: 0113060508 LEGAL DESCRIPTION: LOT 9 & E 37.5 FT OF LOT 8 INWOOD PARK ESTIMATED ANNUAL TAX ABATEMENT: $8,500 (owner-occupied); city portion: $2,500 (capped). PRESENT USE: Vacant; the applicant proposes to demolish the ca. 1948 house. APPRAISED VALUE: $1,025,772 CONDITION: Fair PRESENT OWNERS: INWOOD FOREST LLC 3300 BEE CAVE RD STE 650-1186 AUSTIN, TX 78746-6600 DATE BUILT: ca. 1948 ALTERATIONS/ADDITIONS: Multiple; see discussion of architecture above. ORIGINAL OWNER(S): Hugh and Frances McMath OTHER HISTORICAL DESIGNATIONS: None 4 of 43B-11LOCATION MAP 5 of 43B-11PROPERTY INFORMATION 6 of 43B-11 7 of 43B-11 Note: see additional photographs from October 7, 2021 staff visit to property at end of report. Applicant, 2021 Occupancy History City Historic Preservation Office, City Directory Research, July 2021 Hugh L. and Frances McMath, owners 1959 Hugh – Professor, University of Texas Frances – Clerk, O Henry Jr. High School 1957 1955 1952 1949 Hugh L. and Frances McMath, owners Hugh – Professor, University of Texas Frances – Clerk, Board of Education Hugh L. and Frances McMath, owners Acting director, School of Architecture, University of Texas Hugh L. and Frances McMath, owners Professor, University of Texas The address is not listed in the directory. NOTE: The house was built in 1948. NOTE: Hugh L. McMath is listed as a professor at the University of Texas; he lived at 386a Deep Eddy Apartments. Frances McMath is not listed in the directory. Biographical Information Hugh L. McMath (1904–1992) married Frances Marian Little (ca. 1905–1986) in Travis County in June 1937. The 1940 U.S Census shows Hugh and Frances McMath as the renters of the house at 1801 Newfield Lane in Austin. Hugh McMath was 35, had been born in South Dakota, and was an assistant professor at the University of Texas. Frances McMath was also 35, had been born in Texas, and was the chief clerk at the Works Progress Administration office. His 1942 World War II draft registration card shows that Hugh Lyon McMath was living at 2210-C Nueces Street in Austin; he was employed by the Department of Architecture at the University of Texas and was married to Frances McMath. He was born in 1904 in Watertown, South Dakota. He was 5’-11” tall, weighed 150 pounds, and a had a light complexion with brown hair and blue eyes. 8 of 43B-11 Society page story on the wedding of Hugh McMath and Frances Little, Austin American-Statesman, 7/18/1937. 9 of 43B-11 Examples of McMath’s travel and work in Mexico, including a trip to extend an invitation to the Instituto Tecnologico in Monterrey, Mexico to join the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, The Austin Statesman, 10/13/1952 and 11/17/1955. 10 of 43B-11 Group of high school students attending a summer school session at the Instituto Tecnologico, led by Hugh and Frances McMath and including their daughter, The Austin Statesman, 8/15/1962. 11 of 43B-11 Frances McMath supported women at the University of Texas through multiple endeavors, The Austin American, 3/22/1942 and The Austin Statesman, 11/1/1955. 12 of 43B-11 Excerpt from article describing the establishment of Pioneer Farms, The Austin American, 4/1/1956. 13 of 43B-11 Title Hugh L. McMath papers Dates: 1928-1977 Abstract The Hugh McMath papers include textual and photographic material primarily documenting his 44- year teaching career in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin. He held a deep interest in the art and architecture of Mexico and developed courses in pre-Hispanic and Colonial architecture of Mexico and published several monographs on the subject. Record types include photographs, correspondence, student work, writings, and faculty papers. Hugh Lyon McMath was born in Watertown, South Dakota, May 9, 1904. McMath studied engineering and architecture at North Dakota Agricultural College (Fargo, North Dakota) in the 1920s, receiving a bachelor's of architecture in 1927. He was an instructor in architecture at North Dakota State College from 1927-1928; and at Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, Illinois from 1928-1929. He arrived in Austin in 1930 to teach at The University of Texas. Subsequently he received a master's in architecture from The University of Texas in 1934 and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. In 1942 McMath entered the U.S. Army Air Corps along with a number of other University faculty members. He served as an instructor and later as a director of the ground school at Moore Field Army Corps Base in Mission, Texas. He headed the educational guidance staff of the Austin Air Reserve Group in the 1950s and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1964. During his 44 years of teaching in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas, McMath served as chair from 1946-1948, director from 1948-1950, and acting director from 1953-1954. In addition to his private practice, McMath lists professional experience in the offices of Frederic J. Klein (Peoria, Illinois), Walter T. Rolfe (Austin, Texas), Walter C. Harris (Austin, Texas), Golemon and Rolfe (Houston, Texas), and McKee and Kamrath (Houston, Texas). McMath held a deep interest in the art and architecture of Mexico. He developed courses in the pre-Hispanic and Colonial architecture of Mexico and published several monographs on the subjects. From 1950 until 1960 he organized an architectural workshop at the Instituto Tecnologico of Monterrey, Mexico, attended