AUSTIN, Texas — A compromise to end a fight over a run-down house in East Austin was approved by the city council on Thursday, according to the architect who represents the building's owner.
Austin's Historic Landmark Commission and activists were trying to get the home a historic designation because of the people who once lived there. The only problem was the property owner didn't want it.
Originally, the Council needed a supermajority, not just a majority, of the votes for the house to get a historic landmark because it goes against the owner's wishes.
It's something a member of the Historic Landmark Commission said has only happened three times since the 1970s.
But, thanks to some last-minute negotiations, the owner and the City came up with a compromise.
The home at question is at 1805 East Third Street in East Austin. It's a teal, dilapidated house.
Inside, it looks like it was hit by a tornado. There is debris everywhere, a huge hole ripped through the roof. But this house is still in the middle of a storm, all because of who used to live here.
Terri Myers sits on the Historic Landmark Commission.
"This particular property has special significance," she said.
She's also a preservationist and she wants the house to have a historic designation for two reasons:
- Because the Austin school district's first Mexican American teachers lived here: Consuelo Herrera Mendez and Mary Grace Herrera.
- And because in the past 15 years, there's a trend of preserving the underrepresented.
"A new wave of historic preservation that recognizes people of color and women," she said.
Before Tuesday afternoon, William Hodge, the architect representing the homeowner, Rex Bowers, were fighting the City on the historic designation.
But then, a last-minute compromise: They agreed to recommend that only the front portion of the lot be zoned as historic.
Hodge also said the idea is to restore what they can and to develop the rest, financing the considerable cost that comes with that historic designation title.
The Austin City Council approved the compromise on Thursday, ending a more than year-long fight between preservationists and activists.
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