Locksmith Services in Austin, TX

Older houses and student housing

Hyde Park, established in 1891 just north of the University of Texas, is considered Austin's first suburb. Many of its first houses were built in the Queen Anne style, but its biggest building boom came between 1924 and 1935, when smaller frame houses and bungalows took over. The National Register district is roughly bounded by West 40th and West 45th Streets, Duval Street and Avenue A. The City's local Hyde Park district has 640 properties, 480 of them contributing.

A bungalow from that boom may still open with keys nobody has tracked for decades. Lock rekeying retires those keys and keeps the existing hardware.

West Campus, west of Guadalupe Street (the Drag), mixes Craftsman homes, bungalows, duplexes and apartments with more than a dozen student co-ops organized by the Inter-Cooperative Council. The University Neighborhood Overlay, introduced in 2004, opened the area to high-rises and has facilitated 52 projects with over 5,000 units since 2005. In a tower, the lobby, garage gate and elevator may run on a building fob system separate from your unit key, so say which one you are locked out of. In a co-op, many people share the exterior doors, so one lost key affects the whole house.

Sixth Street and downtown buildings

The Sixth Street Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1975, covers about nine blocks between Lavaca Street and Interstate 35. Its buildings are largely two- or three-story masonry Victorian commercial blocks, most already standing by the 1880s; the Driskill Hotel dates from 1886 and the Scarbrough Building from 1910.

In buildings this old, a newer storefront door may sit in a much older opening, and upper floors may have a separate street door keyed apart from the business below. Say which door it is and what the frame is made of. See commercial locksmith.

Parking permits and event crowds

Austin Transportation and Public Works runs Residential Permit Parking to limit non-resident parking on tight neighborhood streets. Orange-area permits, covering the area around the UT campus, expire July 31 each year; other color areas expire December 31. Resident permits are digital and tied to specific license plates, so a rental or borrowed car is not covered by the household's permit; guests use visitor hangtags or day passes.

If you are locked out of a car on a permit block, mention the zone color. East Sixth Street hosts South by Southwest and the Pecan Street Festival; for a car lockout downtown during either, give the nearest cross street and, in a garage, the level and space.

Historic district review

Austin has eight local historic districts, including Hyde Park, Castle Hill and Smoot/Terrace Park. According to the City, exterior site and building changes to contributing properties need review and approval by the Historic Preservation Office or the Historic Landmark Commission, except routine maintenance and in-kind repairs. Rekeying changes only the pins inside an existing cylinder. Swapping an original entry door or its visible hardware, as in a lock replacement, is worth raising with the Historic Preservation Office first. This is general information, not legal advice.

Requesting service in Austin

Texas Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Austin. A useful request includes:

1. The neighborhood or nearest cross streets.
2. The building type: bungalow, duplex, co-op, tower or storefront.
3. Which door or access point is involved, or for a car, whether it is on a permit block or in a downtown garage.

Related pages: house lockout and Texas.