Condo with Capitol views in storied building asks $1.3M

Almost certainly due to its convenience, the Westgate Tower, a condominium complex across the street from the Texas Capitol, has been home to notable state figures, as well as more than a few lobbyists, over the years. Its architecture has been subject of much discussion, as local architectural discussions go, as well.

According to an article on the Modern Austin website, quoting city Historic Landmark Commission staff in 2012, it was “designed by internationally known New York architect Edward Durell Stone in 1962 and was ... completed under the supervision of prominent local architects Fehr and Granger in 1966.”

The article also cites the commission’s opinion that it is the ”best example of a mid-century high-rise in Austin” and an “excellent example of the New Formalism in the modern movement of architecture in the 1960s.”

Nevertheless, the building failed the receive a city historic landmark designation in 2012, according to a story that year from the Austin-American Statesman.

While that is no double partially due to a decline in the popularity of granting tax abatements, it should be noted that the particular strain of modernism it embodies fell out of favor over the years, and that the involvement of revered local architects Fehr and Granger is no guarantee of preservation when it comes to local governing bodies.

In any case, what’s interesting and kind of cool about this two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo has less to do with modernism than with its giant terraces (totaling more than 1,400 square feet) and its charmingly non-modern interior design. In a world of white-on-white condos and a serious lack of crown molding, it’s refreshing to run across an example of what people in the 1960s were doing when they weren’t doing mid-mod.

Of course, the 1,699-square-foot home also has its views, its location, and its two reserved parking spaces going for it. The furniture is negotiable.

• 1122 Colorado Street [Greenwood Residential Properties]

• Is Downtown Austin’s Westgate Tower Mid-Century Modern Enough To Be Historic? [Modern Austin]

• Westgate Tower may become Austin’s youngest landmark building, with the most tax breaks [AAS]