Bluebonnet Tourist Camp
a.k.a. Blue Bonnet Court
4407 Guadalupe St., Austin, TXBuilt in 1929, the Bluebonnet Tourist Camp is a small 1-story complex consisting of 11 semi-attached units. The building has changed little since its completion. It fronts onto the 4400 block of Guadalupe in a predominately commercial area of Hyde Park.
Built in 1929, the Bluebonnet Tourist camp is a small 1-story complex consisting of 11 semi-attached units. It fronts onto the 4400 block of Guadalupe in a predominately commercial area of Hyde Park. The building has changed little since its completion.
Arranged around an open courtyard, the tourist camp is comprised of two detached buildings. Each contains a series of small 1-room units separated by covered spaces in which to park automobiles. Of frame construction, the buildings are generally rectangular in plan and are surmounted by low-pitched, front-gabled roofs. The primary (west) facades face Guadalupe Street and are fronted with petrified rock, a popular local building trend in the late 1920s and 1930s. Walls on the courtyard side are sheathed in 117/121 wood siding, while those exterior walls are clad in asbestos siding that is nearly obscured by vegetation and new construction on adjacent lots. Each "camp" includes a single room marked by a single door and paired double-hung wood sash with 4/4 lights.
A unique example of its property type in Hyde Park, the Bluebonnet Tourist Camp was constructed during the period of greatest building activity in Hyde Park. Built on the primary route to cities north of Austin, the tourist camp developed to serve increasing number of tourists who came to Central Texas to take advantage of recreational opportunities afforded by the lakes being dammed by Depression-era public works projects. Although numerous courts and campgrounds were constructed in Austin during the 1930s, the Bluebonnet Tourist Camp remains the only example surviving in Austin of such facilities built before 1930. Renamed the Blue Bonnet Court about 1939, it was a neighborhood institution owned and occupied by Hyde Park residents for nearly three decades following its completion. Although it has suffered from deterioration since conversion to apartments, the tourist camp retains a high degree of its historic integrity. It is therefore nominated for its local architectural significance under Criterion C.
Held by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Land Co. until purchased by the Hall family in 1925, the lots at 4113 Guadalupe changed hands rapidly in the subsequent years, remaining unimproved until purchased by Beth Lucas for $1000 on February 9, 1929 (DR 372:626,628; 416:452; 433:391). Perhaps in anticipation of increased traffic generated by the paving of Guadalupe Street in 1930, Beth and Joseph Lucas hired Brydson Lumber Co. on February 25, 1929, to build "camphouses and garages" for $2500 (Mechanics' Liens 453:522). Living on the premises, the Lucases ran the Bluebonnet Tourist Camp until June 26, 1937, when they sold the property to John A. and Marie Q. Maige (DR 568:184). The Maiges also lived at the camp, which they renamed the Blue Bonnet Court about 1939 (Austin City Directories 1930-1958). In 1958 they sold the property to the current owner. The complex has retained its historic fabric, despite conversion to apartments.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.