AUSTIN (KXAN) — For more than 50 years, the Fannie Davis Gazebo has offered people walking along the Lady Bird Hike and Bike Trail a respite. Now the city is taking steps to protect it. During the City of Austin Feb. 27 council meeting, council members approved designating it as a historical landmark.
The gazebo went up in 1969. According to a press release from the city, it was the first public structure built to beautify the south shore of Town Lake, which has since been renamed Lady Bird Lake. The Town Lake Beautification Committee raised money to build it. It sits on Vic Mathias Shores, overlooking the water near South First Street.
It was renamed in 1984 for Fannie Davis, a founding member of the Austin chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction.
J. Sterry Nill designed the gazebo to resemble an inverted morning glory flower.
City documents call it one of the most recognizable touchpoints along the water and say it’s one of Austin’s only hyperbolic paraboloid structures, which has changed very little
since its construction.
“The gazebo is one of Austin’s modern architectural gems, hidden in plain sight,” said Jesús Aguirre, director of Austin Parks and Recreation. “The City of Austin Historic Landmark status will help raise awareness of this remarkable structure and the Women in Construction organization’s early role in beautifying the shores of Lady Bird Lake.”
In 2019, the gazebo was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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