Historic Austin building could be demolished
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Placeholder bar on Rainey Street could soon be bulldozed. Photo: Asher Price/Axios
Owners of a 19th-century home currently operating as a Rainey Street bar are hoping to demolish the structure and replace it with a new building.
Driving the news: The city's Historic Landmark Commission will meet today to determine the fate of 96 Rainey St., a one-story, folk-Victorian L-plan house currently home to Placeholder Tiki Bar.
- Disagreements over the fate of the building point to the tension on Rainey between its status as a National Register historic district, designated by the National Park Service as worthy of preservation, and the modern-day transformation of the street.
Why it matters: The demolition would be the latest step in the evolution of Rainey Street.
- About 15 years ago it remained a sleepy street of old bungalows.
- But a 2005 zoning change that essentially incorporated the neighborhood into the city's central business district paved the way for the spiffy, towering condos that now crowd the street.
What's happening: The building owners want to construct a two-story, flat-roofed bar on the site, clad in masonry, metal and wood.
- The commission has taken up the matter at least twice — in August and September — without making a decision.
- The property, which measures 0.13 acres, is owned by Pinnacle Lending LLC and is valued for tax purposes at $1.97 million, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records.
The backstory: The house was constructed in the late 1880s, and one of its first residents was Victor Kleabe, a barber and union leader who led the state's barbers and hairdressers in pressing for the passage of hygiene laws and worker protections for barbershop employees.
The twist: The building is not actually a contributing structure to the area's national historic district because of some additions at the time the district was created, limiting the city's ability to force the preservation of the building — even though the additions were subsequently demolished, per a staff report on the proposal.
What they're saying: The building is "very much contributing to the character of the Rainey Street District, given what's left of fabric that was there when the district was created," commission member Witt Featherston said at the September meeting. "It's a shame this is where it's at."
- Members of the commission criticized the design of the planned building as not in keeping with the massing and character of the remaining old structures fronting neighborhood streets.
- "What you're proposing here has really little to do with the historical fabric we're trying to represent," Ben Heimsath, the commission chair, said in September.
The other side: "I realize Rainey Street is a historic district, but it lost its character a long time ago, in my opinion," Jeff Krolicki, an architect representing the owners, told the commission at an August meeting.
- He said noise ordinances have limited capacity at the bar, leading to the proposed new, bigger building.
What's next: No one spoke opposed to or in favor of the proposal at a September hearing, in which the commission postponed a decision.
- A staff recommendation calls for encouraging the owners to fold the old structure into design plans — or preserve and relocate the old building altogether.
- If the commission votes to deny the demolition request, it would take a supermajority of the City Council — eight votes — to force the owner to preserve the structure.