Not That Old House

We bought one of today's activities in a charity auction. Although we have gotten more circumspect about bidding in those ubiquitous adjuncts to fundraisers since our downsizing began in earnest, buying an activity that leaves no physical trace is fun. Purchased in a fundraiser for an Austin history video project, this event was a tour of Austin's Hyde Park conducted by a resident of the neighborhood who is an architectural historian.

Hyde Park seems to be a name that American cities co-opted to evoke the patrician and royalist feeling Americans are supposed to have been escaping for over 200 years. (If you believe we succeeded, witness Queen Elizabeth's visit to Jamestown and the White House for white tie.)

This is the Oliphant-Walker house, built in 1894 and ancient by Austin standards.

Our tour was very pleasant on a day that held a little bit of cool even in the afternoon. Rare for this time of year. We took our host a present of a small antique that we'd bought in another charity auction long ago. We were joined by some of our younger friends. Two couples recently bought homes not far away and were very interested in all the neighborhood things and the remodeling projects. Another young friend is an advertising and PR exec interested in everything Austin. A local public radio personality who has a gardening show rounded out the group by taking a special interest in the flora. We ended up with lemonade and cucumber sandwiches and a tour inside our host's house, built in 1896. Without changing any view from the street, the owners have created a beautiful master suite in the large attic. Our host showed us paintings by and of his family and interesting architectural touches inside.

Definitely one of our best charity auction purchases ever. And when I gave our host the little gift I told him that he might wish to donate it to one of our charities for an auction if he didn't have a desire to display it. Have to keep those charity dollars in circulation.

For those of you who watch This Old House: the title was for you. But we did, in fact, walk by the Austin house featured on the show. For those of you local to the Austin, Texas area that house will be on the Hyde Park Home Tour on Father's Day weekend.