Preservation Austin To Stage Annual Homes Tour

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Preservation Austin officials on Wednesday revealed details about the upcoming preview of homes to be featured during its 27th Annual Homes Tour, “The Art of the Craftsman Style,” later this month.

The event is scheduled on Saturday, April 27. This year’s event explores the Arts and Crafts Movement’s impact in Austin in coordination with the Harry Ransom Center exhibition The Rise of Everyday Design: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and America on view now.

Tickets include access to seven stunning Craftsman-style homes from this beloved architectural era. Their histories give a glimpse of Craftsman-style living in the early 20th century. Creative updates and additions show their seamless adaptation to modern life today.

Tickets are available online at preservationaustin.org/events through April 26 at noon ($30 for Preservation Austin members, $40 for non-members). Event-day tickets will be available at all tour locations.

The Homes Tour is Preservation Austin’s most important educational and outreach event, as well as its most important fundraiser. Proceeds from the tour sustain the nonprofit’s efforts to protect Austin’s historic places for generations to come.

2019 FEATURED HOMES

W. 9th STREET (1916 - Old West Austin)

Photo by Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer.

Photo by Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer.

This classic Old West Austin bungalow and City of Austin Landmark retains its original windows, doors, and hardware; butler’s pantry and fireplace; built-in bookshelves with leaded glass doors; and gorgeous wooden roof beams. The current owners removed drywall to reveal longleaf pine shiplap, renovated the second floor into bedrooms and children’s play space, and preserved its original cabinets in the updated kitchen.

E. 16th STREET (c. 1920, moved 1954 – Chestnut

Photos courtesy of Casey Wood Photography

This 2017 Preservation Merit Award winner features its original built-in sideboard, exposed shiplap walls and ceilings, and formal pocket doors. Architect-owner Erica Keast Heroy designed its gorgeous rear addition and master suite. The Young family, owners of East Austin’s Hillside Drugstore (now Hillside Farmacy), purchased the house at a University of Texas auction in 1954 and moved it here from its original location at Trinity and 23rd streets.

AVENUE D (1912 - Hyde Park

Photo by Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer

This elegant bungalow in the Hyde Park Local Historic District shows an American Foursquare design with Craftsman-style influences, including diamond-sashed windows, Doric columns, and original light fixtures. The interior displays the current owners’ meticulous eye towards restoration and their gorgeous collection of period furnishings and art. Additional features include a kitchen remodel/addition by Clayton & Little, a lush Arts and Crafts-inspired garden, and interior redesign by The Renner Project.

TERRACE STREET (1928– Travis Heights)

Photo by Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer

This 1928 bungalow characterizes the historic middle-class housing of Travis Heights’ Blue Bonnet Hills section. The current owners embarked on a 600-square-foot master suite addition with Duckworth Custom Homes, completed in 2016. The project features extensive reclaimed materials, complementing the original home’s scale and original teardrop siding, windows, floors, and working fireplace. A spacious new screened porch features gorgeous encaustic tile imported from Nablus, West Bank. A full landscape redesign by Murray Legge Architect is underway.

DUVAL STREET (1929 – Hyde Park)

Photo by Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer.

This picturesque bungalow with Tudor Revival-style flare stands in the Shadow Lawn Addition, listed in the National Register of Historic Places and part of the Hyde Park Local Historic District. Historic features range from original roof tile, imported from Belgium, to push-button light switches. Echoes of a midcentury remodel include pink bathroom tile and yellow tile countertops. The breakfast room features original peacock wallpaper, and the owners have spotted over fifty species of birds in their beautiful organic garden.

WHEELER STREET (1916 – Aldridge Place)

Photos courtesy of JD Lewis edgeofthelight.com.

This stately home in the Aldridge Place Local Historic District features flared rooflines, deep eaves, and massive roof brackets. Architect Leslie Iredell designed this house, along with its twin next door, in 1914. By the 1980s, the house was vacant and in near-ruin before the current owner transformed it from a teardown into a 1987 Preservation Merit Award winner. Paul Lamb Architects designed a historically-sensitive remodel in 2002. Today the house features an incredible 54 historic windows, along with a modern kitchen and swimming pool.

TREADWELL STREET (1936 - Zilker)

Leonid Furmansky, 2019 Preservation Austin Homes tour photographer.

Harmony Grogan, principal of Pluck Architecture, purchased this working-class bungalow in 2009. Its late Craftsman era design includes a bracketed entrance awning, extensive longleaf pine trim throughout, and the original brick hearth. Room-by-room updates include gorgeous new built-ins, in keeping with the Craftsman style ethic; a new kitchen and attic office; and exposed shiplap. Additional historic features include original teardrop siding, wooden window screens, and hardwood floors.

About Preservation Austin

Preservation Austin has been the city’s leading nonprofit voice for historic preservation since 1953. The organization celebrates Austin’s cultural and architectural heritage to make sure that, as Austin grows, it remains the city that we know and love. For more information, visit preservationaustin.org and find us on Facebook and Instagram (@preservationaustin) and Twitter (@preservationaus).