AUSTIN, Texas - Nueces Mosque, located in West Campus, could be forced to find a new home if city leaders upend their plans to build a larger facility to meet the needs of a growing congregation.

Since 1977, the mosque has been housed out of a Victorian home built in 1904. An adjacent home is used for the imam's office and student housing. Mubarrat Choudhury, who serves on the mosque's reconstruction committee, said the mosque served a different purpose when it first opened.

"It was a home for them - a home away from home, to be honest," he said. "A place where they could foster their religion."

As many neighboring student religious centers have done in the past few years, Nueces Mosque wants to build a multipurpose facility to better meet the needs of students.

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"It's more than a place to where you just come and pray. It is more of a place where you just find yourself."

Steve Sadowsky, the Historic Preservation officer for the City of Austin, said the building that serves as the imam's office is not considered historic, but the mosque's building was once home to a former Texas lawmaker and a well-known zoologist at UT Austin.

"His scientific discoveries are still part of zoology today," Sadowsky said.

Sadowsky recommended the city consider preserving this home--either on this lot or somewhere nearby. In addition to the historic associations, he said the architecture is hard to find in Austin today.

"From the exterior, it looks very much like it did when it was built in 1904," he said. "It could qualify as a historic landmark. We don't have that many houses dating from that age, especially in that neighborhood that are as intact as this one, so this one deserves some extra consideration."

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The Historic Landmark Commission voted 6-2 to initiate historic zoning on the mosque's building; Commissioners Andrew Brown and Alex Papavasiliou voted against the measure, which could scuttle plans to build a new Islamic Center. However, approval must first come from both the Historic Landmark and Planning Commissions, as well as a super majority vote by the Austin City Council. If a decision is not made in by mid-April, the demolition permit must be automatically released.

Mosque leaders said they will continue to design their new center with the intention of breaking ground within the next two to five years.