The following post is reprinted from the upcoming Fall 2015 SRCC Neighborhood Newsletter and written by Colleen Theriot of the Norwood Park Foundation:
Have you been up on the hill at Norwood lately? The site of the house is looking great and the Norwood Park Foundation is moving steadily forward in its mission to restore and repurpose the Norwood House for everyone. In June, we wrapped up Phase 1 of the project and filed our completion report with the City. Phase 1 represents years of effort and several hundred thousand dollars in gifts and other private funding toward the project. What did Phase 1 achieve? For the house: environmental remediation, a brand-new foundation on piers drilled to bedrock, moving of the bungalow (twice, in our case) to its correct historic location, and complete stabilization and bracing of the wood structure. “Norcliff†is now completely dried in with temporary roofing, and the old walls are protected with sheathing and paint. No more deterioration for this Arts & Crafts landmark!
Upgrades to the Norwood site began last March, when dead and invasive trees were removed to reveal the spectacular, historic, view over Lady Bird Lake. Overgrowth was cut back from other vintage elements like the gazebo foundation and the old garden walls. The grounds work will finish by November when decades of deadwood and ball moss are pruned from the heritage oaks surrounding the house. We sincerely thank SRCC for the generous grant that allowed us to pursue site work. It will play a crucial role in attracting future financial support for the project.
Concurrent with these accomplishments, NPF has completed schematic design of the integrated Norwood plan. The overall concept for the restoration of the house and gardens, new accessory structures, and the landscape is absolutely outstanding. We look forward to more broadly sharing the vision in 2016. Huge thanks to our volunteers from Travis Heights and beyond, who show up on cleanup days and help our board in ways big & small. Our collective Norwood effort demonstrates that, together, we can “keep Austin original†and bring this cultural treasure back to a useful & self-sustaining new life for future generations
Colleen Theriot, Norwood Park Foundation
