The TFB Fire

Lately in our neighborhood we have been talking a lot about sense of place, which is an academic way of describing buildings, businesses, and people that create the ambience of an area.

Specifically, we have been looking at plans for the pending rail line down Guadalupe that will certainly displace iconic businesses. CANPAC (the Central Austin Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee) heard another of these presentations yesterday evening.

Late-Night Nightmares

Then, at 11 pm, a group of us found ourselves on 29th Street, watching the beloved bakery Texas French Bread burn down. Official details haven’t been released, but the overnight baking crew told a neighbor they smelled smoke from an unidentified source, called 911, and exited the building. There was smoke coming from the roof of the kitchen area.

The Austin Fire Department was quickly on the scene in force but could not stop the blaze. The inside of the building was all old pine construction, which unfortunately is very flammable. There were no injuries, but news reports today say the building is lost.

TFB Makes Austin…Austin

Texas French Bread (or TFB, as the locals call it) is exactly the kind of building, business, and people that provides the sense of place that makes us love our neighborhood so much. While the building did not have official historic designation, it would have qualified. The building had unique architecture, and while I’m not sure what the original use was. I’ve been told it was built as a grocery store in the 1940s. Later, it was the Rome Inn, which hosted musical legends including Alvin Crow and Stevie Ray Vaughn. It was then a used bookstore and a restaurant before becoming the flagship location for Texas French Bread.

Gingersnaps, Lattes & Community Spirit

This year, the restaurant was going to celebrate its 40th anniversary. In that time, Texas French Bread expanded to other locations, shrank back to this one, and evolved into an outstanding bistro serving breakfast pastries and locally sourced, seasonal dinner menus. My wife will go to blows with anyone who doesn’t agree they make the best gingersnaps and blueberry danish in town. Since its founding, TFB has been owned by two generations of one family that still lives in the neighborhood. We are just as likely to see Murph Willcott walking his dog in the evenings as we are to see him around the restaurant.

The morning after the fire, it is impossible to even speculate about the future of the site and the business, but I can only wish the best for the owners and mourn the loss of one of our neighborhood bedrocks. A friend of Murph’s has put together a Go-Fund-Me to help the employees; anything you can give will help them out as they figure out what to do next.