Austins Old Scrapers.
I know Austin has some great new towers with more on the way. However, I am a softy for old buildings and I really liked the following. when I visited. Stephen F Austin Hotel Littlefield Bldg Norwood Tower Scarbrough Building Austin is a bit of a late bloomer to the big city ranks so I knew most of the buildings were newer. However, you never hear much of the ones mentioned above!

Yeah, unfortunately we didn't see all the great oldies that the rest of the big cities in Texas had. We have a few, but nothing like the others. Here's some pictures I've taken of the ones you mentioned. I'm a sucker for old buildings too. I took all these on the same day from the 26th floor of One American Center, (Austin's 2nd tallest). Norwood Tower - 180 feet - 15 floors - 1929. The top level of the building is occupied by former president Lyndon Johnson's daughter. Her and her husband live on the top floor and own the building. Littlefield Building - 136 feet - 9 floors - 1910, this was Austin's 2nd skyscraper if you disclude the Capitol and original University of Texas Old Main, which was torn down in 1935 to make way for the UT Tower. The first skyscraper in Austin was the Scarborough Building. It was the first building in the city to have a steel frame. Littlefield Building from above. Stephen F. Austin Hotel - 172 feet - 15 floors - 1924. This was the tallest hotel in Austin from 1924 to 1981. It was also the first skyscraper on Congress Avenue to have exterior lighting. Driskill Hotel Annex - 142 feet - 12 floors - 1930. This building was built as an adjacent addition to the existing 1886 Driskill Hotel at 6th & Brazos. The original hotel still exists, it's arguably the finest hotel in Austin. Brown Building - 10 floors - 1938. It's around 140 feet tall. This building was originally built as an office building, but was turned into apartments. And of course, the good old UT Tower. It's 307 feet tall with 29 floors, built in 1937. It's was the first building in Austin to rival the Capitol in height. Many think it's taller than the Capitol, but it's not. It just sits on a higher hill. It's actually 4 feet shorter than the Capitol. I actually think the UT Tower is Austin's greatest old skyscraper. I love it. Growing up I used to think it was the Empire State Building. :lol: UT Tower at night from the same place.

Norwood Tower - 180 feet - 15 floors - 1929. The top level of the building is occupied by former president Lyndon Johnson's daughter. Her and her husband live on the top floor and own the building. Looks like a nice penthouse!!!

The "brown building" looks a lot like FW's SBC building....dont know which is worse.

Old Buildings
Art Deco is one my favorite styles. The UT Tower looks very decoish. Not much was built in the depths of the depression, so it's amazing they built it and finished it. I assume it was funded by the state and not privately. What was the original function it was designed for? If they needed office or classrooms, there was plenty of land to build low rise. What was the reason it was built so tall? Symbolic? BTW, great forum, very thoughtfully organized. Round of applause for Kevin.

It was mostly symbolic. At the time there was plenty of land around it that they could have built more lowrises instead. North of UT there was very little development, the only major neighborhoods north of there was mostly Hyde Park. Today of course the UT Campus and that area of Central Austin is one of the densest parts of the city. UT can hardly spare an inch of land. The building is used for a wide range of functions. The president of the university has his office in the building. It also contains other administrative offices for the university. It's also the university's main library, located in the basement. The Old Main which originally stood in its place and it replaced was used for just about everything at UT. Classrooms, offices, even the school's auditorium. The Old Main was actually the first building to be constructed for UT. It started construction in 1883, and was finished in 1891. But less than 4 decades later it was torn down in 1935 and replaced with the UT Tower. The UT Tower was finished in 1937.

While technically it wasn't a skyscraper, another old building that Ausin used to have was the old Alamo Hotel. If I remember correctly, it was at 6th at Guadelupe just north of the downtown post office. Towards the end of its life many low-income people lived there. The company I worked for at the time (Lamar Savings) had the building torn down and were going to construct a highrise there that was to be our headquarters. There was a big brou-haha over the building's demolition and I remember some guy actually put a curse on the site. He even went so far as to sprinkle goat's blood around the site's perimeter. (Talk about "keeping Austin weird!") I guess his curse worked at the time, because our highrise never got built. That was during the S&L scandal of the 1980's. A couple of folks in Lamar's mortgage loan department were indicted and Lamar's President (Stanley Adams) actually served some time in prison. The government declared Lamar insolvent on May 18, 1988 and we were taken over by Southwest Savings, which was declared insolvent in July of 1991 and taken over by Guaranty Bank.

I remember reading about that. There's actually a few postcards of it at Austinpostcard.com. I love reading up about Austin's history, anything having to do with our architecture. It fascinates me.

