The task of restoring a city owned building, like the Norwood House, is much more complicated and expensive than exactly the same work on a private house. The Austin Parks and Recreation Department manages the house. Thus far they have offered not one penny and not a roll of tarpaper or a tarp to cover the holes in the roof that are a direct result of their lack of maintenance. Instead they offer a list of requirements, like a site plan as to where the dumpster will be placed that will be filled with shingles and roofing felt removed from the roof. We have known for some time that the roofing felt contains asbestos. The Haz Mat guy at Public Works says we need to hire a state licensed abatement contractor (costing thousands of dollars) to remove the shingles and felt, because the city owns the property. It turns out that if the house were privately owned, this work could be done by anyone, because asbestos in roofing felt was deregulated ten years ago. However, the city has different rules than apply to private owners. This is readily apparant by looking at the sorry condition of the house. Any private owner of this house would have been forced, years ago, by city inspectors, to either fix up or tear down this house.
It might just be time to figure out how to get this house into private, non-profit hands, during restoration, and then put it back in the city's hands once completed. Sure would save a lot of headache and money!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, June 2, 2008
A Bit of History
In 1922, Ollie O. Norwood built his home on a scenic 3 acre tract overlooking what is now Lady Bird Lake. He commissioned well known Texas architect Hugo F. Kuehne to design it. The Norwood estate included a state of the art greenhouse, a fountain, a gazebo/teahouse, and the first geothermal fed swimming pool in Austin. Norwood later went on to build the Norwood Tower in downtown Austin, the world’s first fully air conditioned “skyscraper”, a full 15 stories!
In its time the Norwood Estate was an elegant craftsman/bungalow style home surrounded by lush gardens. The house survived a number of attempts to commercialize the site until the City of Austin purchased the entire parcel in the mid eighties. Since then a number of restoration efforts were initiated….none of them successful. The most recent was begun in 1989 by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Despite all their efforts the project was never really got off the ground except for moving the house back to its original location.
It now stands with a fence around it, a roof with many holes and cement and lathe falling down from the deteriorated ceiling and littering the fine hardwood floors. When the house was moved the brick exterior was removed…some say they are stored in an yet undiscovered location.
A recent article in the Statesman re-ignited interest in the state of the home and South River City Citizens (SRCC) convened a committee to reinvigorate plans to bring this Austin treasure back to life.
The architect, Kuehne, was also noted for designing a number of buildings throughout central Texas….most importantly, the original Austin Public Library that is now the Austin History Center. He was also a founder of the University of Texas School of Architecture.
SRCC is committed to the restoration of this home. We are developing a plan that minimizes cost to the city and returns the house to its original appearance. Once this is completed, the house will be a valuable addition to the public park system, available for the general public to use in a variety of ways. In addition, a valuable piece of Austin history will take its rightful place as a fine example of Kuehne’s work and Norwood’s vision.
In its time the Norwood Estate was an elegant craftsman/bungalow style home surrounded by lush gardens. The house survived a number of attempts to commercialize the site until the City of Austin purchased the entire parcel in the mid eighties. Since then a number of restoration efforts were initiated….none of them successful. The most recent was begun in 1989 by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Despite all their efforts the project was never really got off the ground except for moving the house back to its original location.
It now stands with a fence around it, a roof with many holes and cement and lathe falling down from the deteriorated ceiling and littering the fine hardwood floors. When the house was moved the brick exterior was removed…some say they are stored in an yet undiscovered location.
A recent article in the Statesman re-ignited interest in the state of the home and South River City Citizens (SRCC) convened a committee to reinvigorate plans to bring this Austin treasure back to life.
The architect, Kuehne, was also noted for designing a number of buildings throughout central Texas….most importantly, the original Austin Public Library that is now the Austin History Center. He was also a founder of the University of Texas School of Architecture.
SRCC is committed to the restoration of this home. We are developing a plan that minimizes cost to the city and returns the house to its original appearance. Once this is completed, the house will be a valuable addition to the public park system, available for the general public to use in a variety of ways. In addition, a valuable piece of Austin history will take its rightful place as a fine example of Kuehne’s work and Norwood’s vision.
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