Demolition Request

Someone has put in a request to tear down this house at 1912 Church St. While I usually hate to see houses in Old Town being torn down, this is one that I won't miss - and I'm sure the neighbors won't either! Someone will have a nice corner lot to put a more attractive house on.  HARC is scheduled to hear the demolition request June 26.

The Hugh Barron House

The Hugh Barron House at 1263 Austin Avenue is undergoing renovation. According to the Georgetown Heritage Society's "Historic Homes of Georgetown" brochure, this house was built by the Belford Lumber Company for local painter Hugh Barron and his family in 1910.

More Apartments Coming?

Pending HARC approval, this house at the corner of Austin Avenue and 2nd Street and the one next to it will be torn down to make room for another apartment complex along the San Gabriel River.

1221 Main Street

Old timers in Georgetown remember when this house at 1221 Main St. was owned by a man who operated the best nursery in town in his back yard. Today, the house is vacant but was recently sold. I had the opportunity to see it while it was on the market, and it is definitely one that realtors would say has "lots of potential."

If whoever bought it has plenty of money, this house could be fixed up to look as nice as the house next door to it.

New B&Bs coming

Georgetown is soon going to have two new bed and breakfasts right across from each other on Church Street. The building that housed the former Church Street Salon and Spa was sold and is now operating as a bed and breakfast called the Sweet Lemon. The house was recently repainted from blue to mint green.

In the meantime, HARC has approved plans for a bed and breakfast to be built on the vacant lot at  201 E. 9th St. Early renderings for the proposed building are shown below.

Recycled House

Norma Harris, the widow of Southwestern University English professor Jack Harris, told me a neat story this week about the house she and her husband built at 1402 Hutto Rd. She said some of the wood their house was built from came from one of the small houses that was torn down to make room for the new President's House at Southwestern (The Turner-Fleming House).

Getting bigger

The same thing is happening to this house at the corner of Myrtle and 5th Streets that we are seeing happen to a lot of other small houses in Old Town: People are buying them and putting on major additions.