AUSTIN, Texas — Several historic buildings throughout Austin will be getting some major renovations thanks to a new $31.7 million grant the Austin City Council passed earlier this week for the Historic Preservation Fund.
One of those recipients, Women & Their Work, a nonprofit art organization for female artists, will get about $105,000 for renovations on its building in East Austin. The organization was founded by activists at the University of Texas at Austin back in 1978, but about four years ago, it moved into its permanent home at 1311 East Cesar Chavez St.
“We fell in love with this building,” gallery director Jordan Nelsen said. “It’s a beautiful building. It’s an iconic structure in East Austin.”
The building is an art gallery that rotates exhibits from female Texan artists every seven weeks. But the building dates back to the 1800s and once had a different life.
“This was actually a German grocery store,” Nelsen said. “There was a little Germantown here.”
Nelsen said the house behind the building is where the grocer used to live. Now, Women & Their Work holds education activities and workshops in that back house. But over the years, it has started to show its age.
“We are going to be doing some roof renovation and repair in the front gallery space, but the back house, the grocer’s home, is actually what needs the most work,” Nelsen said. “Some of the wood is also kind of decaying and falling apart on the windows.”
The plan is to level the structure of the house and repair several windows and doors. But as Women & Their Work does these renovations, it’s important to them that they keep the integrity of these historical buildings.
“There’s such a unique character in this building,” Nelsen said. “In the floors, you can see remnants of the way the structure has been altered over time, and that’s really interesting for an artist to create their work in response to that.”
The nonprofit's main hope is that these buildings can be a place for the community to call home.
“We feel like we’re reopening the doors to the community, inviting everyone in to appreciate this historic structure and really see the artwork that brings it to life,” Nelsen said. “We really want to restore this space as a community hub like it once was when it was a grocer.”
Nelsen said as soon as they finish the historic zoning process, they can get to work on the renovations. They expect that to happen sometime later this year.