Hyde Park (Austin, Texas)

Hyde Park is a neighborhood and historic district in Austin, Texas. Located in Central Austin, Hyde Park is defined by 38th Street to the south, 45th Street to the north, Duval Street to the east, and Guadalupe Street to the west. It is situated just north of the University of Texas and borders the neighborhoods of Hancock and North Loop.[2]

Hyde Park Historic District
LocationRoughly bounded by Ave. A, 45th St., Duval St., and 40th St., Austin, Texas
Coordinates30°18′21″N 97°43′48″W
Area138.5 acres (56.0 ha)
Architectural styleTudor Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, Queen Anne
MPSHyde Park MPS
NRHP reference No.90001191[1]
Added to NRHPJune 29, 1990

Hyde Park traces its origins back to 1891 and is considered to be Austin's first suburb.[3] The neighborhood was originally developed by Monroe Martin Shipe in 1891 as a "White Only" streetcar suburb with a large artificial lake, but it has since become one of the most densely populated areas in the city's urban core.[4][5][6] Part of the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District in 1990.

History
Elisabet Ney Museum

Located approximately twenty blocks from Austin's original town site, the area now known as Hyde Park was largely rural in character for much of the 19th century. The State Fair of Texas was held in the eastern sections of Hyde Park from 1875 until it was moved to Dallas in 1884. A portion of the State Fair's horseracing track is still reflected in the curved segment of 39th Street between Avenue F and Duval Street.[7]

Established in 1891 by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Land and Town Company, Hyde Park was marketed under the direction of Monroe Martin Shipe as a majority white, affluent suburb featuring large, majestic residences, separate from the racially integrated neighborhoods of the city[8]. Ads touted Hyde Park as “free from nuisances and an objectionable class of people, proper restrictions being taken to guard against undesirable occupants.”[9] Critical to the suburb's success was the establishment of an electric streetcar system. After the City Council awarded Shipe a franchise in 1890, his Austin Rapid Transit Railway Company built its first line on Congress Avenue, west on Sixth Street, and north on Rio Grande Street and Old Georgetown Road (now Guadalupe Street) to Hyde Park.[10]

Hyde Park was initially marketed to Austin's elite in the 1890s, and Shipe achieved moderate success. The first houses built in the neighborhood were stylistic examples of late 19th-century domestic architecture. Many of them, such as the Oliphant-Walker House, were built in the Queen Anne style by locally prominent citizens. Noted sculptress Elisabet Ney was among the first to buy property in the area, which was heavily promoted as confirmation that Hyde Park was attractive to Austin's most talented and prestigious citizens. Ney built a small castle-style studio, named Formosa, in northwest Hyde Park that is now home to the Elisabet Ney Museum.[11]

By the late 1890s and early 1900s, however, the tone of Hyde Park's advertisements began to change. No longer was it promoted as an affluent residential area; instead, the suburb was described as an ideal place for the "working man or woman" to invest his or her earnings by purchasing a lot and building a residence. The key phrase in these promotions became affordability.[12] Hyde Park's architectural character shifted to smaller, more modest frame houses and bungalows. While steady construction of houses characterized the area through the early 1900s, Hyde Park's greatest building boom occurred between 1924 and 1935. Shipe Park was dedicated in 1928.[7]

Analysis of styles and dates of construction of domestic structures elucidates historic growth patterns within Hyde Park. The oldest houses are located near the State Hospital or along the former streetcar route on 40th Street. Later, as promotional emphasis shifted to a different socioeconomic group, more modest dwellings were constructed in areas somewhat removed from the streetcar line.

Today, Hyde Park consists of mostly renovated bungalow-style homes, and modern duplex-style residences, many with bright colors and unorthodox decorations, due in part to the residents preserving the city’s informal “Keep Austin Weird” slogan. All street signs in Hyde Park are dedicated to its historical identity. Many ”Austinites” consider Hyde Park Austin, TX’s most locally cultured neighborhood.

Historic districts

The Hyde Park neighborhood contains two historic districts and several other individual historic buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[13] The Hyde Park Historic District is roughly defined by West 40th Street to the south, West 45th Street to the north, Duval Street to the east, and Avenue A to the west.[14] The district includes Victorian architecture, Tudor Revival architecture, and bungalows.

The Shadow Lawn Historic District in southeast Hyde Park is roughly bounded by 38th Street, 39th Street, Avenue G, and Duval Street. The district includes several homes of historic interest from the early twentieth century.

Historic buildings in Hyde Park
Shipe Park

Residential properties are the most prominent property type in Hyde Park, with single-family dwellings comprising about 95 percent of the neighborhood's built environment. Most lots within the neighborhood were improved between the late 1890s and 1935. Houses built during that period reflect the architectural tastes, trends and patterns that prevailed in Austin at the time. Bungalows are the most common house type, followed by examples of the stylistic influences of the Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles.[12]

As Austin has grown, Hyde Park has once again undergone a boom of sorts. In 2001 to 2007, the median home price rose by nearly $70,000 to $320,000.[7] Despite the housing market crash in 2008-2009, homes have regained their values and as of July 2013 the median home price was $350,000 with some properties selling for over $1.5 million.[15]

The 1.75-acre (7,100 m2) Shipe Park is located in Hyde Park. Shipe Park has two unlighted basketball courts, one multipurpose court, two picnic tables, one playground, a 444 square yard neighborhood swimming pool, two lighted tennis courts, and indoor toilet facilities.[16]

Education

Residents are served by the Austin Independent School District. Residents are assigned to Lee Elementary School, Kealing Middle School, and McCallum High School.[17] The area is also served by Hyde Park Schools.

Sri Atmananda Memorial School, a private school, was in Hyde Park.

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gollark: The "other ones lasted longer than a year so the estimates are too optimistic" thing ignores the fact that we can develop vaccines now.
gollark: I find running really boring. Also most exercise-y stuff.

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "Neighborhood Planning Areas". Austin City Connection. City of Austin. Retrieved Sep 9, 2011.
  3. "Hyde Park". Austin Treasures. City of Austin. Retrieved August 31, 2005.
  4. Julio, Julio (2007-02-02). "Hyde Park evolved differently than planned". The Daily Texan. Archived from the original on 2010-01-28. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
  5. R.U. Steinberg and John Slate, East Austin: A Planned Community. Austin Chronicle. 12/9/1988√
  6. Eliot Tretter, Austin Restricted: Progressivism, Zoning, Private Racial Covenants, and the Making of a Segregated City. Draft Report for Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis, University of Texas at Austin, 2012. "Austin Restricted". Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  7. Austin City Connection. "Hyde Park Local Historic District". City of Austin. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  8. Tretter, Eliot M. (2012). "Austin Restricted: Progressivism, Zoning, Private Racial Covenants, and the Making of a Segregated City". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "Austin's history of segregation threatens economy's future". projects.statesman.com. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  10. Ben Wear (March 8, 2010). "From mules to scrap: Austin's first rail era". Austin-American Statesman. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  11. "Austin landmark to undergo major restoration". News 8 Austin. Aug 17, 2009. Retrieved Sep 7, 2011.
  12. "Hyde Park Historic District". Texas Historical Site Atlas. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved Sep 9, 2011.
  13. "TEXAS - Travis County Historic Districts". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved Sep 7, 2011.
  14. "Hyde Park Historic District". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  15. ""Hyde Park Housing Market Report
  16. "Shipe Park Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine." City of Austin. Retrieved on September 26, 2009.
  17. "School Assignment by Residential Address." Austin Independent School District. Retrieved on September 26, 2009.
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