March 2022 News and Updates
Create New Achievement Award Memories
With Us On May 19th!
With only a couple months left, our Awards Committee has been busy putting together a special night that should not be missed. Help us make this year’s Awards ceremony and reception extra memorable by celebrating award winning projects and people along with us. Enjoy a captivating tribute to Preservation Dallas' five decades of preservation work and wrap up your night with a lively reception. Reacquaint yourself with your formal wear and your preservation friends at dinner and an extraordinary evening.

2022 Preservation Achievement Award recipients are Continental Gin Building, FW & D Caboose, Gibson Grant Cabin, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Music Hall. Purse Building, 4513 Gaston Avenue, Struck House and 5028 Milam Street.

Special Recognition Awards will also be presented to Remembering Black Dallas, Brown Mountain Art & Antique Restoration, Sparkman/Hillcrest, Connie Harris, Hall of State, Jack Drake, Alan Govenar, Legacies Journal and Jim Foster.

Visit our website to learn more about the Awards and make your reservations. Do not wait to register for tables. They can arranged by contacting Donovan Westover here.

The 2022 Preservation Achievement Awards are presented by

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors
Caroline Huddleston and Brian Haley


50th Anniversary Honoree Film Sponsored By Dealey Family Foundation
Gail Thoma Patterson Award for Hall of State Sponsored By The Patterson Family
Pioneers of Dallas Education Award Sponsored By Danelle Baldwin Smith
Spirit Of Preservation Award For Connie Harris Sponsored By Carol Roark

Contributors
Hall of State InTown Outing and An Evening With! Jack Drake
Join us on April 14th for a tour of the fully restored Hall of State! This 1936 Donald Barthelme designed structure is an Art Deco gem and the crown jewel of Fair Park. It is also one of the best examples of Art Deco style in the United States. The structure was fully renovated inside and out in late 2020 before the winter storm of 2021 caused substantial freezing and subsequent damage. It was repaired and restored again in painstaking detail. Do not miss the opportunity to tour the finished work up close with architect Marcel Quimby, Phoenix 1 Restoration's Dale Sellers and Fair Park First's Veletta Lill to hear about the extensive process of returning this architectural masterpiece to glory!

Immediately following the InTown Outing tour, Dallas Historical Society will present An Evening With! Jack Drake, author of Preston Hollow: A Brief History. Jack is a Trinity Christian Academy of Addison student and resident of the Preston Hollow neighborhood. His 170 page book showcases the rich history of the Preston Hollow neighborhood and includes many personal stories and pictures from longtime residents. Jack will give a presentation on his book, followed by a book signing. Students can attend free of charge.
Expanding Our Work in the 80s
After getting our start in the 1970s and building momentum as an organization, we continued into the 1980s with expanding our work, our outreach, and taking on some big projects.

The decade started off with a bang with the HPL purchasing the 2900 block of Swiss Avenue from Fox & Jacobs, the housing developer working on plans at that time for the Bryan Place development, who had purchased the block for redevelopment. HPL stepped in to save the significant group of Victorian-era homes from demolition. At the time they were in severe disrepair in a declining area of Old East Dallas. The block was named for the Wilson family who built the houses on the street including their own in 1899 at 2922 Swiss Avenue, now known as the Wilson House.

After the purchase of the block, the HPL board voted to restore the Arnold House at the corner of Swiss Avenue and Liberty Street and make it the new location of the HPL headquarters. As part of the new headquarters, the HPL acquired a grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation to create a Preservation Services Center to serve as a clearing house for information on rehabilitating houses and commercial buildings and to collect surveys, inventories, studies, periodicals, books and more to make available to the public for research.
The Arnold House (l) in 1980 during restoration work by the HPL and today (r).
A year later, HPL convinced the Meadows Foundation to purchase the rest of the unrestored houses on the Wilson Block. Meadows then took on the rehabilitation of the other houses converting them into offices for nonprofits. They reserved the queen of the block, the Wilson House, for their headquarters. The award-winning preservation project received much attention and became a national model. View a video below about the work the Meadows Foundation undertook to transform the Wilson Block.
Between 1982 and 1984, the HPL identified the Harwood Street Historic District and structures such as Hart Furniture and the Santa Fe buildings as significant historic resources. A study was also funded that convinced the Dallas Independent School District not to demolish David Crockett School and instead to sell it for redevelopment.
The Hart Furniture Building
David Crockett School
In 1984, HPL paid for a preservation survey of Fair Park and successfully lobbied for City of Dallas Landmark designation of the site. Also at Fair Park, HPL worked on a plan to restore the exterior of the Magnolia Lounge and renovate its interior for a multi-media historic presentation of Dallas.

