Crenshaw’s Garage/Texaco Station - Dripping Springs Downtown Historic District - Dripping Springs, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 30° 11.560 W 098° 05.327
14R E 587715 N 3340485
1926 garage with alterations in 1938
Waymark Code: WMY26C
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/05/2018
Views: 1
Texas Historic Site Atlas
This garage building has a rectangular footprint and multicolored random ashlar cladding. A large hipped roof covers both the building and a wide porte cochere. The porte cochere is supported by a single stout stone pier. At the base of the pier are low stone walls that presumably once supported gas pumps. The front elevation, under the porte cochere, has a central double entry door flanked by two windows on each side. The window sash has been replaced. On the east, San Marcos Street elevation, what was once a rear garage bay has been infilled.
The C. W. Crenshaw garage was built as a wooden and tin garage about 1926. At that time, the main road from Austin to Fredericksburg (Texas Highway 20) came down Wallace Mountain and took a right on San Marcos Street at Spring, and then a left onto Mercer. The driveway was designed to allow easy access and egress from either direction. Crenshaw advertised his business, especially to tourists on the Austin to Fredericksburg Road, in the April 1928 Kyle News. The ad touted their “Texaco Products,” “Mobil Oil,” and “Complete repair department” at a time when auto touring was just coming into fashion. By 1938, the route changed and the owner altered the driveway to run parallel with Mercer Street. He also added a rock cladding similar to others found along Mercer Street. The garage changed hands many times until Highway 290 was re-routed to its present location, forcing the garages on Mercer Street to close their doors for good. In the 1980s, the building held a barber shop and is currently a brew pub called Barber Shop Brew Pub. The building is a contributing resource in the district.