J. L. Buaas Building

Duane's take

The official marker's got the story, and here's how I tell it. Now, some men come to Texas looking for something. John L.

Buaas came from Norway, and he came to Austin in 1839, and that right there tells you something about the man. Austin in 1839 was not exactly a city of comfort and convenience. It was a capital city in ambition only, and ambition was about all it had in ready supply.

But Buaas stayed. He put down roots. He waited.

And John L. Buaas was a man who knew how to wait. By 1871, Reconstruction governor E.

J. Davis had taken notice of him and appointed him city alderman. That is not a small thing.

That is a man who had built a reputation solid enough that even a governor could see it from across the room. Then comes 1875. That is the year Buaas decided Austin needed to see what he was made of.

Right here, on what was then called Pine Street, now known as 5th Street, he built a mercantile store. Two stories tall. Italianate commercial style, which is a fancy way of saying this building had something to say for itself.

And here is the part that stops you cold if you think about it long enough. The man designed the thing with two facades. One face looking out on Pine Street, one face looking out on Pecan Street, which today you'd call 6th Street.

Two streets, two faces, one building. A corner structure with opinions in both directions. Now, Buaas sold the building in 1879.

Maybe he'd proven what he set out to prove. Whatever the reason, he let it go. But the building did not let go of Austin.

Since then it has moved through the hands of various commercial establishments, each one finding a use for those two proud facades. And today, it stands as part of the revitalization of Old Pecan Street. A Norwegian immigrant built something in 1875 that Austin is still finding reasons to keep.

That is not nothing. That is everything.

What the marker says

Norwegian immigrant John L. Buaas moved to Austin in 1839 and in 1871 was appointed city alderman by Reconstruction governor E.J. Davis. In 1875 he built a mercantile store here. The two-story Italianate commercial structure was designed with two facades, one facing Pine (5th) Street, and the other on Pecan (6th) Street. Buaas sold the building in 1879, and since then it has been used for various commercial establishments and is now part of the revitalization of Old Pecan Street. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983