East Austin Historic Home Once Slated For Demolition Now Center Of Preservation Effort

East Austin, TX -- Sometimes, demolition moratoriums do work.

It's not often property owners intent on demolishing a structure to build something new change their minds, but it happened recently along East Cesar Chavez, according to a published report.

The owners of a small East Austin home at 2205 East Cesar Chavez, Kenneth and Myung Soon Lemond, had filed for a demolition permit to raze the structure, the Austin Monitor. But they've had a changed of heart and now plan to preserve the building by seeking historic zoning.

“The owners had a change of heart after we talked to them about the benefits of historic zoning, and (they) recognize that the house has architectural and historic significance,” Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky told the Monitor.

The home was built in 1911, Sadowsky noted, and has a "significant history" tied to the blue-collar origins of a sector of town that is being briskly gentrified. Sadowsky's research into the building indicated it's been home to mechanics, retail workers, electricians and other blue-collar workers in the intervening years since it was built at the turn of the 20th century, the Monitor reported.

An East Austin couple, Jesse and Elizabeth Gamboa leased the home beginning in 1970 until Elizabeth's death in 2011.

The turnaround to preserve the structure is the ideal outcome many hope for in instituting a temporary delay in demolition, or a moratorium. While the city is virtually powerless to prevent demolitions of structures that are old yet not achieving historic designation, they are able to implement a delay on razing in the hopes building owners change their minds before the moratorium expires.

Longtime East Austin residents have long complained about the pace of demolition of some older structures as real estate prospectors descend to capitalize on an area of town that has become trendy with an upper-class clientele.

“This is one of the older houses that is left on Cesar Chavez, which is a very rapidly changing corridor,” Sadowsky told the Monitor.

In the case of the little house on East Cesar Chavez, the property owners' change of heart is a rare victory for those lamenting the changing landscape of gentrified East Austin.

Read the full story at Austin Monitor >>

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