New Life for North Austin’s Zimmerman House
BY CYRUS YERXA
Zimmerman House
In 1854, Edward Zimmermann purchased 164 acres of land several miles north of Austin and on it built an 18’ by 24’ home for himself and his young family. His nascent community grew into Fiskville, home to approximately 150 citizens by the early 1870s. Like Zimmermann, many were German immigrants. It is likely that he received help from his friends and neighbors to build the home -- his own skillset is evident by his surname, which means “carpenter” in German – and that he gathered most of his building materials from the site. Limestone serves as the structure’s foundational footing, and as infill within half-timber framing of hand-hewn cedar shaped to dimension and joined by mortise, tenon, and peg in the German fachwerk tradition. Zimmerman used sand and water, likely sourced from the stretch of Little Walnut Creek that passed through his property, for mortar securing the stone and the plaster finish on the walls. Animal hair from his livestock served as a binder. He hand-cut and carved the larger stones to square for the fireplace and chimney, which divided the home into two rooms. As his family was growing, Zimmermann began work on an addition with two adjacent rooms to the east, continuing the gabled roofline in that direction. For this he used milled lumber, most likely purchased from the young Austin City Steam Mill, instead of hand-hewn wood as in the original construction.
This is the story told by the investigation work of Chris and Tracy Hutson, recent buyers of 9019 Parkfield Drive -- the Zimmermann House. The Hutsons purchased the property in 2018, 164 years and seventeen owners after the Zimmermanns. As long-time residents of the neighborhood, they frequently walked past the house, knew it well from the outside, and over the years began to notice movement in the west wall facing Parkfield Drive. The Hutsons (of preservation architecture firm Hutson | Gallagher) grew concerned for the structure, one of the oldest in Austin, and Travis County’s only remaining example of fachwerk construction. They approached the owner with concern for the stability of this City of Austin Landmark and discovered a caring homeowner without the resources to maintain the aging structure. Modern, large scale developments now surround it -- and given its condition, the building was a candidate for demolition-by-neglect.
Since their purchase, the Hutsons have begun checking items off a long list of things that need to happen before the home can be restored to its original state. First, they submitted a request for a Determination of Eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places through the Texas Historical Commission (THC). Approval for this is required to take advantage of federal and state historic tax credits to help fund the cost of restoration. At their initial request, the Coordinator of Federal Programs at THC questioned the home’s existing historical record, leading the Hutsons to carry out a more thorough investigation into the family and architectural history.
Their research is ongoing, but by Christmas of 2019, after an updated request, they received notice the project is eligible for the tax incentives. Their research has involved removal of non-historic materials to discover original details; previous owners over the years had added drywall, drop-ceilings, plywood paneling, plumbing, electricity, and air conditioning to the building, as well as additional rooms. Behind these additions lay the clues to Zimmermann’s construction. In the attic, the Hutsons discovered an original casement window and shingles in un-weathered condition centered on the east gable. This indicated that the eastern addition, which encloses the window, was built soon after the fachwerk building, likely in 1855. On the gable wall below, it appears that two original windows were converted to doorways for entry into that addition.
Initially the Hutsons presumed the chimney to be part of the 1855 addition, but after discovering that its wall it was of fachwerk construction, they concluded that it and the two-room division are original. The chisel marks on the stone in the fireplace are very defined, and match marks on the original stone footings under the house as well. Adjacent to the fireplace is an interior doorway that was widened and narrowed more than once over the years. The Hutsons have used patterns in paint and siding layers to determine its original width. It’s likely that Zimmermann would only have been able to finish the 1854 stone surface with his homemade plaster, but in subsequent years, he acquired milled siding for the exterior and beadboard for the addition’s interior finish. To install the beadboard finish, Zimmermann drove square nails into his framing. The Hutsons use these nails and the holes they leave behind as indicators of early construction.
For the restoration of the 1854 structure and 1855 addition, they have engaged preservation experts in engineering, masonry and carpentry -- individuals they’ve worked with through the years -- to restore the home. The house will need to have its compromised west wall disassembled and rebuilt; some joints have been totally displaced. The reassembled materials may not meet current structural standards, in which case the cedar will be reinforced; one possible solution is hiding steel cables to brace the fachwerk walls. The house will need to be lifted and leveled (Zimmermann rested his floor joists on stone footings, but the stones have since sunk, leaving the joists in the dirt where they will continue to rot, if left). The foundation will likely be a combination of the original limestone footings and modern reinforcement pending an engineer’s assessment. The current lime-based mortar, a mixture of sand and animal hair, has deteriorated and will need to be replaced; new lime-based mortar will be chosen for its ability to secure the wall and protect the restored masonry. At some point in the 20th century, the section of chimney stones above the roofline was replaced with bricks. This section will revert back to limestone, with the upper half of the chimney rebuilt.
As the Hutsons explain, their goal is to restore the structure to its period of significance, which is between 1854 - 1867, when the Zimmermann family occupied it, and preserve all existing historic building materials. The restoration will get underway when the investigation and construction documents are complete.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR PRESERVATION AUSTIN’S SUMMER 2019 NEWSLETTER. READ OUR COMPLETE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE HERE.