Nestled in central Austin between Airport Boulevard and Manor Road lies the quiet yet vibrant neighborhood of French Place. Austin has always been renowned for its individual personality, and while its expansion continues to dilute that sentiment over the years, these quaint houses with ample yards exemplify the type of house considered a classic "Austin home." While other adjacent areas such as Hyde Park, Maplewood, Tarrytown, and all the property around the University of Texas have skyrocketed in price over the past several years, French Place has resisted this trend and thus retains more spirit and spunk than some of the more gentrified areas.

While French Place's houses are generally no more than two to three bedrooms, many houses have interesting add-ons to enhance functionality without resorting to cookie-cutter remodels. Examples include converted garages and utility rooms with extra storage space, which make them perfect for extended families and roommates. Most of these houses are designed for small nuclear families, which is makes sense considering that the vast majority were built during the years between 1940 and 1955. When you add an influx of the personalities of several generations of an eclectic and diverse population, the results can be difficult to predict.

Each home in a neighborhood is defined by the nearby businesses and institutions, and French Place is no exception. The University of Texas lies just to the southwest of this area, which has helped its personality, as well as its affordability. Though areas west of campus have inflated steadily for decades, resulting in massive apartment development and compartmentalization of living space. Since these houses are somewhat older larger lots (with the occasional white picket fence) are common and a valuable asset for social events and outdoor hobbies. Other features generally include lots of windows, larger kitchens and bathrooms, and wooden floors for easy cleaning. As far as the exterior and structure of French Place homes goes, most are pier-and-beam construction (and therefore moveable[!]) with wood much more common than stone. Houses tend to be one-story, with wide floor plans to compensate.

Central Austin is a great neighborhood if you are interested in taking in what the city as to offer. The live music scene is quite active even on a very intimate level, with the neighborhood Quack's bakery hosting live music weekly and offering delivery service. East Side Pies has over 20 toppings and delivers awesome pizza to the French Place area with exceptional efficiency. French Place is also a ten-minute drive to downtown, the campus area, and is very close to the major interstate I-35. 6th street is an exceptional confluence of live music and alcohol consumption, which makes for good times year-round. In addition, the Cherrywood Art Fair is a neighborhood exhibit that showcases local artists, musicians, and more and has been for six years. Maplewood Elementary School is a well-recognized neighborhood school within walking distance of most of the neighborhood. All of these factors make French Place an attractive place to call home. But it also probably won't be this easy to find such a great place to live in Austin for long.

If you are researching the Austin real estate market Ki can help you in your search. To start searching his site has a Austin MLS search. In addition their are numerous Neighborhood descriptions like the French Place Austin neighborhood.
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