Tall buildings in downtown Austin are a dime a dozen these days and about as distinguished looking. The latest crop began to sprout in the late 1990s, as Austin recovered from its overbuilding glut of the 1980s. The last big crop had been in the 1920s, as evidenced by the Norwood building and the Stephen F. Austin Hotel, both subjects of great local pride when built.
Austin entered the skyscraper era in 1910, when E. M. Scarbrough built the Scarbrough building at Sixth and Congress. It is fitting that Austin's first skyscrapers stand directly across the street from each other at Austin's choicest crossoads: Sixth and Congress.
Construction on the eight-story Scarbrough Building (southwest corner) commenced in February 1910, making it Austin's first skyscraper. So new was this beast to the Texan mentality that in announcing plans for the new structure, the Austin Statesman felt compelled to explain: "The building is of a type known as a steel frame building, all weight being carried by the steel frame work and the floors being formed of a reinforced concrete slab, with finish floor laid on top of the slab." Click here to read the Statesman's complete description of the new Scarbrough building.
The Scarbrough Building remained Austin's tallest skyscraper for only a few months, however, because Major George Washington Littlefield was charging hard at E. M. Scarbrough's heels with his slightly taller "business home." The Littlefield Building (northeast corner) opened in 1911 and was described by Statesman pundit Milton Everett: "It is perhaps the most costly building of its size and kind to be found in any city of the commercial importance of Austin in the United States; nothing in Texas can begin to compare with it. It is a "made-to-order" building from sub-cellar to roof garden, even the steel girders and other massive steel parts, which in most buildings of this kind are of stock forms, measurements, and designs, in this instance were specially manufactured for the Littlefield Building. Not a stick of wood has been used in its framework or walls, and in this respect, it rivals the ancient palace of the Mayas, which is said to have fallen after centuries by the decay of the single wooden beam used in its construction."
Everett waxed further: "The construction of the Littlefield Building marks the closing of the provincial or town era of the city of Austin and the beginning of the metropolitan or city era of this place. It is the forerunner of other improvements and its success in a financial way will encourage other citizens to believe that Austin has a future that will warrant them in making improvements and encourage its early development." His prose was accompanied by a lavish architect's rendition of the building and its immediate street-level environs; and it's interesting to note that among all the pedestrians, horses, buggies, and streetcars there is nary an automobile. Click here to read Everett's complete, lavish description of the new Littlefield building.
The Littlefield building offered all the comforts of home, so much so that in 1912 one prominent citizen decided to nap on the narrow, eighth-story cornice-work ledge so lovingly described by Everett a year earlier. He barely escaped with his life, as a contemporary newspaper account describes. Names were withheld to protect the wealthy.
Legend has it that the eighth story of both the Scarbrough and Littlefield Buildings was tacked on at the last minute, as each builder learned of the other's plans --hence the cornice that interrupts the transition from seventh to eighth story on each structure. True or not, Littlefield cemented his claim to "Austin's tallest" title in 1915, when he added an extra story, thereby obliterating the building's delightful and popular Japanese roof garden. But because of his efforts, Littlefield was able to boast briefly of owning the tallest building between New Orleans and San Francisco.
The Scarbrough building's current street-level black Art Deco facade was added in 1931. In a 1939 article, the Dallas News praised the store's success, and included a photo of it.
But both these first-generation cloud crackers were eclipsed in 1929 by the elegant Gothic Revival Norwood Building (114 W. 7th). The Norwood also made history as the first skyscraper in America to have an integrally designed air-conditioning system. And all this time the Capitol, seconded by the UT Tower, stood well above the commercial fray downtown, queen of the Austin skyline. But then along came 1984 and 33-story One American Center to the northwest corner of Sixth and Congress, replacing a much-beloved Woolworth's and blocking the first of many views of the Capitol.