Downtown Austin
[1][2] Downtown Austin is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region.
The top three tallest condo buildings west of the Mississippi River are all located in downtown Austin: The Independent, The Austonian, and the 360 Condominiums.
One grand avenue, which Lamar named "Congress", cut through the center of town from Capitol Square down to the Colorado River.
Early structures along Congress Avenue included government buildings, hotels, saloons, retail stores and restaurants.
The mid-1870s introduced gaslight illumination and mule-driven streetcars as well as construction of a new Travis County courthouse at Eleventh Street.
Stylistically, the dominating structures of significance reflected general Victorian form and detailing, tempered by local materials and building techniques.
[6] Notable structures along Congress Avenue north of the Colorado include the Texas State Capitol, Paramount Theatre, the Scarbrough and Littlefield Buildings, the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Building, Gethsemane Lutheran Church and the Old Bakery.
The western portion includes the historic West Sixth Street Bridge at Shoal Creek.
E. Sixth Street plays host to a wide variety of events each year, ranging from music and film festivals (such as South by Southwest) to biker rallies (such as The Republic of Texas Biker Rally) and the Pecan Street Festival.
Recently, there has been a growing movement to develop this area as an entertainment district of its own, geared toward the live music crowd.
[12] As of May 15, 2014, in response to a deadly crash during the SXSW festival and the increase of intoxicated patrons, vehicular parking between Brazos and Red River Streets is prohibited between the hours of 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.
[13][14][15] The Rainey Street Historic District is a community positioned near Lady Bird Lake and Interstate 35 in a southeastern pocket of downtown.
The Seaholm District is a formerly industrial section of southwest downtown Austin that the city has transformed into a vibrant urban neighborhood.
At the core of the district is the decommissioned Seaholm Power Plant, which has been redeveloped into a landmark residential and retail destination.
After several years of delays and false starts due in part to a recession-based setback, the mixed-use development accommodates ten distinct retail businesses as of January 2019.
[18] The block was added to National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and is considered one of the few remaining upper-class Victorian neighborhoods of the middle to late 19th century in Texas.
[19] Six of these houses were built or expanded for members of the families of brothers Eugene and John Bremond, who were prominent in late-19th-century Austin social, merchandising, and banking circles.
[18] Judges Hill is a largely residential neighborhood located north of the central business district of downtown Austin on the eastern bluff overlooking Pease Park, bordered by Rio Grande Street, 15th Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Lamar Blvd.
In 1851, Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson built the first home in present-day Judges Hill near the corner of 18th and San Gabriel.
[29] The Texas Third Court of Appeals is located in the Price Daniel Sr. State Office Building in Downtown Austin.
[30] The Texas Department of Public Safety operates the Region 7 Capitol office in Downtown Austin.
[33] The Consulate General of Ireland in Austin is located in Suite 1720 of Bank of America's financial center at 515 Congress Avenue.
[37] Major employers in Downtown Austin include the corporate headquarters and flagship store of Whole Foods Market, GSD&M Idea City and one co-headquarter location of Indeed.
Over the years, as movies became the leading form of entertainment, the theater was remodeled with upholstered chairs and a state-of-the-art sound system.
