What is a historic resource survey?

Historic resource surveys highlight potential landmarks and historic districts by identifying older buildings and areas that help to tell the story of an important person, community, group, or the city as a whole; or exhibit significant architecture or landscape design. Surveys look at what exists on the ground through fieldwork and find out the stories behind places through research. They ensure that historically significant resources are recorded, and results are available for public use.

Being included in a survey does not automatically lead to historic designation for a building or neighborhood. Rather, surveys are an information-gathering tool. The results can help form the basis for historic landmark or historic district nominations brought forward by property owners and neighborhood groups, and support the Historic Landmark Commission in determining whether properties meet the criteria for designation. See the What We Preserve page for more information on historic landmarks and districts.

 

Recently Completed Historic Resource Surveys

A complete hard copy of each survey is also available at the Austin History Center and the Historic Preservation Office.

Please contact Sofia Wagner, City of Austin Historic Preservation Office, at 512-974-7769 or by email for more information. Para cualquier pregunta en español favor de llamar a la siguiente persona: Debbie Valero, 512-974-3531, correo electrónico.

East Austin (2016)

The East Austin Historic Survey area is bound by IH-35 on the west, Manor Road on the north, Pleasant Valley Road and the MetroRail line to the east, and Lady Bird Lake to the south. The report provides eligibility recommendations for federal and local designations for buildings, structures, sites, and objects built in or before 1970.

To research individual properties, please see Volume III for an inventory by street address. Refer to Volume IV for more information on properties identified as eligible for landmark designation, and to Volume V for information on recommended historic districts.

 

Old Austin Neighborhood Association (West Downtown, 2020)

The Historic Resources Survey for Old Austin Neighborhood Association covers an area bound by Lamar Boulevard to the west,  W. 15th Street to the north, Colorado Street to the east, and W. 4th and 5th streets to the south. The survey was sponsored by the neighborhood association and funded in part by a Certified Local Government Grant from the National Park Service, as administered by the Texas Historical Commission. The report provides eligibility recommendations for federal and local designations for buildings, structures, sites, and objects built in or before 1974.

To research individual properties, please see Appendix C for survey forms.

North Central Austin: West Campus, North University, Heritage, Bryker Woods, and North Hyde Park (2021) 

The Historic Building Survey Report for North Central Austin: West Campus, North University, Heritage, Bryker Woods, and North Hyde Park provides eligibility recommendations for federal and local designations for buildings, structures, sites, and objects in these neighborhoods built in or before 1974. Funded by the City’s Historic Preservation Fund, the survey also identifies properties that may promote heritage tourism in Austin.

To research individual properties, please see Appendix B for an inventory by street address and Appendix C for survey forms. Refer to Appendix D for more information on properties identified as eligible for landmark designation, and to Appendix E for information on recommended historic districts.