High upon the bluffs overlooking Pease park, sits one of Austin’s exclusive, and somewhat overlooked, neighborhood, Pemberton Heights. The Austin Development Company created Pemberton Heights in the late 1920s, and lured potential buyers by offering "fancy $3500-$4000 cottages" as well as "$150,000 mansions." Their brochure touted, "over five miles of paved and shaded streets and sidewalks."





Today, Pemberton Heights is filled with sizable homes that are a wide variety of styles, from mid-sized brick bungalows to revivalist Tudor mansions. As opposed to many older neighborhoods in the central Austin real estate market, most of the original homes built in the 30s and 40s are still standing, with little sign of complete house demolition. It seems these residents enjoy the historic nature of their neighborhood, and the fact that many homes were built with enough square footage deemed "livable" by today’s standards, doesn’t hurt. Pemberton Heights is also appealing in that the lot sizes are somewhat larger than the lot sizes in most of the central Austin neighborhoods. Pemberton Heights is also located close to UT and downtown. But unlike west campus which is seemingly overrun by college students during the year Pemberton Heights is conveniently insulated from UT by Pease Park.

Many homes in Pemberton Heights have Texas Historical markers placed in their front yards, and for good reason. The Caterall Mills house, at 2524 Harris Boulevard, is an Early American Georgian revival, harking back to the glory days of George Washington’s Mount Vernon home. Its current owners, who bought the home in 1999, took great pride in restoring the home back to its 1937 original condition. The original owners of the home, Gordon E. Mills and Margaret Catterall Mills, were very prominent Austinites throughout the mid 1900’s. Mills was general manager of the Austex Chili Company, considered one of the three big companies in Austin during the 30s, alongside the University and the government. Austex Chili also played a prominent role in popularizing Mexican food throughout the rest of the U.S.

Though there are many original homes in the Pemberton Heights neighborhood, one stands out above the rest: The Pemberton Castle. This structure was actually built before the neighborhood began. Though it now lives on 1415 Wooldridge Drive, it originally stood on the outskirts of Austin in the late 1800s, as a water cistern for the city’s firefighters. In 1925, the cistern was turned into a Gothic castle, and was the sales office for the Pemberton Heights subdivision. In 1937, the castle was bought by UT professor of architecture, Samuel Gideon. Gideon salvaged bricks and stained glass windows from the university’s original Main Building, and transformed the structure into a livable home. Though in 1935, the castle could not be sold for the eight thousand dollars it was offered at, rumor has it film director Robert Rodriguez purchased the home for 2 million dollars in 2006. It was also featured in his 2001 movie, Spy Kids.

Eighty years after Pemberton Heights original inception, the "shaded streets and sidewalks," offered up in its original sales brochure, are still as peaceful and inviting now as they were then, and well worth a stroll.