by students from all over the U.S. His sponsorship aided the admission of the architecture school at the Instituto Technologico into the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. He organized “Arctours” to Mexico in 1968, 1969 and 1970 to inspire interest in historic Mexican architecture by touring sites. Funded by a University Research Institute grant, he conducted a photographic survey of architecture in Puebla, Mexico, in 1968. In 1957, serving as a consultant and coordinating architect for design and construction of the American School in Monterrey, he arranged an association of Monterrey architects and representatives from the Houston firm of Caudill Rowlett and Scott Architects and Planners. McMath was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of Great Britain for his work to develop cultural relations with Mexico. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Texas Society of Architects and served on the AIA National Committee on Education and Foreign Relations. Hugh McMath retired from The University of Texas in 1974. From the Alexander Archives, University of Texas, https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00114/aaa-00114.html. 14 of 43B-11JOHN S. CHASE: PAVING THE WAY—FINDING A PATH TO UTSOA John S. Chase recognized that after earning his undergraduate degree from Hampton University and working as a drafter at an architectural firm in Philadelphia, the best way to further his career was to continue his education. In 1949, he moved to Austin, Texas, to begin working for the Lott Lumber Company, and he hoped to pursue further studies at UTSOA, the best architecture program in the country at the time. Meeting with the Dean of the School of Architecture, Hugh McMath, Chase inquired about studying at UTSOA, despite the University’s strict policy of segregation. Dean McMath told Chase about the pending Sweatt v. Painter case that was being argued in the Supreme Court at the time in 1950, and McMath encouraged Chase to apply for the program in anticipation of the case’s conclusion. Online exhibit of the Architecture and Planning Library of the University of Texas at Austin, https://utlibrariesarchitecture.omeka.net/exhibits/show/paving_the_way/finding_a_path. Obituary for Frances Little McMath, Austin American-Stateman, 1/28/1986. Hugh Lyon McMath, former director of UT School of Architecture, dies at 88 November 17, 1992 | Austin American-Statesman (TX) Hugh Lyon McMath, former director of the University of Texas School of Architecture and professor emeritus, died Sunday. He was 88. McMath was director of the school for six years when the department of architecture separated from the College of Engineering in 1948. McMath, who earned master’s degrees in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UT, began teaching at UT in 1930. In 1950, he and his wife, Frances, began taking students from all over the country to study architecture during the summer at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores in Monterrey, Mexico. Before teaching at UT, McMath taught briefly at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University) and Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, Ill. 15 of 43B-11 Article on Fabricon and Ned Cole’s role in the venture, The Austin Statesman, 2/27/1948. 16 of 43B-11 Advertisement for Plan Con’s Pattern Homes, The Austin Statesman, 3/8/1949. 17 of 43B-11 Description of tract housing development by Plan Con, The Austin Statesman, 1/20/1949. 18 of 43B-11 Additional Plan Con homes planned for construction in 1949, The Austin Statesman, 9/26/1949. Entries in the 1949 Austin City Directory for Fabricon and Plancon. Entry in the 1952 Austin City Directory for Fabricon. There are no entries for Plancon or Carl Morris; Maurice and Ned Cole are listed with their other ventures, respectively Metal Equipment Co. and Fabricon, and Russel Horn as a student at the University of Texas. 19 of 43B-11Permits Application for Sewer Connection, 1949 Water Service Connection, 1949 20 of 43B-11 Building Permit, 1948 Building permit to Hugh McMath for an addition, 1952 21 of 43B-11STAFF SITE VISIT PHOTOGRAPHS 22 18 21 20 19 17 See next page 6 7 5 4 24 3 23 2 1 Site visit photographs, Historic Preservation Office staff, October 7, 2021. 22 of 43B-1116 15 13 12 11 9 10 14 8 Site visit photographs, Historic Preservation Office staff, October 7, 2021. Plan is not to scale. 23 of 43B-11 Figure 1. Entry marker for Casa McMath 24 of 43B-11 Figure 2. Wood bridge across natural drainage near the corner of Inwood Place and Possum Trot 25 of 43B-11 Figure 3. Stone retaining wall and steps from driveway to the house 26 of 43B-11 Figure 4. Low site walls and wooded site 27 of 43B-11 Figure 5. View of the house from the east 28 of 43B-11 Figure 6. Front entry 29 of 43B-11 Figure 7. Stone gate and patio next to front entry 30 of 43B-11 Figure 8. Entryway 31 of 43B-11 Figure 9. Dining room 32 of 43B-11 Figure 10. Kitchen 33 of 43B-11 Figure 11. Fabricon room divider between kitchen and living room 34 of 43B-11 Figure 12. Living room 35 of 43B-11 Figure 13. Living room 36 of 43B-11 Figure 14. Alcove off of living room with stained glass 37 of 43B-11 Figure 15. Fabricon wall storage unit in larger bedroom 38 of 43B-11 Figure 16. Second bedroom 39 of 43B-11 Figure 17. Extended roof overhang 40 of 43B-11 Figure 18. Back patio 41 of 43B-11 Figure 19. Back door 42 of 43B-11 Figure 20. Back patio 43 of 43B-11