Save for the
Capitol and the UT
Circa 1930, Austin History Center
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Tower, the stunning Norwood structure was recognized
for decades as the tallest in downtown Austin. It was the first office
building in Austin (and one of the first in the nation) built to be fully
air-conditioned, and was also the first to have rooftop gardens, an attached
parking garage, a residential penthouse, and a pre-cast exterior. Norwood
envisioned Austin’s first fully air-conditioned office building,
complete with a sophisticated ductwork system, as an innovative
complex that would serve medical, financial and legal professionals.
Each unit was designed according to the needs of its tenant.
The cruciform shape of the 14th floor suite, where Norwood’s
offices were located, created four large, corner terraces
for Austin’s first rooftop landscape project.
The four-story attached Motoramp 
Garage
was another first for Austin. Instead of hoisting cars vertically
in lifts and ‘stacking’ them, as other garages
did, cars were parked by actually driving them to the appropriate
spaces. Tenants dropped off their cars with parking attendants
and entered the office building, just as they do today, through
a private, second floor entrance. An in-house automotive department
offered a complete line of motor services, from fueling and
carwash to repairs. Tenants could call for their cars in advance
with a signal system on each floor. A Ladies Waiting Room
and Parlor were available in the Motoramp Garage.
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| Construction of Norwood Motoramp Garage addition circa 1931, Austin History Center
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In 1931 Norwood also became the first mixed-use high rise.
The residential penthouse was conceived by Hazel Butler, wife
of Thomas J. Butler – whose company, Butler Brick, had
provided the bricks for the ramp in the Motoramp Garage. The
Butlers lived in the penthouse for 35 years.
Atop the Motoramp Garage was the exclusive Austin Club, set
back and surrounded by landscaped gardens. Its floors were
decorated with bluebonnet and cactus tiles. The Austin Club
was located on the fifth floor, with entry through the main
building, until the 40s. KNOW Radio took its place, broadcasting
from here for the next 25 years. Louis R. Cook managed the
station from 1947 until 1969. KNOW was the immediate descendant
of Austin’s first radio station. Founded in 1922 by
a physics professor at UT, Dr. S. Leroy Brown, KUT became
Austin’s first commercial broadcast station in 1927,
when UT decided the radio business was too costly and sold
it to the Rice Hotel in Houston. By 1930, it was located in
the Driskill Hotel, and in 1932 its new owners, Hearst Publications,
changed the call letters to KNOW.
