We are pleased to announce that our firm has been selected to provide architectural design services for two new noteworthy projects, whose goals are to preserve the architecturally and culturally significant neighborhoods of Clarksville and Robertson Hill in central Austin.

Both the Clarksville and Robertson Hill neighborhoods are historically valuable, as they were settled by many of Austin’s first African-American families in the 19th century. However, the neighborhoods have been targets of aggressive development without historic context in the past few years. The new projects plan to preserve many of the remaining structures by connecting two of the original units to create a home large enough for today’s standards, yet retaining the look of the original tiny homes. These major projects are both notable and unique in that they represent the combined efforts of the proactive Robertson Hill neighborhood with the City of Austin’s Neighborhood Housing & Community Development Corporation (NHCD) and visionary private developer Tom Blackwell, who is the owner/developer of the Clarksville project.

Tom Hatch, Hatch + Ulland Owen Architects’ founder, will lead the design team. “We are honored to have been chosen for these projects, and elated that both neighborhoods will not only be preserved, but will remain vital, thriving communities”, he noted. Mr. Hatch has been deeply involved in Austin’s civic life through participation in public boards, non-profit organizations, and neighborhood organizations, and through his service as an ongoing resource to numerous private and public organizations. In 2008, Tom was honored with the John V. Nyfeler, FAIA Community Service Award and in 2011, he was elevated to fellowship in the American Institute of Architects for his career-long commitment to affordable housing in Texas.

Entry by Kelly Stephenson, Architect, h+uo

There is a very special home under construction on a tiny corner lot at the intersection of Navasota and Willow Street in east Austin. In addition to being our latest affordable home under construction, it will become the first Community Land Trust home to be built in Austin, and possibly in Texas. A new state law allows for cities to designate Community Land Trust status to nonprofit organizations that develop affordable housing – in this case Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC) (http://guadalupendc.org). 

According to Executive Director Mark Rogers, the land itself is entrusted to GNDC. The corporation can sell the house to buyers with low to moderate incomes, giving the highest priority to families with generational ties to the neighborhood.  Homeowners are then able to pass the home and the land lease on to their heirs. Should the Community Land Trust homeowner decide to sell their home one day, the new homeowner must meet similar qualifications, including historical ties to the neighborhood.

The future homeowner of1313 Willow Street is Mary Ybarra, a life-long east Austin resident who grew up in the yellow house down the street.  For eleven years, she rented the 1940’s home that originally stood at 1313Willowwhere she raised two children as a single mother.  “These grounds have so many precious memories,” she said in the ground-breaking ceremony last Friday.  Despite frequent repairs by GNDC (the owner), the original home deteriorated to the point where it became unlivable. After much discussion and many attempts to keep the original structure intact, it was decided that GNDC would construct a “healthy”, slightly larger new home in its place (with a more functional floor plan), but that it must be designed in such a way that retains the original charm and scale of the era.  This is where h+uo came into the picture. Our firm has designed many homes in conjunction with GNDC and other non-profit organizations in the past and it seemed to be a perfect fit.

Together with input from Mary Ybarra, GNDC, and the neighborhood, we designed a bright and airy two-bedroom, two-bath home of about 1129 square feet. A generous wrap-around porch will overlook both Navasota and Willow streets, providing almost 200 additional square feet of space to be enjoyed by the homeowner, who loves spending time outdoors.

The home will also feature transom windows above exterior doors, 9-foot ceilings, trim details accurate to the era, a metal roof, and windows with tall, vertical proportions. Standing in front of an enthusiastic crowd on Friday, Mary Ybarra said that the house is “more valuable than gold” to her and that this street will always be “home”.

The home-builder, Saldaña Homes, LLC (http://www.saldanahomesllc.com) is a family-owned company that we have enjoyed working with in the past on projects such as the well-received “Garden Court” homes in two phases of the Mueller Airport Redevelopment (http://www.muelleraustinonline.com/about.php).

Although the site was very tight to begin with, all existing trees were retained and there was even room to accommodate tandem parking for two cars tucked discreetly behind the home. As currently designed, the home qualifies for a 3-Star rating through the Austin Energy Green Building Program (https://my.austinenergy.com) but GNDC and Saldaña Homes are pursuing the highest rating of 5 stars, which would be a rare feat for such a modest budget.

In many ways, the home at 1313 Willow is indeed a very special home. We are looking forward to the day when Mary can move into her new home!

~Kelly Stephenson

Check out the Houston Gateway Academy construction progress. Moving right along!