Historic Preservation
The Haehnel Building / Shorty’s Bar
The Haehnel Building serves as a beautiful example of collaborative architecture and redevelopment, thanks in large part to the Austin Revitalization Authority’s efforts. Currently home to Edwards Law, the structure is now fully restored and up to code. Although it may look bright and shiny now, it undeniably carries a colorful history.
In 1875, Italian immigrant and merchant Salvatore Bailetti built the building with the goal of using the building as his place of residence, a grocery, and saloon establishment. He was only 26 years old at the time of original construction. By 1885, Bailetti successfully transformed the property into store where he sold groceries, beer, and firearms. He later sold the establishment to German immigrant Carl Haehnel in the late 1800s. Haehnel was a member of a well-known Austin mercantile family.
According to the National Register of Historic Places, Haehnel ran the establishment as a grocery. It also served as his place of residence until the building became subject to a fire in 1900. Sanborn Fire Insurance map noted the presence of a frame building with approximately the same configuration as the brick commercial building and residence now on the property. The present brick structure, which probably replaced Haehnel’s first building, is the best example in Austin of a corner commercial business with an attached residence.
Located at the corner of East 11th & Waller Street, the building glows with new life and represents hope and possibility in a neighborhood plagued by red-lining, historical discrimination, and racial inequity.
Several neighborhood businesses have thrived in this space, but one of the most memorable is Shorty’s Bar. Named for the owner Eugene “Shorty” Bonner, the bar served as a popular place for locals to gather from 1960 to 1987. In 1985, Shorty had The Haehnel Building designated as a historic site by the National Register of Historic Places. Shorty took out a loan to make substantial improvements to the property but defaulted into bankruptcy. In 1991 the City of Austin acquired the building. It sat unoccupied for a decade.
In 2001, the ARA officially stepped in. With a budget of $650,000 to $850,000, C.P. Snider Construction Co. Inc. won the construction bid. This construction company is responsible for renovations of such historic structures as the Driskill Hotel and the Paramount Theater, as well as the press offices of the Capitol. Working with them just made good sense in the face of a project as storied as Shorty’s Bar.
The result is what you see today, standing proud in its original location: a charming structure with character and countless untold stories. If these renewed walls could talk, can you imagine the stories they’d tell?