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. This group of volunteers is called the Norwood Posse.
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.
The Norwood Posse 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.
