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In 1922, Ollie O. Norwood built
his home on a scenic 3 acre
tract overlooking what is now Lady Bird Lake. The Norwood Estate included a
state of the art greenhouse, a fountain, a gazebo/teahouse, and the first
geothermal fed swimming pool in Austin. Norwood later went on to build the
first fully air conditioned "skyscraper" in Texas....the well
known
Norwood Tower in downtown Austin.....a full 15 floors! |
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The Fountain
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The Green House and
Rose Garden
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The Gazebo
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In its time, the Norwood Estate
was an elegant bungalow style home surrounded by lush gardens. The house survived a number
of attempts to commercialize the site until the City of Austin purchased the entire parcel in the mid eighties.
Since then a number of restoration
efforts were initiated….none of them successful.
The most recent was begun in
1989 by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Despite all their
efforts,
the project never really got off the ground except for moving
the house back to its original location. |
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The Restoration
SRCC (the local neighborhood association) is committed to the restoration of
this home.
In April, 2008, SRCC members volunteered to form the Norwood Posse. We are developing a plan that
minimizes cost to the city and
returns the house to its original appearance.
Once this is completed, the
house will be a valuable addition to the public park system,
available for
the general public to use in a variety of ways.
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