Austin | Historic Images & Postcards - Page 51

KevinFromTexas · #**1001** Posted **Feb 27, 2020, 12:20 AM**

^I'm not sure exactly, but they haven't done it in a long time. The last lights they had up were some lame LEDs that were dim and boring. I miss the bright lights and big bells strung across. That's what I remember when I was a kid. When I was little, my parents had a white 1977 Cadillac DeVille with black tinted windows and a moon roof. We used to open the top as we'd drive down Congress.

Brackenridge with the old 1915 building. My brother was one of the last babies born there before they tore it down.

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

the Genral · #**1002** Posted **Feb 27, 2020, 2:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

^I'm not sure exactly, but they haven't done it in a long time. The last lights they had up were some lame LEDs that were dim and boring. I miss the bright lights and big bells strung across. That's what I remember when I was a kid. When I was little, my parents had a white 1977 Cadillac DeVille with black tinted windows and a moon roof. We used to open the top as we'd drive down Congress.

Brackenridge with the old 1915 building. My brother was one of the last babies born there before they tore it down.

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

I agree about the lights. From 1st St to the Capitol it was like driving under a canopy of lights. And boy Brackenridge looks so nice and shiny, and thick. I always thought it looked escape proof. And hurricane proof. I was a volunteer there in the 80s and it had a lot of maintenance issues on the interior. Seemed like every time I went to the supply rooms, a cabinet door would fall off or a drawer was jammed. Lots of cheap materials. But watch it not come down if they try to implode it.

KevinFromTexas · #**1003** Posted **Mar 4, 2020, 1:49 AM**

Lots of goodies here.

Brackenridge construction.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67...h1011384/m1/1/

Mueller control tower construction.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67...20construction

Armybrat · #**1004** Posted **Mar 4, 2020, 2:36 AM**

The “new” Mueller terminal & control tower were quite spectacular when the facility opened in 1961. It sure was an improvement over the original shack which dated from the 1930s. That one was pretty underwhelming when I & my family first landed there in 1959.

KevinFromTexas · #**1005** Posted **Mar 5, 2020, 10:19 PM**

I'm not sure what the date is, but it's after 1896 because the firefighter monument is there.

https://www.facebook.com/loewylawfir...type=3&theater

Armybrat · #**1006** Posted **Mar 6, 2020, 3:06 AM**

I wonder how many veterans of the Texas Revolution lived to see that magnificent structure that they made possible? Those who did must’ve felt a lot of pride in what they accomplished.

KevinFromTexas · #**1007** Posted **Mar 6, 2020, 3:38 AM**

While going to vote at the Fiesta in South Austin, I was looking at old map they had up on the wall. It must have been amazing seeing such a huge building back then when everything else was tiny. Most people lived in little more than shacks at the time. Even the other most grand buildings were nothing compared to the capitol.

KevinFromTexas · #**1008** Posted **Mar 7, 2020, 4:33 AM**

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

Armybrat · #**1009** Posted **Mar 7, 2020, 4:39 PM**

Interesting that all those buildings have survived to this day (at least on Google Maps when I looked), but of course with a couple newer ones crowding the scene.

SproutingTowers · #**1010** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 5:53 PM**

Every time I walk past the three townhomes on the hill it reminds me of San Francisco.

kingkirbythe.... · #**1011** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 7:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SproutingTowers

Every time I walk past the three townhomes on the hill it reminds me of San Francisco.

Me too. I always wanted to live there.

chinchaaa · #**1012** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 9:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armybrat

Interesting that all those buildings have survived to this day (at least on Google Maps when I looked), but of course with a couple newer ones crowding the scene.

That cornerstone is gone. Also, what is that big building in the back of the townhouses? That is also gone.

KevinFromTexas · #**1013** Posted **Mar 9, 2020, 11:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SproutingTowers

Every time I walk past the three townhomes on the hill it reminds me of San Francisco.

Same for me. I've always thought that was an interesting corner of downtown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

That cornerstone is gone. Also, what is that big building in the back of the townhouses? That is also gone.

Actually, all of those buildings are still there, the rowhouses, the big brown building under construction, which I believe was the Southwestern Bell Building, and the high rise on the right, the Ernest O. Thompson State Building. The only building that isn't still there is the one to the right (west) of the rowhouses. That was demolished for the AT&T switching station at 10th & Colorado across from the Ernest O. Thompson Building.

Aerial
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Au...!4d-97.7430608

Street
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2718...7i13312!8i6656

Here's the switching station. It replaced the building that was next to the rowhouses. The old Southwestern Bell Building also had a facade redo sometime in the 60s, probably at the same time the switching station was built.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2721...7i16384!8i8192

KevinFromTexas · #**1014** Posted **Mar 10, 2020, 5:59 AM**

Here is the FAA permit for the Texas Capitol that they had to file in 1992 during the restoration and underground Capitol extension. It lists the height as 304 feet.

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external...D=271656&row=3

Tyrone Shoes · #**1015** Posted **Mar 10, 2020, 7:44 AM**

Anyone that's interested the above mentioned Ernest O. Thompson Building the one in the back was once called The Austin Daily Tribune Building. Built in 1941 it was home to a daily that went out of business in 1942.