AUSTIN & BUNGALOWS

THE PEACH STREET HOUSE [2017–2021]

[WITH FORGE CRAFT ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN]

While residences of Black Americans had been widely scattered all across Austin in 1880, by 1930 they were heavily concentrated on the east side, a process encouraged by the 1928 City Plan.

Frank Tarver, a carpenter, and his wife Cora first owned and occupied the Peach Street House from 1911 to 1913; James Gilbert, a City Sanitation Department worker, and his wife Rose owned and occupied the home from 1923 to 1936; Ira Coleman, a World War I veteran and jewelry store porter, and his wife Mattie owned and occupied the house from 1936 until 1970. It has been a rental unit since that time.

Originally built as a single-family Victorian home in 1911, the Peach Street House underwent a Craftsman-style renovation in the 1920s. The current owners, a historian of Africa and a writer of fiction, rehabilitated the exterior of the house and modernized its interior. They converted the main level back into a single-family home and excavated the crawl space to include guest bedrooms, a single-car garage, a mudroom, and a rental apartment. In the future the owners hope to maximize the lot’s entitlements by building a backyard cottage and subdividing the lot.