ArtHouse Has Some History

Chris Lynn at Republic of Austin has some cool back story to the renovations taking place at the ArtHouse.

Before it was the boxy ArtHouse, the block at 700 Congress had a couple of other significant iterations. The building, erected in 1851, was the first 3-story brick building in Austin. For 70 years it  was a silver/high-ends goods store, law office and drug store. In 192o, it underwent its first renovation to become the Queen Theater.

I’m struck by the similarity of design that Lerner Shops had with Buttrey’s on W 6th.  The clean mid-century modern architectural lines seem to include: brick facade, three stories, wall of glass on the ground floor, metal awning/canopy.  Cool!