Preservation Austin Awards $17,000 in Winter 2023 Grant Cycle
Cheers to another incredible batch of worthy preservation projects across our city! Preservation Austin’s Winter 2023 grant cycle had the most applicants in the program’s history, with nearly $60,000 of funding requested. After careful consideration, our Grants Committee divided the available $17,000 of funding among six outstanding projects. Preservation Austin is proud to support the valuable work being performed on 1106 E. 8th Street, the C.E. Johnson House, the Economy Furniture Strike Educational Sign, Southwind, the Travis Audubon Society’s centennial historical marker, and Zeta Phi Beta’s Thompson House.
Preservation Austin’s grants program fuels essential projects across three categories: education, bricks and mortar, and planning/survey/historic designation. By providing small, but impactful funding to important projects citywide, Preservation Austin can affect real change in the preservation and interpretation of the historic places that mean the most to our community.
Since 2016, Preservation Austin has awarded 52 matched and rolling grants:
12 Planning/Historic Resource Survey/Historic Designation grants
12 Education grants
26 Brick and Mortar grants
This totals $196,922 that we’ve given back to our community.
Our Summer Grant Cycle closes on June 15. Click the link below for more information and to apply.
1106 East 8th Street: $3,000 Brick & Mortar Grant
Photo: Juan M. Cisneros and Eleanore Frank-Cisneros
Home to the Cisneros-Hernandez family since the 1940s, five generations of Austinites were raised in the residence at 1106 E. 8th Street. The house, constructed in 1910, is a contributor to the Robertson/Stuart & Mair Historic District and adds to the character of this East Austin neighborhood.
Candelario Hernandez, a long-time owner of the home at 1106 East 8th Street, served as the treasurer of Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation, a nonprofit affordable housing organization dedicated to preserving both the architectural and the cultural fabric of this community. A Brick and Mortar Grant from Preservation Austin will support painting and wood cladding repair at this modest historic home with preservation-minded owners.
C.E. Johnson House: $3,000 Brick & Mortar Grant
Photo: Preservation Austin
The C. E. Johnson House, a designated Austin historic landmark, was built in 1905-06 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The house is also a contributing structure in the Robertson/Stuart & Mair historic district and like the nearby home at 1106 E. 8th Street, it is an integral part of the historic fabric of this long-standing community. This restoration project will remediate deferred maintenance issues in order to further ongoing preservation efforts. Grant funding will support the professional repair of the historic wood windows which add to the historic character of this Austin Landmark.
Economy Furniture Strike Educational Sign: $2,000 Education Grant
Image: MapWell Studio
The Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS) has designed an interpretative sign to educate Austin residents and visitors about the Economy Furniture Strike, the largely untold story of a hard fought battle to unionize Mexican American workers in East Austin from 1968-1971. The strike led to a longer effort known as the Austin Chicano “Huelga” (struggle), and achieved national attention, becoming the turning point in the Hispanic community’s successful entry into local political leadership.
CARTS’ interpretive sign will bring to light the story of the historically-disenfranchised Hispanic community whose workers were being oppressed by the unfair labor practices of the Economy Furniture Company, yet persevered, resulting in the first wave of Latino political leaders in Central Texas. Education Grant funding will be used to fabricate and install this interpretive sign at the Richard Moya Eastside Bus Plaza–public property directly across the street from the Economy Furniture site where workers once exercised their rights.
Southwind: $2,000 Brick & Mortar Grant
Photo: Dewey G. Mears, University of North Texas Libraries
Located at 2411 Kinney Road, “Southwind” is the former residence and studio of notable Austin artist Seymour Fogel. The painter and sculptor made his home from what was previously a dairy barn which he painstakingly deconstructed, saving materials to reduce costs and maintain the building’s history and integrity.
Over many years, and with the help of friends, Fogel crafted a residence, studio, and gathering place for artists, musicians and creative thinkers. The home’s current steward will use the Brick and Mortar Grant from Preservation Austin to repair and repoint the limestone patio on the north side of the house, addressing drainage issues and halting further damage and deterioration of the stone patio and the building. The property’s outdoor spaces and setting contribute significantly to the site’s overall integrity, and this grant will ensure Fogel’s legendary living space is sensitively preserved.
Travis Audubon Society: $2,000 Education Grant
Photo: Teresa Johnson
The site of historic Fort Colorado is today the property of the Travis Audubon Society and is known as the Blair Woods Sanctuary. The Travis Audubon Society plans to repair, recontextualize, and relocate a 1936 centennial historical marker from an unsuitable location on E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the Blair Woods preserve.
The current marker, which was recently vandalized, places emphasis on Manifest Destiny and uses problematic language to describe Indigenous peoples. There is much more to the complex and dynamic narrative between settlers and Indigenous peoples at the site than this marker suggests. Education Grant funding will be applied toward moving the monument, restoring it, and providing a more inclusive interpretation of past events to foster a better understanding of the history of East Austin for its diverse community.
Zeta Phi Beta: $5,000 Brick & Mortar Grant
Photo: Jack Hawkins, O'Connell Architecture
Built in 1877 by painting contractor John W. Thompson and his wife Jennie L. Metz, 1171 San Bernard has been a fixture in the Robertson Hill neighborhood for over 100 years.
Known as the Thompson House, the restrained Victorian residence with a distinctive porch was acquired by the Alpha Kappa Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in 1967. The sorority restored the building and it became Austin’s first Black Greek letter house. The property became a City of Austin Landmark in 1977 and a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1978. Minimally updated since the 1960s, currently the meeting house requires asbestos be removed before further repairs can commence. Grant funding awarded by Preservation Austin will support asbestos abatement at this treasured community landmark.
