West Line Historic District

The West Line Historic District is a classic streetcar suburb containing an excellent cross-section of Austin's late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century residential and small-scale commercial and institutional architecture that illustrates the growth of the city's suburban development from the 1850s through the end of the historic period ca. 1955. Roughly bounded by W. Fifth and Sixth streets on the south, W. Twelfth and Waterston streets on the north, Baylor on the east, and MoPac (Loop 1) on the west, the neighborhood produced some of Austin's first suburban estates in the years following the Civil War. Several of these estates survive on generous grounds surrounded by blocks teaming with hundreds of late19th and early 20th century houses ranging from popular Victorian designs to Craftsman-influenced bungalows and early Ranch style dwellings. Although West Line Historic District is overwhelmingly domestic in character, a neighborhood school, a small church and two residential-scaled commercial strips - one along W. Sixth Street and the other along West Lynn - illustrate the historic development in the district. In addition, a city park, landmark trees, historic street lighting and infrastructure further enhance the district's traditional character. Within the rough boundaries lie a former Freedman's village known as Clarksville (NR 1976), on the western edge of the neighborhood, and the grounds of the old Confederate Veterans Home, between W. Sixth and W. Tenth streets, in the southwest quadrant. Both are excluded from the West Line Historic District; Clarksville because it is already listed in the National Register and because it has a distinctly different historic context, and the former Confederate Home because it has been redeveloped for university student housing and has traditionally been a separate entity from the West Line neighborhood. What remains is a dense and exceptionally intact late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century residential district. The resulting district is one of the most intact historic neighborhoods in Austin. Its historic building stock illustrates nearly the full range of domestic development types and styles in Austin spanning a 100-year period of time. Likewise, small-scale commercial and institutional properties are representative of historic trends within residential neighborhoods throughout the twentieth century. Overall, the properties display a high level of integrity and there is relatively little new construction in the heart of the district. Integrity issues include insensitive additions and the removal or replacement of important architectural features. The neighborhood is currently experiencing development pressures to replace small, older homes with multi-family or oversized houses, thus stripping the streetscape of historic fabric and creating an intrusion. Despite these recent tendencies, the neighborhood is stable and overwhelmingly committed to preserving its historic character and scale. The results show in the number and quality of historic resources in the district. West Line Historic District is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for Community Planning and Development and under Criterion C for Architecture at the local level of significance.