Est. 1885
Austin's Oldest Standing Fire Station
Before it was a hostel. Before it was a lounge. It was where Austin's first firefighters answered the call.
Washington No. 1 — Austin's first fire station — was built in 1885 at the corner of Brazos and 6th Street, in the same year and same block as the historic Driskill Hotel. The two buildings grew up together, watching the city take shape around them.
The station was built to last. Heavy brick, thick timber, high ceilings — a structure designed for working horses, heavy equipment, and men who needed to move fast. It was the city's first line of defense against fire at a time when Austin was still finding its shape.
For decades it operated as an active fire station, housing engines, equipment, and the rotating crews who staffed it around the clock.
The Firehouse didn't exist in isolation. It was built into the fabric of a city that was still writing its story.
As Austin grew from a small state capital into one of America's most dynamic cities, the building on Brazos Street endured. It passed through different uses over the decades — but the bones remained: the worn brick, the heavy wood, the echoes of another era.
The fire station was eventually decommissioned as the city modernized its emergency infrastructure. The building sat, then changed hands, then sat again. But unlike so many of its contemporaries, it was never torn down.
The Firehouse was reopened as an international hostel — one that kept the bones and earned the address. The original brick stayed exposed. The heavy timber stayed. The proportions of a working fire station became the proportions of a place people return to.
Today it hosts travelers from every corner of the world, a lounge hidden behind a bookshelf, and a calendar of live music and events that would have surprised the firefighters who built it.
A building that
outlasted everything.
Washington No. 1 fire station constructed alongside the Driskill Hotel
Active fire station serving downtown Austin
Station decommissioned; building changes hands
Reopened as Firehouse Hostel & Lounge
International hostel, hidden speakeasy, live music venue
Still here. Still worth finding.