Construction is now underway on Rockport Center for the Arts (RCA) new 22,000-plus-square-foot facilities on its 1.18-acre campus in downtown Rockport.
RCA’s former home, the historic Kline’s Cafe Building (KCB), was recently moved to its new location to make way for the new project. A joint effort between RCA and its new owner, Upside Ventures LLC, of Austin, Texas, the 1940s-era KCB began its move March 31 from 106 S. Austin St. heading west on North St. and then south on Magnolia. It is now in place to be positioned on the new foundation located at 504 S. Magnolia Street.
Although the four-block journey took an entire day, a time-lapse video of the historic move is viewable below.
Ram House Movers of Sinton, Texas, moved the one-story, 2,000-square-foot building — a slab-on-grade foundation, masonry, cinder block, stucco walls and a wood frame roof — a total weight of 220 tons.
In 2020, RCA retained an architectural historian at Amaterra LLC to prepare historical documentation regarding the 70-plus-year-old structure. Kline’s Cafe is considered significant under Criterion C, architecture, as a good example of Art Moderne at the local level of significance.