Austin Centre

The Southwest Tower Building is a 12-storey, 160,410-square-foot (14,903 m2) building at 211 East 7th St. in Downtown Austin, Texas and is located across the street from the historic Driskill Hotel and the modern Omni Hotel. On the edge of the E. 6th Street entertainment district and Congress Avenue, the Southwest Tower building is within easy walking distance to the numerous restaurants and entertainment venues in the downtown area. The building has also earned the moniker of "Telemarketing Tower" for the large number of telemarketing operations that have been based inside it over the years ranging from the Republican Party of Texas phone center to Sears Vinyl Siding. When it opened in 1972 it was considered the leading business tower in the city. (Austin American-Statesman November 18, 1972) The Southwest Tower Building was the site of a fire on Sunday, March 6, 2011. No cause has been given for the fire.

Located on the northeast corner of Brazos and Eighth Street, Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. Central Presbyterian Church is a member of Mission Presbytery, in the Synod of the Sun region of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It maintains a program of ministry, outreach, and cultural events. It has presented free concerts weekly since 1980, and since 2006 the church has been a venue for the SXSW Music Festival.

St. David's Episcopal Church is a historic church in downtown Austin, Texas, United States. Its main church building was constructed in 1854–1855, making it one of the oldest standing buildings in the city. The first Episcopal church in Austin was briefly organized in 1848, nine years after Austin was founded. In 1851 the parish was reorganized, and work on the church building began two years later. The church is located at 304 E. 7th Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The J.J. Pickle Federal Building is one of the largest mid-century modern buildings in Texas and has a rich political history. The eleven-story structure is a quintessential specimen of mid-century high-rises with its vertically oriented, uniform exterior grid that "reflects a golden age for civic architecture in the 1950s and 1960s". The building is known for its famous occupants, including Congressman J. J. Pickle and President Lyndon B. Johnson. The building occupies the entire block on 8th street between San Jacinto Boulevard and Trinity Street in downtown Austin, Texas. There is an outdoor plaza on the north half of the site that connects to the first floor. The ground floor is at street level on 8th street.

The Driskill, a Romanesque-style building completed in 1886, is the oldest operating hotel in Austin, Texas, United States, and one of the best-known hotels in Texas generally. The Driskill was conceived and built by Col. Jesse Driskill, a cattleman who spent his fortune constructing "the finest hotel south of St. Louis".Today, the Driskill remains one of the premier hotels in Austin, featuring lavish bridal suites, two restaurants, and a grand ballroom. It is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the United States, featuring a variety of alleged supernatural activity throughout the building, including the spirit of Colonel Driskill himself. The Driskill has been owned and operated by Hyatt Hotels Corporation since 2013. The hotel was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 25, 1969.

The Millett Opera House, home of the Austin Club, is a historic building in downtown Austin, Texas. Built in 1878 by local lumber seller Charles Millett on one of his lots, the house was one of the largest performance spaces in Texas upon its completion. It featured 800 removable seats, 24-inch limestone walls, and the largest enclosed space in Texas. The Opera House was designed by Frederick Ruffini, an architect working throughout Texas. The Austin Public Free Schools (today the Austin Independent School District) purchased the opera house in 1940. In the 1950s, it was threatened with demolition, but preserved by a local group of concerned citizens. It housed a printing company until 1979, when a long-term lease was arranged for the Austin Club, a local private social club. The Austin Club now owns the opera house. The Austin Club renovated the building and divided it into three stories, removing the performance space, but a portion of the original hand-painted ceiling is still installed in one of the meeting rooms. The building is located at 110 East Ninth Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Sixth Street is a historic street and entertainment district in Austin, Texas, located within the city's urban core in downtown Austin. Sixth Street was formerly named Pecan Street under Austin's older naming convention, which had east–west streets named after trees and north–south streets named after Texas rivers (the latter convention remains in place).The nine-block area of East Sixth Street roughly between Lavaca Street to the west and Interstate 35 to the east is recognized as the Sixth Street Historic District and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1975. Developed as one of Austin's trade and commercial districts in the late 1800s, the predominant building style are two- or three-story masonry Victorian commercial architecture. Most structures in the area had already been built by the 1880s, though a few notable exceptions include the Driskill Hotel (1886), the Scarbrough Building (1910), and the Littlefield Building. The area around nearby 4th Street and 6th Street has been a major entertainment district since the 1970s. Many bars, clubs, music venues, and shopping destinations are located on East 6th Street between Congress Avenue and Interstate 35, and many offer live music at one time or another during the week. Traffic is generally blocked on East 6th Street and most crossroads from I-35 to Brazos Street on weekend evenings, and football home games (depending on pedestrian traffic), as well as holidays and special events, to allow the crowds to walk unfettered to the many venues that line the street. East Sixth Street (known locally as Dirty Sixth) plays host to a wide variety of events each year, ranging from music and film festivals (such as South by Southwest) to biker rallies (such as The Republic of Texas Biker Rally) and the Pecan Street Festival.The area of Sixth Street west of Lavaca is known as the West 6th Street District. Recently, a movement has been growing to develop this area as an entertainment district of its own, geared toward the live-music crowd.

The German Free School is a historic building in Austin, Texas. Built in 1857, the structure was home to the German Free School Association, the first Austin school chartered by the Texas Legislature upon its opening in 1858. The site was designated as a City of Austin Historic Landmark in 1956 and a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1962.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is a conservative think tank based in Austin, Texas. The organization was founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger, who sought intellectual support for his education reform ideas, including public school vouchers. Projects of the organization include Right on Crime, which is focused on criminal justice reform, and Fueling Freedom, which seeks to "explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels" by rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.In 2015, TPPF had total revenue of $10.8 million. Donors to the organization include energy companies Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other fossil fuel interests. The stated mission of TPPF is "to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach."In 2018, TPPF opened an office in Washington, D.C.

Saint Mary's Cathedral is the cathedral parish of the Catholic Diocese of Austin located in Austin, Texas, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, as St. Mary's Cathedral.

Congress Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Austin, Texas. The street is a six-lane, tree lined avenue that cuts through the middle of the city from far south Austin and goes over Lady Bird Lake leading to the Texas State Capitol in the heart of Downtown. Congress Avenue south of Lady Bird Lake is known as South Congress, often abbreviated to SoCo, and is an increasingly popular shopping and rental district. It passes the historic Travis Heights neighborhood, the Texas School for the Deaf, and St. Edward's University as it passes south out of town.

The original Vulcan Gas Company (usually called Vulcan) was the first successful psychedelic music venue in Austin, Texas. The Vulcan opened its doors at 316 Congress Avenue in the fall of 1967, and closed in the summer of 1970. Gary Scanlon, Houston White, Don Hyde, and Sandy Lockett started the VGC. By 1969, management was primarily by White and Lockett, along with Jim Franklin. There was a substantial sound system installed by Sandy Lockett. Charlie Sauer was the principal audio engineer for the last year of operation. Bobby Hedderman and Marty McDermott managed the club for the last few months. Underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton became their art director in 1967 and drew their weekly posters.