A Social History-By Bo McCarver

The residential architecture in the Blackland neighborhood has evolved over the passed hundred years to be highly varied in design and use. Before the area was subdivided in 1908, it was farmland cultivated by Swedes; some built homes on the Glissmann Addition lots and remained in the area. In 1928, the city adopted a master plan that called for displacing the African American population from neighborhoods west of the Capitol to an area east of East Avenue (now roughly IH-35); south of Manor Road, and north of the Colorado River. By 1945, many of the lots in the Blackland Neighborhood were purchased by black families who constructed modest bungalows, generally with two bedrooms.
The Harden House, named for the family that built it in 1945 and lived there until 2004, was typical in size, use and history. Constructed during an austere economy near the end of WW2, the two-bedroom house had no studs in its load-bearing walls but had milled 1" X 10" boards that were "tied" in the centers to each other with strips of tin tacked on so as to prevent the boards from warping and sagging. The 2" X 4" rafters were secured with "cut nails"- square, 2 1/2 inch nails made of mild steel, the crowns of which easily flattened when hammered.

As the Harden family grew, the front porch was converted to a living room and an additional bedroom was added and the roof extended over it. A different size of hardwood was used for the floor.

Minnie Harden lived in the house until her death in 2002. Her daughter, June Harden Brewer, then sold the house to the University of Texas. Meanwhile, the Blackland Community Development Corporation (BCDC) had embarked on a program of acquiring older homes and moving them onto vacant lots to be remodeled for low-income housing. Recognizing the historic and fiscal qualities of the Harden House, BCDC board members approached the UT Campus Land Development Office who agreed to donate the house to the non-profit. Because providing low-income housing was not in UT's scope and mission, it first sold the house for $10 to the Texas Affordable Housing Corporation (TAFC), a non-profit, that in turn sold the house to BCDC for legal fees amounting to $2,000.

The transaction was delayed, however, because the UT School of Architecture needed the Harden House as a storage and service facility as it erected its entry for the 2005 Solar Decathlon. The 2005 Solar D team wanted the house to be used after the competition in Washington D.C. and solicited proposals to several non-profits. BCDC was awarded the house, with the understanding that surplus energy would be shared with other rental units nearby. The solar house was added to the transfers from UT to TAFC, to BCDC in October 2005.

Working with volunteer professional engineers, architects and the '05 Solar D team, BCDC quickly garnered permits and put down pier foundations for both houses. The solar house piers were placed on limestone approximately 5 feet below ground level while the Harden House was placed on concrete footings. When the modular sections of the solar house were placed in November, a bearing under the last section was dislodged and resulted in a 3/16 in gap (discovered a year later). Meanwhile, the Harden House survived the four-block move northward after a section of the roof was removed to allow it to pass under a power line. The sparse use of materials in the Harden House was not discovered until after it was moved and demolition exposed the 1 X 10s that composed its load-bearing walls.

The housed were placed on two lots that had been platted from one lot in 1940. It was soon discovered that Texas Deregulation Laws do not allow energy to be transported across lot lines, an unanticipated situation that jeopardized the major objective of the project. Joel Martinez, BCDC's architect, suggested joining the two lots together in a restrictive covenant and building a breezeway across the 15' space that separated the structure, thus producing a duplex. The plan triggered another round of variance requests but these were secured in early 2006 and work proceeded.

The exposed roof of the Harden House needed immediate attention so volunteers first addressed that issues and then performed demolition on the moldy Sheetrock and other internal structures. Donations were received from Shelter with Spirit and Grande Communications that kept the volunteers supplied with materials. BCDC dedicated $790 per month from its meager development budget that came from rents paid by 37 households living in the non-profit's units.

Hundreds of volunteers worked for several years on both structures. The dedication of the duplex was held in August 2008 and also marked the BCDC's 25th anniversary.

The Harden-Solar Duplex project generated much information that informs BCDC's next effort, the Stewart Site, where green building techniques will be deployed in renovation and construction of eight residential units for low-income household and community conservatory where domestic arts and community culture can be fostered.