Austin | Historic Images & Postcards - Page 11

KevinFromTexas · #**201** Posted **May 25, 2013, 2:53 AM**

Yeah, it's Corpus. That white building with the green mansard roof is actually still there, but they renovated it in the 70s. They pretty much ruined it by covering the facade. It's now the brown Wells Fargo Tower. Also I think that old building in the lower right is gone. That photo is probably from the mid to late 60s.

Homecreek · #**202** Posted **May 25, 2013, 5:47 AM**

I think this is close to where the picture was taken
http://goo.gl/maps/rK2Bz

LoneStarMike · #**203** Posted **May 25, 2013, 3:57 PM**

In 1969, there were plans to demolish a highrise downtown, and this would have gone up in it's place:

The proposed tower was never built and the tower that was to have been demolished remains to this day. Can anyone guess what the old tower that remains today is called?

KevinFromTexas · #**204** Posted **May 25, 2013, 4:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homecreek

I think this is close to where the picture was taken
http://goo.gl/maps/rK2Bz

Yep, that looks about right. And on second thought, that white building in the old photo is still there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

In 1969, there were plans to demolish a highrise downtown, and this would have gone up in it's place:

The proposed tower was never built and the tower that was to have been demolished remains to this day. Can anyone guess what the old tower that remains today is called?

I know exactly where that is and what building. I've read about that proposal, but never did see a rendering of it. Where did you come across it?

I won't spoil it in case someone else would like a chance. That rendering is showing it from the north. It would have been an office building.

LoneStarMike · #**205** Posted **May 25, 2013, 5:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I know exactly where that is and what building. I've read about that proposal, but never did see a rendering of it. Where did you come across it?

It was in a scanned newspaper article and was included in one of the backup files at a Planning Commission Meeting. I'll post a link to the backup file in a day or two after others have had a chance to guess.

LoneStarMike · #**206** Posted **May 28, 2013, 4:25 AM**

OK - the answer to the trivia question in reply# 203 was the Driskill Hotel Annex.

http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=143901

The above has lots of interesting info on both the original Driskill and the annex. The article with the rendering of the proposed office tower is on page 11 and came from a June 6, 1969 article in the Austin American Statesman.

I loved the story about the judge in one of the other articles:

Quote:

Judge 'Unseated'

Old-timers remember when Chief Justice Reuben R. Gaines was host at a formal five-course dinner party. As a young lady entered the room, the judge, a true gentleman, stood up. The waiter, trying to anticipate his every move, thought that he was going to carve the turkey. Quickly and quietly he pulled the chair back to give the judge more room. The young lady seated, the judge sat down, too - pulling the cloth, food and silverware with him.

KevinFromTexas · #**207** Posted **Jun 9, 2013, 7:21 PM**

Michael T. Belvin - via South Austin Memories on Facebook

corvairkeith · #**208** Posted **Jun 9, 2013, 7:28 PM**

Hey, I restored that car for a retired APD officer who wanted to recreate the car he drove when he joined the force back in '73.

This is what it looked like when I got it.

And this was taken about a month ago at a car show in Smithville.

There are a ton of pics of the restoration here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2374583&type=3

the Genral · #**209** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 12:08 AM**

Sir, you have a severe talant...that restoration looks incredible! Mind if I ask how long it took and how its being used today? I don't imagine he can just drive it on public roads...

corvairkeith · #**210** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 12:40 AM**

Thanks, my part of the restoration took about four months for all the rust repair, body, and paint work. The whole thing took about two years but it's pretty much a new car now. Everything has been rebuilt or replaced. It's legal to drive on public roads as long as you keep the lights and siren off. In Texas you can recreate a police car as long as it's not the current model/ paint scheme. I'm sure being a retired cop helps if you get pulled over as well.

BevoLJ · #**211** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 1:01 PM**

Amazing work!

KevinFromTexas · #**212** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 7:50 PM**

Ha! I saw your post just now, Keith. That's great! You have a sweet setup there. I see you work on bicycles also I guess.

JoninATX · #**213** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:10 PM**

That is awesome corvairkeith, you have an amazing talent.