Austin Rocks
Howdy from Fort Worth :wink: You may know me from the Fort Worth forum. Im happy to be here. I love what Austin has now. And wish you all the best with your new projects. And getting to know Austin folks. And look forward to know more about Austin. P.S. And if God forbid the Fort Worth forum get hacked again. Im not going to the Big D Forum. I'll chill out here. PEACE ! 8)

The original 1886 Driskill is one of the real gems Austin is lucky to have. I know it was almost lost to the wrecking ball at least once. I just cannot imagine what people were thinking. A real effort has to be made to preserve our heritage structures, even if only the facades can be saved and incorporated into newer buildings (if complete restoration is not possible). In Vancouver, many developers, for permission to build a new scraper, have to restore a heritage building or contribute money to a fund used for that purpose.

Yeah the Driskill was almost torn down and replaced with a 17-story office building. Think of how horrible that would have been. Not to mention it would have changed the character of East 6th Street which has not been about office space for a couple of decades. I really think the Driskill is our most beautiful hotel.

It is a beautiful hotel and the inside is just awsome. I love the main lobby.

Were their any others like what we mentioned above that met an untimely death? If so any pictures?

Kevin, you forgot to mention that the Littlefield Building and the Stephen F. Austin Hotel were originally constructed shorter, and then had additional floors constructed on top at a later date.

That's right John, both the Littlefield Building and the Stephen F. Austin Hotel had floors added to them. I believe the Littlefield Building had 1 floor added 2 years after it was finished. And the Stephen F. Austin Hotel had 2 floors added, I don't remember the date though. And yes, there have been buildings in the past that were torn down. One of them was the 1915 Brackenridge Hospital Building. It was 8 floors tall. The building was torn down in 1984 to make way for the new Austin Children's Hospital adjacent to the main building, the existing white building today. The 1915 building was not the original hospital building however. Brackenridge Hospital is actually the oldest public hospital in the state, it was founded in 1884. Here's a picture of East Avenue, which later became I-35. This was taken in 1960, looking north. The 1915 Brackenridge Hospital Building is to the left. My brother was one of the last babies to be born in this building in 1983. My dad actually took a brick from the demolition site after it was torn down. A closer view. This was actually a very nice looking building. It's a shame it was torn down. The rest of these pictures came from Ausinpostcard.com. And of course there have been several state capitol buildings. The most notable one from the past was this one at the end of Congress Avenue, which burned to the ground in 1881. The white building in the upper right is the General Land Office Building, which still stands there today on the southeastern corner of the Capitol grounds. It's actually the 2nd oldest state government building in Texas, it was built in 1857. The oldest is the governor's mansion, built in 1856. General Land Office Building up close. Today the building houses the Capitol vistor's center. Old Travis County Courthouse. This building stood across the street from the Capitol at 11th & Congress. It was built in 1876 and was torn down in 1964. I have no idea why they had to demolish it. Oddly enough the site today is occupied by a parking lot of all things. Here is the Alamo Hotel that LoneStarMike mentioned. I'm not sure when it was built, but I believe it was demolished around 1984 or so. Another old hotel that bit the dust, was the Texan Hotel. This building stood on West 7th Street. I know very little about it, when it was built, or when it was demolished. The Commodore Perry Hotel, built in 1948. This building still exists as One Commodore Plaza. It was remodeled in 1984 and turned into an office building. Plans are underway to turn this into "Brazos Place", a residential building. Brackenridge Hall at UT. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist anymore. The greatest loss of architecture to Austin was this building: the University of Texas Old Main. Construction started in 1883 and was completed in 1891. The building was built in 3 sections and construction was strung out. This was the first building built for the University of Texas. It was torn down in 1935 with much opposition. It was 160 feet tall, making it the tallest building ever demolished in Austin. Today, the UT Tower stands in its place. Old Main, I think if I could have one building back that was demolished in Austin, it would be this one. St. Mary's Academy. This building stood at the corner of East 7th & Brazos. Today the Omni Hotel stands in its place. This building was built in 1885. It was demolished in 1954 after the school moved to another building. This is the site of the first governor's mansion which was built in 1839 by Edwin Waller. Edwin Waller was of course Austin's first mayor. This was during the time that Texas was its own nation, and Mirabeau Lamar lived there. The building burned to the ground though in 1847. This is another building I really hated us losing. The Seton Infirmary. It was built in 1902. It was located in West Campus, at the corner of West 26th & Rio Grande. It was demolished in 1975 by a developer that built a large apartment complex in its place. The street where it stood though is still named Seton Avenue and dead ends where the building once stood. Seton moved in 1975 to their new campus in Central Austin off 38th Street. Another view of it.