To help spur the revitalization of historic neighborhoods around the city, HPL published A Guide to the Older Neighborhoods of Dallas in 1986 featuring short histories of the neighborhoods and images of the historic houses and buildings in those districts. The same year, HPL was awarded the Ruth Lester Award, the state's highest preservation honor, for its 14 years of dedication to preserving Dallas' historic places. Closing out the decade, HPL partnered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Dallas chapter in 1989 to resurvey the Dallas Central Business District and take on a historic survey of Old Oak Cliff.

Stay tuned for the next decade and more innovative work and new programs initiated by HPL along with the rebranding of the organization.
Staff Changes at the Office of Historic Preservation
The Office of Historic Preservation at the City is undergoing staff changes with some folks leaving and new ones coming on board. Read more about the recent changes.
Laura Groves van Onna - The City of Dallas' Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) has a new Senior Planner! Laura Groves Van Onna started with the OHP last month. Her career has taken her from coast to coast, but she was born and raised right here in Dallas. Laura received her Masters of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia University in New York. She has worked as a preservation planner and architecture historian for both local government and private practice in cities such as Los Angeles, Palm Beach, and Topeka, and she completed two internships with the Department of Urban Intervention at the Rio Institute Heritage of Humanity in Brazil. Laura also worked as a Preservation Planner at Dallas' own Quimby McCoy back in 2016. With this background, Laura is well equipped for a strong start at Dallas' Office of Historic Preservation! Laura said that she was attracted to her new role because of Dallas' OHP's status as its own office, and that she is excited to be back in Dallas where she will be working to preserve the historic structures in her own hometown. Welcome, Laura!
Liz Casso - Senior Planner Liz Casso will be leaving the City of Dallas on March 31st to take a position as an Historic Preservation Officer at the Maryland Historic Trust. Liz has been with the Office of Historic Preservation since 2016. For the majority of her time at OHP, she served as the main point of contact for all individually Landmarked structures and designations, as well as the West End and Harwood Landmark Historic Districts. She also assisted with the day-to-day management of the program. Her expertise and passion for historic preservation will be greatly missed in Dallas. We wish Liz the best of luck in her new role!
Trevor Brown - Senior Planner Trevor Brown's last day with the Office of Historic Preservation will be on April 5th. Trevor transferred from the City of Dallas Conservation Districts Department to the Office of Historic Preservation in the Fall of 2021. Trevor is returning to Conservation Districts and has accepted a position as Senior Planner within that department. He will be working with former OHP Planner Melissa Parent, who transferred to Conservation Districts earlier this year. We are glad to know that Trevor is not going far, and that Dallas' 18 Conservation Districts will be in even better hands with his return!
Historic House Specialist Seminars are back
IN PERSON this Spring!
Our first in-person Historic House Specialist Seminar since the start of the pandemic went great this past week! Participants heard from nine speakers who are experts in their field on topics ranging from architectural styles and architects of Dallas, historical development patterns in Dallas, historic house research, Dallas developers, historic district types, the historical review process, and more! We also visited the beautiful Aldredge House and saw several key historic districts on our narrated bus tour.

Are you ready for the Advanced Historic House Specialist Seminar? Spring AHHS is on April 19th! The class is one day and covers the economics involved in historic preservation, appraising and evaluating historic properties, historic landscapes, materials and methods of Pre- and Post-WWII housing in Dallas, permitting in historic districts, and how to do advanced research of a historic building. Having the introductory HHS course under your belt is helpful, but not required.

While the HHS and AHHS seminars are designed for realtors who can receive MCE credit for taking the seminars, they are open to the general public and all who are interested in learning more about historic homes and neighborhoods in Dallas. Don't miss your next chance this April!
Has your online research hit a brick wall?

Now that the public libraries are open again, patrons are able to schedule an appointment to do research in the Dallas History and Archives. Appointments will be required and you can set one up by emailing texas@dallaslibrary.org to start the process. They will send you information on how to make the appointment, preparing for your visit, what to expect with your appointment, and a form to fill out. For more information on the library openings go here.

You may also submit research requests online if you don't want to go into the library just yet. To do that, use the same email above and send in your research request with the information you are looking for and they will get back to you.
PRESERVATION ISSUES
Longhorn Ballroom - Last week at the City Plan Commission they granted the request of the developer Ed Cabaniss for a new subdistrict in PD 714 to allow for an outdoor music venue and reduced parking requirements. Cabaniss, who took on the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff, is planning to rehabilitate the historic Longhorn Ballroom and make it the center piece of the new entertainment complex. The case will head to City Council next month for final approval.