KevinFromTexas · #**214** Posted **Jul 21, 2013, 9:27 AM**

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...olden-t/nYxTh/

Quote:

HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
Posted: 9:31 p.m. Saturday, July 20, 2013
Austin man who crafted Capitol star earns ‘Golden Texan’ honor

American-Statesman Staff

Sitting at a table in 1957 enjoying a frosty beer at what used to be the Cottage Café on Burnet Road, William “Bill” Williamson picked up a pen and a napkin and began to design what would eventually become one of the most iconic features in the Texas State Capitol Building: the bronze star measuring 8 feet from point-to-point hanging 218 feet above the floor of the rotunda.

Williamson, now 87, was recently named a Golden Texan by the Texas Health Care Association for his commitment and contributions to the state in which he grew up, including the little-known construction of the star that more than 52,000 people walked beneath in May and June alone.

http://www.utexas.edu/features/2010/...wer_alphabets/

Quote:

A Towering Mystery Solved

Why ancient alphabets adorn a university icon

Sept. 6, 2010

When then-Harvard University Professor John Huehnergard and his wife and colleague Jo Ann Hackett first visited The University of Texas at Austin last spring, they couldn’t help but notice the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew letters that adorn the Tower. After all, Hackett, a Hebrew scholar, and Huehnergard, who teaches Semitic linguistics and writing systems, have a natural curiosity for language.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered what generations of students have seen: five different gold-leafed alphabets — Egyptian hieroglyphics (although technically not considered an alphabet), Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek and Latin — totaling 113 letters on the 73-year-old building.

Huehnergard and his students traced the idea to William J. Battle (1870-1955), a well-respected professor whose strong influence on the campus design can still be seen today. It’s hard to find a building or even a tree on campus he didn’t touch in some way during his tenure as Classics professor, dean and interim president. Most notable among them was construction of the Main Building and its Tower, which Battle spearheaded.

Classmate Lewis focused on Cret, the prominent French architect who designed 19 buildings on campus, including the Tower, which was completed in 1937.

priller · #**215** Posted **Jul 22, 2013, 5:51 PM**

Hey thanks for these links. I've always wondered about the alphabets on the Tower, also. Very unexpected to see them.

KevinFromTexas · #**216** Posted **Jul 22, 2013, 7:21 PM**

I'm fascinated by those two buildings. I go on Flickr sometimes just to explore them. There are some really neat photos of dome tours of the Capitol.

KevinFromTexas · #**217** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 2:24 AM**

A neat before and after photo gallery from the UT Tower observation deck. By the way, the south view says it was taken in 1977. There is no way that photo is from 1977. The Westgate Tower is missing from the photo, among others. The Westgate Tower was finished in 1967. So there's no way it could have been from 1977. It's from sometime in the early 60s, but no later than 1965.

http://utaustin.tumblr.com/post/5698.../ut-tower-77th

Quote:

July marks 77th anniversary of the opening of the UT Tower observation deck. See how things have changed with sustainability in mind. -- http://ow.ly/nvCzK

What’s your favorite Tower view? Share your photos on our Facebook wall or by using ‪#‎UTTower‬.

Top photo: View from the UT Tower looking east, March 2013.
Bottom photo: View from the UT Tower looking east, 1967. (Courtesy: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History)

The University of Texas at Austin Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/UTAustinTX/photos_stream

Armybrat · #**218** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 7:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

A neat before and after photo gallery from the UT Tower observation deck. By the way, the south view says it was taken in 1977. There is no way that photo is from 1977. The Westgate Tower is missing from the photo, among others. The Westgate Tower was finished in 1967. So there's no way it could have been from 1977. It's from sometime in the early 60s, but no later than 1965.

The University of Texas at Austin Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/UTAustinTX/photos_stream

Note the old Dish Field ballpark between the football stadium and the Texas Memorial Museum. I can just make out Billy Goat Hill.

DoubleC · #**219** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 2:54 AM**

I wish they would have done something about that eye sore that is the parking garage on the West side of DKR. It looks gray and dull, thankfully we can't see it while driving on 35.

BevoLJ · #**220** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 1:38 PM**

On the west side? You mean the ramps that kinda look like a parking garage? That is for people to walk up to the upper decks. There is no parking in there that I know of.

Just east of the stadium there is a parking garage, but west of the stadium is the creek.