Barton Hills

Welcome to Barton Hills

Barton Hills is where Austin's green space stops being a park you visit and becomes the thing at the end of your street. The neighborhood sits in the hills just south of Zilker Park, with the Barton Creek Greenbelt running along its western edge and South Lamar on the other side. Most of the houses went up between the mid-1950s and the 1970s, on lots big enough for real trees, and the streets curve with the land rather than fighting it. It has less traffic than Zilker, more trees than Bouldin, and it's closer to downtown than most people who have not driven it would guess. What draws buyers is the combination: a creek and eight miles of trail out the back, and the city ten minutes out the front.

Local Attractions & Landmarks

The neighborhood's name comes from William Barton, who settled by the springs in 1837 and named them after his three daughters. The daughters' names did not last; his did. The subdivision itself dates from 1956, when it was shown at Austin's Parade of Homes as "the world's largest air-conditioned subdivision," which tells you exactly what a selling point felt like in Texas that year. Before the tract homes arrived, architect A.D. Stenger built a set of contemporary houses in the late 1940s on Rundell Place, Airole Way, and several nearby streets: low sheltering roofs, clerestory windows, decks reaching into the treetops. They are still there, still striking, and they come to market rarely. Just north of the neighborhood: Barton Springs Pool, three acres of spring-fed water that holds around 68 degrees year-round, the 351-acre Zilker Park, and the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, which is the calmest place in Austin on a weekday morning.

Dining, Bars & Coffee Shops

Barton Hills itself is almost entirely residential, which is part of the appeal. The eating happens on its edges. South Lamar has the depth: Uchi, Odd Duck, Loro, Matt's El Rancho. Barton Springs Road has the patios: El Alma, Lou's. And Desnudo Coffee is where the neighborhood actually runs into itself on Saturday mornings.

Outdoor Activities & Parks

The Barton Creek Greenbelt is the reason most people buy here. Nearly eight miles of trail along the creek, limestone bluffs, swimming holes when the creek is running, and trailheads inside or beside the neighborhood: Spyglass at the north end, Gus Fruh off Barton Hills Drive, Twin Falls near Loop 360. On a good spring weekend you can walk from your front door to a swimming hole without crossing a major road. There is a piece of history in that too. In 1978 the city proposed a bridge over Barton Creek to extend Barton Skyway toward Spyglass Drive. Residents fought it on traffic and creek damage, won, and the right-of-way was folded into the greenbelt instead. The neighborhood has no through-traffic today because people here fought for that forty-plus years ago. Beyond the greenbelt: Zilker Park, Barton Springs, and Lady Bird Lake's trail are all a short bike ride north.

Schools & Family Life

Barton Hills Elementary sits inside the neighborhood, and for a lot of buyers with young children it is the reason the search starts here. It is one of the schools in central Austin that families move for. From there the AISD path is O. Henry Middle School and Austin High. The neighborhood association is active, the streets are the kind kids ride bikes on, and Zilker's playground, the Barton Springs shallow end, and the greenbelt are the weekend rotation.

Real Estate & Housing Styles

Three kinds of house, broadly. The original 1950s and 60s ranches, single-story, brick or stone, on generous lots with mature live oaks, many of them renovated once or twice since. The Stenger contemporaries and the handful of other mid-century designs, which trade on architecture and rarely come up. And the new builds, modern two-stories that replaced tear-downs over the last fifteen years, with open plans and glass toward the trees. Along Barton Skyway and South Lamar there are also condos and townhomes for buyers who want the location without the yard. The lot is often the real asset here. A tired ranch on a deep, treed lot backing toward the greenbelt is a different purchase from the same house on a flat street, and the price should reflect it. Prices run from the mid-$600s for an original ranch to $4M and above for the largest new builds and greenbelt lots, and some of the top of the market changes hands without ever being listed.

Neighborhood Highlights

Greenbelt access from inside the neighborhood, not across a highway. Ten minutes to downtown by car, less to Zilker and Barton Springs by bike. Mid-century houses on real lots, with a small stock of architect-designed originals. A neighborhood that organized to protect its creek in the 1970s and still behaves that way. Barton Hills Elementary in the middle of it. South Lamar's restaurants at the edge, and residential streets everywhere else.