Atlas Metal Works – The rezoning case for the historic Atlas Metal Works property at the corner of Sylvan Avenue and Singleton Boulevard was postponed and will most likely go to the City Plan Commission (CPC) next month. A developer interested in the property would like to change the zoning from Industrial Research to Multi-family and Retail for a mixed-use development project with 440 apartment units. The developers are planning to save the original 1929 office building on the site but remove the metal sheds built in 1929 and expanded in the 1940s to build the apartments. Preservation Dallas met with the developers, architect, zoning consultant, and the CPC member for District 6 to discuss the case and request more of the historic complex be incorporated into the new development. AIA Dallas, Heritage Oak Cliff, and the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group are also in opposition to the redevelopment of the site and loss of the historic structures. More will come in advance of the CPC hearing next month, including how to speak at the meeting or send in comments.
DIRECTOR'S LETTER
David Preziosi, FAICP, Hon. AIA Dallas
As you can see from above, there are some big changes coming to the Office of Historic Preservation as far as staff. I am very sad to see both Liz and Trevor leave on top of Melissa and Marsha also having left the office. Of course, we got Jennifer for Preservation Dallas, so that was a win for us!

I greatly enjoyed working with Liz, Marsha, Jennifer, Melissa, and Trevor in their preservation positions at the city. I admired their dedication and willingness to push preservation forward at the city, which as we all know is no easy task!

It is great that Melissa and Trevor have stayed with the city and transferred to Conservation Districts as that is another important component to preserving historic buildings and neighborhoods in Dallas. I’m glad that I’ll get to still work with them in the Conservation Districts office. Especially now with new conservation districts being studied and expansions of existing ones like Lakewood.

I’m sad though that I will no longer get to work with Marsha and Liz. Both were amazing to work with on different issues. I so appreciated that Liz stepped up to run the office after Mark left and before Murray came on board. She also has done a great job working with the individual Landmark Designations for many years and was excellent at keeping that process moving the getting the initiated sites through the process, that is until COVID put all of that on hold. Thank goodness we are getting back to that with the Designation Committee meeting again. Marsha was also wonderful to work with, especially on Tenth Street issues and the Downtown and Deep Ellum survey for which her prior survey experience working for GeoMarine/Versar was very beneficial. I wish Liz luck in her new position in Maryland and hope she enjoys her new job. I also hope that Marsha enjoys her retirement and spending more time with her family, including her grandkids.

Laura has just started with the Office of Historic Preservation and with her being born and raised in Dallas she already knows a lot about the city, which is great. And having a Master of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia is also a great benefit. She will be joined in the Office of Historic Preservation soon by her husband Carlos and another new planner from Fort Worth, Scott Bellen. Both Carlos and Scott are new to Dallas; however, they did participate in our Historic House Specialist class last week, so they got a great primer on Dallas’ development over the years and historic architecture across the city. We will have more about Carlos and Scott in our newsletter next month.

We welcome the new planners in the Office of Historic Preservation and wish them luck in getting settled into their new positions and getting up to speed on the preservation processes in the city. The districts are being divided up between the new members and when those are in place, we will let everyone know. Next month we will also have a meet and greet for the new planners to meet the Preservation Dallas members.
Membership News
Please welcome our newest members:
Preservation I

Amanda Adler
Daniel Bellen
Leslie Boespflug
Emily Collins
James Fairchild
Alberto Garza
Reuben Gregorian
Cathy Hadd
Dorothy Hickerson
Denise Larmeu
Alisha Melvin
Chrystal Riddell
Angela Slawinski
Lawrence Sweeney
Justin Treaster
Carlos Van Onna
Haley Wood
Preservation II

Denise Requardt
Brenda Steele

Protector

Sharon Ainsworth
Truett Roberts

PDYP

Tiandra Caesar
Michelle Walker
Emily Williams

Urban Armadillos

Deanna Middleton
Thank you to the following members for renewing:
James Adams
Barbara Baynham
Gerald Blow
Patrick Boyd
Thomas Boyd-Lloyd
Stacey Browning
Gary Cunningham
Chris & Karen Edgemon
Margaret Gavin
Kathleen Gerken
Katherine Homan
Carole Johnson
Bill & Janis Lamoreaux
Gary Lawler
Sonya Laxo
Susie Lowry
Tammy McNary
Travis-Lee Moore
Juanita Nanez
Larry & Glenn Offutt
Beverly Palmer
Carolyn Perritt
Joella Phillip
Gay Prewitt
Egelberto Preziosi
Vinnie Sherman
Richard & Deborah Stanford
Julie Travis
Joanna Walker
Our work is made possible by the support of our members, donors, and volunteers. To join or upgrade your membership, please visit our website!
Support Preservation Dallas While Shopping!
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Preservation Dallas participates in the Tom Thumb Good Neighbor program. Link our Good Neighbor number to your Tom Thumb loyalty card and a percentage of your purchases will be credited towards us! Our number is 11352. Enroll your card here!
Preservation Dallas participates in the Kroger Community Rewards program. Enroll your Kroger Plus card with Preservation Dallas as the benefactor. Our number is TX617. Enroll your card here!
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Legacy Corporate Partner
Corporate Partner Level II
Corporate Partner Level I
Funding has been provided to Preservation Dallas from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by Preservation Dallas does not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Preservation Dallas | 2922 Swiss Avenue | Dallas TX 752518