Curious minds wanted to identify this mystery building from the 1960s on Town Lake. Concession stand? Boathouse? Events venue? Seafood restaurant?
Austin History Center
The mystery building is long and low.
Within view of the photographic lens, rough limestone finishes cover two walls and six pilasters, which form seven darkened bays. What appear to be miniature café tables line the edge of a lawn that slopes sharply toward the lakeshore. A light-hued, slanted roof reminds one of a lowered sail, or the cover for a holiday retreat.
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The internet asked: What is it, and when was this picture taken?
We know from the domed, Space-Age building behind it that the year must be at least 1960, which was when the new Municipal Auditorium — later known as Palmer Auditorium and since remodeled into the Long Center for the Performing Arts — was completed.
In the mid-distance, small billboards advertise Covert Buick and the Yellow Pages, while a sign splayed across the utilitarian structure on the upper left side identifies the place as “Nelson’s.” Could Nelson’s be the building still standing at West Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road that recently housed Jax restaurant, and now hosts the paddleboard-themed Bote? The scale, placement and roof line suggest so.
In the background, the only identifiable vehicle on — is it South First Street? West Riverside Drive? Barton Springs Road? — looks like a two-toned Buick dated to the 1950s, but glare could obscure its actual finish.
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We do know that the dark tree line in the distance behind the nearly barren shores of Town Lake — now Lady Bird Lake — shrouds part of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood.
When this image popped up a few weeks ago on Facebook, we had to solve the mystery. Social media followers and preservation experts chimed in.
The crowd roars
In this aerial photo from the 1960s, you can see the mystery building just to the northeast of the Municipal Auditorium, later called Palmer Auditorium, and much later remodeled into the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
Austin History Center
The day this startling image was posted, social media commenters began making their case. Here’s a selection:
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Ken Bruce: “I don’t know, but would guess, possibly, a former canoe rental facility.”
Kevin Peroni: “Town Lake Concession Building — also referred to simply as the Auditorium Shores concession stand or terrace — located on the south shore of then Town Lake.”
Sam Smith: “I vaguely remember it as just a Parks building, a pavilion that was as used occasionally for city events, and could be rented for private events, but otherwise open for use by the public.”
Nicki Turman: “Hubby says it’s the Town Lake concession building. His Boy Scout troop was often there for snacks as they spent time building cool things at the Scout-a-Rama in the auditorium. Anyone remember those?”
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Adam Brewer: “We used to have banquets there for Troop 441 in the ‘80s”
Gardner Selby: “A boathouse perhaps?”
Heather Powell: “Is this where they watched the boat races?”
Marianne Midlo Rochelle: “Aqua Fest HQ?”
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Emily Tracy-Haas: “I had the great fun of performing on a big barge for the first ever Aqua Fest. I remember singing ‘Moon River’ over and over and over again as I floated down the lake. Somehow the barge tugged loose from its moorings and I floated way down stream, but I just kept singing! But to the point: I remember that little place as a concession stand.”
Chris Walters: “Back end of the Nighthawk?”
Bill Padgett: “There was a similarly-sized, 1-story on the west side into the early ‘70s that housed the Chamber of Commerce, and then into the early ‘90s, Parks and Recreation Department’s athletics staff. It was demolished to make room for the current Palmer Events Center.”
Lane Rockford Orsak: “The sign on the left ends with a “S” — I googled “businesses next to Palmer Auditorium on the lake in the early ‘60s,” and this came up: “Nelson’s: A small local business that sat right on the riverbank directly south of the Congress Avenue Bridge.” Could this be Nelson’s?”
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Ben Sargent: “Maybe part of Christie’s — a good seafood house!”
Rick Baden: “Looks like Christie’s.”
JF Margos: “I agree that it looks like Christie’s Seafood old building.”
Beth Boye: “Was it during the construction of Christie’s?”
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Doug Jacobs: “I remember Christie’s Seafood and this building looks like it. The building materials. If you zoom in and look at the mid top left you can see part of a business sign, not the billboards, and it looks like it could read Christie’s.”
The experts speak
If you look closely at the section of Christie’s Seafood on the right, it closely resembles the mystery structure. The more flamboyant part to the left must have been an addition. All this was later replaced by the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Austin History Center
It’s quite possible that almost every commenter is right: concession stand, boathouse, banquet hall and seafood restaurant. It could be older than the Municipal Auditorium, and maybe went through multiple lives.
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My resistance to the pro-Christie’s caucus relates to a more famous historical shot of the flamboyant Austin outlet of Houston’s oldest restaurant that dates back to 1917. In addition, at least one version of Christie’s sat where the Hyatt Regency now rises, and the foreshortened distances in this mystery photo do not exactly correlate to the space between the hotel and what is now the Long Center.
To move beyond educated guesses, I turned to two local preservation experts: Kim McKnight, division manager for Austin’s historic preservation office, and Sarah Marshall, historic preservation and tourism program manager for Austin Parks & Recreation.
“I don’t recall seeing this photo,” McKnight wrote. “I do recall that the area around Auditorium Shores had G.I. housing through the early ‘50s.”
McKnight copied Marshall.
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“Elementary, my dear Watson!” McKnight wrote. “Sarah can solve just about any history mystery.”
Using historical photos and newspaper articles — plus a sharply trained eye — Marshall does seem to have one of the last words. She attached three photos of Christie’s in different phases.
“From the angle of (the) photo, this mystery building is where the Hyatt Regency now stands,” Marshall wrote. “The attached 1979 article shows that Christie’s Restaurant — formerly at 108 Barton Springs — was where the Hyatt Regency is now. The photo in the article shows the Congress Ave Bridge from the Christie’s Restaurant porch, so that tracks.”
Another historical photo that Marshall, like others, had seen of Christie’s showed a much bigger building.
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“But you can see that the roof line on the west end of the building matches the one in (this) photo. Christie’s Restaurant opened in 1963, and Wray Weddell’s 1966 article states they were planning an addition. I believe the building in (this) photo is Christie’s Restaurant before it was remodeled.”
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Please send tips and questions to mbarnes@statesman.com.