Preservation Dallas has presented over 200 Preservation Achievement Awards and our 19th annual ceremony will recognize another great list of award recipients. Join us on Wednesday, May 16, at 6 p.m. for the 2018 Awards ceremony and reception. This year we are excited to present the awards at the Brown Cracker & Candy Company building in the West End, brought back to life as Factory Six03. This magnificently done project features some of the best rooftop views and we cannot wait to share with you! To see a list of the 2018 Award recipients visit here.

Preservation Texas invites you to the 2018 Preservation Summit in Brownsville! This year they will offer a rewarding, in-depth experience in the Lower Rio Grande Valley including the exploration of its historic resources and studying a range of preservation issues through a local lens, examining regional vernacular architecture and complicated preservation issues along the U.S.-Mexican Border.

This year's multi-day Summit will include receptions, regional field sessions, educational presentations, workshops, announcement of the 2018 Preservation Texas Honor Awards and 2018 Most Endangered Places, and plenty of opportunities for networking and sharing of new ideas.There will also be special pre-summit and post-summit tours.

Click here to find out more or to register.

Advocacy is a big part of our work at Preservation Dallas and a core part of our mission to collaborate, educate, and advocate for the preservation and revitalization of the city’s historic places. It is also the toughest part of our work with so many issues coming to us all the time. By far, I spend most of my time working on advocacy issues like the ones above. Besides the Advocacy Alerts I send out for major issues, there are numerous other ones that we are working on behind the scenes including those that have been on our radar for quite a while which we are continuing to monitor. My advocacy work also makes me a frequent visitor to City Hall with trips there for meetings and to attend Landmark Commission, City Plan Commission, and City Council hearings to speak for the preservation of historic places. I also meet regularly with developers and property owners on issues to try and work out solutions for issues and work with partner organizations on advocating for preservation. In addition, I am also involved in advocacy efforts on the state and national level when it comes to legislation involving historic preservation, like the Federal Historic Tax Credit which was in danger of being cut during tax reform last year. Due to an incredible national effort to save it, the Tax Credit thankfully survived during reform.

Advocacy is not a one-person job and I’m so glad for the great support I receive when tackling the issues. There are three groups that help with that including the Preservation Dallas members, the Preservation Issues Committee, and the Board of Trustees. Each play a crucial role in the efforts to save our dwindling historic resources. You, the members, are a tremendous help when it comes to issues, especially when you send in emails to the city or attend public hearings. Those two acts make an incredible difference and really do help to sway decisions in favor of preservation. The Preservation Issues Committee is an amazing group of volunteers which meet the Friday before the monthly Landmark Commission meetings. They do a great job of helping to shape advocacy efforts and come up with ideas on how to address issues. The Committee also continually tracks issues with about thirty or so on the radar right now. They also have a breadth of contacts in the architecture and real estate world that come in very handy when trying to work on various issues. The Preservation Dallas Board of Trustees shape the positions the organization takes on the major issues after extensive discussions at their meetings about the complexity of many of the issues.

We also have a great advocacy tool to help raise awareness of general public about the threats many of our historic places face. That is the Most Endangered Historic Places list which is a tool that is used all across the U.S. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has had an Endangered list for over 30 years now and even included the Statler Hilton on their list back in 2008. Preservation Dallas came out with its first Endangered List in 2004. Between 2011 and 2014 there was a hiatus with the list until it was brought back in 2015. There have been some great successes for places on the lists like The Statler, Old Dallas High School/Crozier Tech, David Crockett School, 508 Park Avenue, Knights of Pythias, David Crockett School, Cabana Hotel, Forest Theater, Brink’s Coffee Shop and more. Unfortunately, there have been losses from the lists as well, including the Penson House, University Park Elementary, Thomas Building, and Kip’s Big Boy. Many more on the lists are still in limbo with an unknown future.

Advocacy work is definitely a team effort so thank you so much for your support when issues come up and thanks to the Preservation Issues Committee for all of their work on helping with the various issues. Please continue to open those Advocacy Alert emails and follow the instructions on how you can help as it really does make a difference and makes sure that the voice of the preservation community is heard. There will be many more preservation battles ahead and we will continue our work to save as many of the historic places as we can for the future!

Tuesday, February 27, 6pm

Save the date for a tour of the newly completed Old Dallas High school renovation by Matthews Southwest. We will tour the building included the new office space created by Perkins+Will for their Dallas office. More details and registration info to come soon.

Thursday, March 8, 6pm

Our PDYP group will take a tour of the newly restored sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church followed by a Happy Hour across the street at the Harwood Tavern. New members may join PDYP at the event and "pay your age" for a reduced membership price. Register here .

Thursday, April 5, 8:30am

Hone the skills learned in the Historic House Specialist seminar by taking our one-day advanced class. Learn about materials and methods of housing in Dallas, preservation economics, home appraisal, landscape and more. This class includes a trip to the public library for advanced historic building research. 6 hours MCE credit earned for licensed realtors. For more information and to register, contact Metrotex or call 214-540-2751.

This newsletter is sent to all current and past members, and those interested in preservation in Dallas. To become a member or to renew or upgrade your membership, please click below.