Austin | Historic Images & Postcards

[KevinFromTexas]

urbancore, weren't you saying something about knowing someone who either owned a bus that was either formerly owned by Willie Nelson?

[KevinFromTexas]

Sometime after 1969 since The Castilian is there, but the Dobie Center is missing, so not likely too far into 1970. I also don't see 823 Congress (1971) or the Southwest Tower (1973).

These are big.

https://imgur.com/a/fJlgQZL#vB0jFBr


https://imgur.com/a/fJlgQZL#WFEHVZl

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Women's march - 2017


https://imgur.com/gallery/QzmUq


https://imgur.com/gallery/QzmUq

[KevinFromTexas]

I've spent a good amount of time trying to track down the building elevations for the Capitol. I found these yesterday on Wikimedia Commons. They're reproduction drawings of the original Capitol elevations. You can click on each file, there are 79 of them, and view the larger versions. Some of them are VERY big, which is great for the detail.

If you have th results number set to 500, the Capitol elevations begin in about the last quarter of the results near the bottom. For some reason, this link isn't a hyperlink, so you'll have to copy and paste the text into your browser location bar to view the results page.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&profile=default&search=texas+capitol&advancedSearch-current={}&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._69_of_79).tif


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._79_of_79).tif

I even came across the elevations for the US Capitol. The Texas Capitol is taller.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...7qglUGYGesD-X0

[kingkirbythe....]

Wow!

[KevinFromTexas]

1955 - the year Doc Brown invented time travel...


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

[corvairkeith]

Rainey Street - 1981 Austin Documentary

https://youtu.be/i0KfS5InuKM

[austlar1]

^^^^^^Great find!! I first came to know Rainey St. in the mid 1990s, mostly because I was a regular at the notorious Chain Drive Bar. I frequently parked on Rainey and recognized the funky charm of the street. The neighborhood seemed unchanged and not likely to change anytime soon. I had no idea there had been community outrage almost 15 years earlier about proposed development in the area. I guess most of that development never came to pass back then other than the Holiday Inn, the 12 story condo tower next door to the Holiday Inn, and the now demolished garden-style condo development to the immediate west of Rainey. Probably the 1980s boom ran out of steam. By around 2000, there was a push from local RE interests to buy out homeowners on Rainey, but that also fizzled in the Dot.com bust of 2001 or so. I guess that is about when the street was re-zoned for central business district uses.

[KevinFromTexas]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1

[the Genral]

1943 Austin Documentary, interesting...
https://youtu.be/kIdgMvyRCzE

[mostly_afk]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I've spent a good amount of time trying to track down the building elevations for the Capitol. I found these yesterday on Wikimedia Commons. They're reproduction drawings of the original Capitol elevations. You can click on each file, there are 79 of them, and view the larger versions. Some of them are VERY big, which is great for the detail.

If you have th results number set to 500, the Capitol elevations begin in about the last quarter of the results near the bottom. For some reason, this link isn't a hyperlink, so you'll have to copy and paste the text into your browser location bar to view the results page.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&profile=default&search=texas+capitol&advancedSearch-current={}&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._69_of_79).tif


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._79_of_79).tif

I even came across the elevations for the US Capitol. The Texas Capitol is taller.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...7qglUGYGesD-X0

Around 2000, I was helping build homes for Habitat for Humanity near Chestnut Commons. Some friends and I had lunch at the Whataburger on MLK and Airport. On the wall was the architectural print of the capital. I was fascinated and found it on the Library of Congress website. These are some great prints. Here is a good link where you can see all of the prints on one page.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...tol_blueprints

The library of congress has prints of other buildings and bridges in the area.

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/related...=true&op=EQUAL

[KevinFromTexas]

I was chatting with Jim Nicar on Facebook. He's a historian at UT and has a blog - https://jimnicar.com/tag/jim-nicar/

We were talking about the UT Tower, and I asked if he knew where to find the elevations for the tower. I've seen smaller images showing the "Drawing 100" image that shows the heights, but the image was too small to read them. He told me about the Alexander Architectural Archives, and as luck would have it, they only just digitized the building elevations for the UT Tower in February.

I sent them an email and they sent me a link back. I had searched the site before for the drawings, but never came across them.

These are the original drawings that Paul Philippe Cret made in October of 1934. The curatorial assistant at the archive also told me that if you visit the Alexander Architectural Archive that they have the original 3x5 foot elevation at the back of the room, and they still refer to it today.

UT Tower elevations:
https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/c...8-b2a051c0dc92

The other drawings show the lower parts of the Main Building and also the dimensions and floor plans of the tower.
https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/?...+texas&search=

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I also came across the elevations for the LBJ Presidential Library.
https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/c...5-ac2a3cca20dd

And the original (from 1888) elevations for St. Edward's University and the rebuild from 1903. The building that we see today is actually a near replica of the first one that caught on fire and was destroyed in 1903. The design was slightly different.
http://archives.stedwards.edu/digita...d=added&page=1

[Armybrat]

Interesting, especially St. Ed’s - I am Class of 1962 (High School) and Class of 1967 (University).

[KevinFromTexas]

Zilker Park, looking west on Barton Springs Road circa 1930s.

Same spot 2019:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2654...7i16384!8i8192



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1

[KevinFromTexas]

This first one has been posted before I know.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

A timelapse photo from 1938. This was before 4 floors were added to the Stephen F. Austin Hotel.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&theater&ifg=1

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

I might be in that picture. Who knows?

[the Genral]

Me too! I'm in front of the blue and white tent. I look so young in that picture...

[KevinFromTexas]

We went to the kite fest pretty much every year and also to the 4th of July fireworks display. We'd set up at one of the picnic tables under the pecan trees down from the playground area. I remember I always raced the Zilker train on my bike.

[mostly_afk]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I've spent a good amount of time trying to track down the building elevations for the Capitol. I found these yesterday on Wikimedia Commons. They're reproduction drawings of the original Capitol elevations. You can click on each file, there are 79 of them, and view the larger versions. Some of them are VERY big, which is great for the detail.

If you have th results number set to 500, the Capitol elevations begin in about the last quarter of the results near the bottom. For some reason, this link isn't a hyperlink, so you'll have to copy and paste the text into your browser location bar to view the results page.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&profile=default&search=texas+capitol&advancedSearch-current={}&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._69_of_79).tif


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._79_of_79).tif

I even came across the elevations for the US Capitol. The Texas Capitol is taller.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...7qglUGYGesD-X0

i was looking to update some artwork in the house, and i did my best googling and i found a site that will sales these architectural prints of the texas capitol. i don't know the policy on posting links to shopping sites, but the company is called Fine Art America. just google texas capitol fine art america.

[Urbannizer]

6th & Congress 1946 via Reddit

[Armybrat]

Looks like a policeman on the corner by Woolworth’s.

60 years ago that store still had the pneumatic tubes (like those at bank drive-thrus) which took your money from the sales area up to a central cashier and returned the change.

The store also had a lunch counter for “whites only” that was targeted with anti-segregation sit-in demonstrations in the early 1960s, as were some others on Congress Avenue.

The old formerly grand Capitol Theater was reduced to showing “nudie movies” in the ‘60s. I think at the time the photo was taken, the theatre was operated by Cactus Pryor’s dad.