← DispatchesANDREWPHAN
Low sun on The Driskill's red-brick front, where three stone balconies stack above an arched doorway. A person stands on the middle balcony. Lamp posts line the empty street beside a second brick building.

The Driskill, Austin

Take a moment

On a rare photowalk at the start of 2020, someone steps out onto a balcony of The Driskill to stand in the sun. What the hotel is, and who built it.

Where
The Driskill, 604 Brazos Street at East 6th Street, Austin, Texas 78701
When
About 10:18 AM, 29 December 2019, in low sunFrom the photo file (Fujifilm X100F). Posted 1 January 2020.
Posted
1 January 2020
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It's rare that I get out for a photowalk any more. For a while now, taking photos purely for the love of it hasn't been a pastime I've had the time, or the presence of mind, to do.

It's too cold outside. It's too hot outside. I want to sleep in. New project after project.

But I did just that. As I walked past the intersection, on a balcony of The Driskill I saw someone step out through the double doors, take a moment and enjoy the sun.

So do just that. It's beautiful. Take a moment. Enjoy the sunshine.

The Driskill

The Driskill is the oldest hotel still operating in Austin. Colonel Jesse L. Driskill, a cattleman who had moved to Austin in 1869, built it in 1885 and 1886, and meant it to be "the finest hotel south of St. Louis". It opened in December 1886. The state's historical marker says Christmas; Wikipedia gives a grand opening on 20 December.

He didn't keep it long. A harsh winter and a drought killed his cattle. He closed the hotel in May 1887 and sold it to his brother-in-law in 1888. A 13-storey tower was added beside the original building in 1930. In 1969 the guest rooms closed and most of the furniture was sold, and a non-profit, the Driskill Hotel Corporation, raised $900,000 to save the building from demolition. It went on the National Register of Historic Places that same year; Texas had already made it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1966.

The building

The Driskill is brick dressed with limestone, built in the Romanesque Revival style. Its porticos on the south and east sides have large round arches, and the state marker says one of its three grand entrances was the largest arched doorway in Texas.

Look up and the family is still there. A limestone bust of Jesse Driskill sits over the arch facing Sixth Street. Busts of his sons, Bud and Tobe, face Brazos Street and the alley on the hotel's west side.

The hotel stands on the west side of Brazos Street, between Sixth and Seventh. Its historical marker is at the entrance on Brazos, with a duplicate facing Seventh Street.

Sources

  • Driskill Hotel, Texas Historic Sites Atlas, Texas Historical Commission, marker 13931 (1966): the address and position on Brazos Street between Sixth and Seventh; built 1885 to 1886 by Col. Jesse L. Driskill, who moved to Austin in 1869; brick dressed with limestone; three grand entrances and the largest arched doorway in Texas; the busts over the south, east and west sides; opened Christmas 1886; Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1966.
  • Driskill Hotel, Wikipedia: the oldest operating hotel in Austin; "the finest hotel south of St. Louis"; grand opening on 20 December 1886; Romanesque Revival, with large arches on the south and east porticos; the 1887 closure and 1888 sale; the 1930 tower; the 1969 rescue; National Register listing on 25 November 1969; which way each bust faces.