South Congress Avenue ca. 1900

Welcome to our new blog for the Travis Heights-Fairview Park Historic District, a neighborhood founded in Austin, Texas in the late 1880s.

Ask questions in the comments section and we will try to answer them as they come. We hope this space will be an informational platform and not a battleground. We think we’re the most laid-back neighborhood in Austin and we are proud to be Austin’s FIRST planned subdivision south of the river.

We’ve been working for the last five years to have our neighborhood designated as a Local Historic District and a National Register Historic District. it’s been a tough process getting there, however, because this is a new concept for The City of Austin and we are the largest neighborhood trying to win this designation.

Despite raising thousands of dollars to fund the professional help we needed to write the nomination and organize our survey and other requirements. it hasn’t been enough to keep our project funded. So we decided to end our contract with Preservation Central.

So far, we’re at a good point to review our application plan to be a National Register Historic District and are hopeful we can achieve that in the next year. Because this is a mainly honorific designation and imposes no restrictions or tax issues on residents, it is a less difficult process than for a Local Historic District. Meanwhile, we will be plugging away at the tasks needed to apply for a LHD.

We’re looking for extra help with this project and need you as much as ever. We need hands-on volunteers for data entry work on our survey database. We need proofreaders. We need scintillating minds for our Design Standards group. You will be trained well in any task so please don’t feel like you don’t know enough to help. You will have fun! If you can help with this, please e-mail Michele@historictravisheights.org.

Learn more at www.HistoricTravisHeights.org.