PRESENTER: Presenter
Katie Totman, HPO
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SUBJECT: Title
HLC Case DM2023-2235: Determine whether the property located at 240 S Kowald Ln meets the historic landmark eligibility criteria in response to a demolition permit submission.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning & Development Services
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: 5
APPLICABLE CRITERIA:
Sec. 66-56. Criteria for the designation of historic landmarks and districts.
A historic landmark or district may be designated if it meets at least one of the following criteria:
(1) Possesses significance in history, architecture, archeology, or culture.
(2) Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local, regional, state, or national history.
(3) Is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
(4) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction.
(5) Represents the work of a master designer, builder, or craftsman.
(6) Represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood or city.
Sec. 66-60. Alteration certificate required for demolition.
A permit for the demolition of a historic landmark or property within a historic district, including secondary buildings and landscape features, shall not be granted by the (building inspector or other city official) without the review of a completed application for an alteration certificate by the commission, as provided for in sections 66-57, 66-58 and 66-59.
(1) Significant sites and structures. All applications for permits to demolish or move buildings, objects, sites, or structures not included under section above shall be referred to the city historic preservation officer for the purpose of determining whether or not the building, object, site, or structure may have historical, cultural, architectural, or archaeological significance.
(2) The city historic preservation officer shall make such determination within 30 days after receipt of the completed demolition permit application and shall notify the building official in writing. If the building, object, site, or structure is determined to have no cultural, historical, architectural, or archaeological significance, a demolition permit may be issued immediately, provided such application otherwise complies with all City Code requirements.
(3) If said building, object, site, or structure is determined by the city historic preservation officer to have historical significance, the demolition permit shall not be issued and the historic preservation officer shall make such information available to the historic landmark commission for review and recommendations as to whether it should be designated a historic landmark. If the commission concurs on the significance, the commission shall recommend to the city council that the building, object, site, or structure be designated, as appropriate, an exceptional or significant historic landmark.
(4) The procedures and criteria for designation in sections 66-54, 66-55, and 66-56 shall be followed for this type of designation.
(5) If the property owner objects to the designations, a three-fourths vote of the entire city council shall be required for historic designation of property in question.
FINDINGS:
a. A Demolition Permit application was submitted for the property located at 240 S Kowald Ln on July 21, 2023. The property is not locally designated as historic; however, it is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, known as the Braschler House.
b. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: The structure in question is a single story fachwerk farmhouse with the fachwerk construction being concealed by a combination of wood siding and plaster. The home features original six over six wood windows on the main structure and fixed windows on the rear addition. There is a side gable corrugated metal roof on the main house, and the addition features a similar gable roof that extends toward the rear of the structure to the west.
c. HISTORIC CONTEXT: The structure was built ca. 1854 by Reverend Henry Braschler. Reverend Braschler emigrated to Texas in 1848 and was the reverend for Saint Martin’s Lutheran church from 1852 to 1857. The land on which the house is located is part of the original land grant from the Mexican Government to Antonio Maria Eznaurizar, created on November 10, 1831, in the town of Gonzales. Braschler and his family moved to Pennsylvania and sold the property to David Else in 1857. Else soon sold the property in 1860 to Christoph Isensee. The property did change hands several times over the decades and was later purchased and restored by Ethel Hander Geue and May Bourgeois in the 1970s/1980s.
d. EVALUATION: To be eligible for historic landmark designation, properties shall meet at least one (1) of the six (6) criteria listed in Section 66-65. Staff evaluated the structure against all six (6) criteria and determined that it was potentially consistent with the following:
4) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction; the building is an intact example of traditional fachwerk construction, which is a construction method used by the early German settlers in colonizing New Braunfels.
Recommendation
STAFF ANALYSIS:
The primary farmhouse is an intact example of fachwerk construction and is likely one of the oldest of its kind in the city limits of New Braunfels. Additionally, the property was awarded a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) designation in 1974 by the Texas Historical Commission (THC). RTHL designations are awarded by the THC to buildings at least 50 years old that are worthy of preservation for their architectural and historical associations.
*A super majority vote of the HLC or Planning Commission and City Council is required to historically designate a structure if an owner is in objection.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. GIS Location Map
2. Pictures of the property
3. Historic Documents