Council set to vote on whether activists’ East Austin house is historical site

Austin City Council members could settle Thursday whether a small, rundown home in East Austin that once housed a family of Mexican American activists will become a historic landmark.

The council is set to decide on whether to grant a historic zoning designation to the property at 1805 E. Third St. known as the Herrera house. It was owned by the Herrera family, which included Consuelo Herrera Mendez and Mary Grace Herrera — the Austin school district’s first Mexican American teachers — and their niece, Diana Herrera Castañeda Herrera, a district trustee and East Austin activist.

Thursday’s scheduled vote comes after the city’s Historic Landmark Commission unanimously voted on July 22 to recommend rezoning the property because of its importance to East Austin’s Mexican American community.

Austin’s planning commission followed suit in the fall, sending the matter to the City Council for final approval.

To change the house’s zoning, the council must reach a super-majority of nine votes because the designation is against the wishes of the property owners.

William Hodge, an architect who was hired by property co-owner Rex Bowers to work on the Herrera house, said the property and its path through the historic landmark process has been a learning experience for everyone involved, many of whom were unaware of its historical significance.

He said his work on the project has focused on how to proceed if the property does get the historic designation, saying his client does not want to tear down a home he can remodel.

“While parts of the house are a significant risk to human life and safety, the original portion of this house is something that can be remediated,” Hodge said. “We can fix up the original portion of this house.”

Hodge said significant portions of the house have already collapsed, and others are nearing that point. While his client remains opposed to the historic designation for the entire property, Hodge said he is not against preserving the house’s original structure, provided he be allowed to remodel and make safe the portions of the house that are in significant states of disrepair.

His client’s opposition to the historic designation is because it “would really tie his hands in terms of what he can do to make the house safe and livable again,” Hodge said. “This house is not safe for human occupation.”

Ideally, Hodge said, the owners would be permitted to first restore the original portion of the house as it would have looked when the Herrera sisters lived there, and later tear down the parts that have become safety concerns. He said he also hopes to build something onto the back of the house that makes the building a more functional, livable space.

“It can become a home again,” Hodge said. “Right now, it’s not a home.”

However, a letter to Austin Mayor Steve Adler and the rest of the City Council from the Austin Raza Round Table, signed by 91 people in August, called on city leaders to instead purchase the property and convert it into a museum that celebrates the lives and contributions of the Herreras.

Another letter from the East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association said there is room for both history and development on the property.

“Ultimately we hope the owner respects the area history and the extant community enough to work with the city. There is plenty of room at 1805 East Third Street for both preservation and growth to co-exist — the best of both worlds,” the letter said. “For the future, let your actions reflect your respect for history, the Mexican-American Community and a culture threatened by gentrification.”

Terri Myers, a member of Austin’s Historic Landmark Commission, said the Herrera sisters were an integral part of the Hispanic community in Austin as educators and activists, and they lived in the house while they were doing that important work.

“If it were just a house that they lived in just in their later years, not when the were actively teaching and being involved civil rights projects, it wouldn't be significant, but they lived there during the period of significance,” Myers said.

In the past, she said, historic preservation has been seen as something of an elitist activity, wherein the homes of wealthy landowners or great white industrialists are preserved. Recent years, however, have seen a shift that is more mindful of recognizing the contributions of historically underrepresented groups, including women, Latinos and African Americans.

“While it is not a great mansion, (the Herrera house) is associated with people who really made a difference in this community,” Myers said.