May 2022 News and Updates
2022 Preservation Achievement Awards was a Success!!
The night could not have been more perfect for our 23rd annual Preservation Achievement Awards gala! Our guests donned formalwear for the evening and were treated to the best of everything from an incredible dinner, to a great ceremony and film showcasing the work of Preservation Dallas, to a champagne toast celebrating five decades of preservation in Dallas. Our hosts - The National and Todd Interests spared no expense making guests feel like royalty while we honored this year’s worthy preservation projects and people. 

We are ever grateful to the leadership of the Awards Committee Co-Chaired by Shawn and Cheryl Todd alongside David Griffin and James Ferrara. The committee members were comprised of some familiar Preservation Dallas friends including Danelle Baldwin Smith, Charles Brower, Harryette Ehrhardt, Catherine Horsey, W. Dwayne Jones, Veletta Lill, Katherine D. Seale, Nancy Shelton, Patrick Todd, Philip Todd and Claudia Worme. And, thank you to our generous Sponsors and Contributors for making the Preservation Achievement Awards and 50th Anniversary celebration extra special!

We also commend our outstanding award winning projects and people celebrated during the event. We appreciate their hard work in saving the Dallas' historic places.
Our 50th Anniversary film by Mark Birnbaum also premiered at the awards ceremony and highlights the work of the Historic Preservation League and Preservation Dallas over the past five decades. Watch the film below!
In addition to the video, we also curated some of our favorite Preservation Dallas memories into a slideshow that was played prior to the start of the awards ceremony. Click below to view the album!
Join us for the Annual Meeting next month, which is for members only. At the meeting there will be a recap of the work of Preservation Dallas in 2021-2022, plans for 2022-2023 and the election of new Board members. More info will be coming soon!
SAVE THE DATE!

Summer Sizzlers will start on July 14th and will run on Thursdays through August 18th. More information on the exciting line up for 2022 will be coming soon!
Our May InTown Outing to the Dallas Morning News Building was on May 21. The tour was led by building owner Ray Washburne alongside Robert Decherd, Executive Chairman of the DallasNews Corporation, with project partners Matthews Southwest's Jack Matthews and Kristian Teleki. InTown Outings are free for current members of Preservation Dallas. Click the button below to see photos from the tour!
Remembering Black Dallas' Founder and Executive Director Dr. George Keaton, Jr. has skillfully combined his knowledge of local history and creative talents to produce a magnificent live play of little-known local people and the history of Dallas. The play's debut will cover a period of over a hundred years of the unique Dallas history and celebrate the birth of the new National Juneteenth holiday coupled with tears, humor, and laughter.

The shows are June 17, 18, and 19th, and tickets range from $20-25 (admission is free for children 17 and under).
Preservation Dallas Moves into the New Millennium
The new millennium started off with a major victory for preservation when the Dallas City Council unanimously passed the first sweeping changes in the City’s historic preservation ordinance in 26 years. Preservation Dallas worked for three years with Dallas City Council members, the Dallas Landmark Commission, developers, and others to craft the new ordinance that better protected the city’s historic landmarks and districts for future generations. The new ordinance also addressed the issue with the Dr. Pepper building by removing the demolition delay process for City of Dallas Landmarks and giving the Dallas Landmark Commission the authority to deny a demolition request.

The first annual Preservation Achievement Awards also debuted in 2000 in an effort to recognize the outstanding preservation projects and people working in preservation in Dallas. Over 300 projects and people have been recognized with awards since 2000.

A major effort was undertaken in the early 2000's to save the Old Dallas High School/Crozier Tech from demolition. In partnership with the Crozier Tech Alumni, Preservation Dallas successfully fought to get the school designated a City of Dallas Landmark in 2000 over the objection of the owner, the third time in Dallas. The owner then sued the City of Dallas over the designation. The case went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, who sided with the City of Dallas and upheld the Landmarking. The owner eventually sold the property, and it was not until 2017 when a new developer was able to make the rehabilitation of the building a reality by converting it into office space.
With 1950s architecture becoming historic in the 2000s, Preservation Dallas placed a new emphasis on recognizing mid-century architecture as an important architectural style for Dallas. The first Mid-Century Modern Architectural Tour was created in 2001 to help raise public awareness of the style. It was a great success and spawned additional tours.
 
To help provide more educational opportunities for members and the public, Preservation Dallas created a brand-new program called “Summer Sizzlers” in 2002. The program featured a series of engaging talks one night each week for six weeks on a wide variety of preservation topics during the summer months. The series continues to this day.
One of the largest projects Preservation Dallas has undertaken was an extensive effort to document the city’s architectural, cultural, and historic resources. The project was named Discover Dallas! and started in 2002 with its own full-time coordinator. Hundreds of volunteers were trained to conduct surveys in over 28 neighborhoods. Each building in those neighborhoods was surveyed and forms filled out denoting the style and architectural features. Digital photographs were taken of each building and cataloged. The history of each neighborhood was also researched, and neighborhood promotional materials collected. The efforts gave neighborhood and preservation advocates a better understanding of the wide variety of historic resources in Dallas which helped to craft strategies for preserving them, including designation of several as Conservation Districts.

To demonstrate the potential for rehabilitation of historic homes in the Tenth Street Historic District, Preservation Dallas partnered in 2002 with the Homebuilders Association of Greater Dallas, the Dallas Chapter of the AIA, and the Center for Housing Resources to rehabilitate 1018 E. 11th Street. The project successfully demonstrated that a significant nineteenth-century home in the Tenth Street Historic District could be rehabilitated using proper preservation standards to meet the historic district requirements.
To call attention to the threatened or endangered historic places in Dallas, Preservation Dallas announced its first “11 Most Endangered” historic properties list in 2004. One of those places was 6015 Bryan Parkway, historically known as the Baldwin House, in the Swiss Avenue Historic District. The house was threatened with demolition and Preservation Dallas acquired a temporary restraining order just in the nick of time to stop the demolition about to start. The judge ruled in favor of Preservation Dallas and its allies which led to Preservation Dallas’ purchase of the house in 2006. An extensive restoration was undertaken before it was sold to new owners. 
Another major advocacy effort for Preservation Dallas was the work to save the 1956 Statler Hilton in downtown Dallas, also placed on the first Endangered list. The significant hotel, at that time the Dallas Grand Hotel, closed in 2001 and was sitting vacant while planning for the Main Street Garden project was underway. The City looked at acquiring the building for demolition and to incorporate the land into the new park. By placing the building on the Endangered list, Preservation Dallas galvanized support for saving the building and even got national recognition for the significance and plight of the building when it was listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Places list in 2008. The City backed off from demolishing the building and it sat vacant until 2014, when rehabilitation efforts started after previous failed attempts. The project was completed in 2017 and was the largest tax credit rehabilitation project in Texas at the time.
The 1922 Parks Estate in Old East Dallas is a rare Spanish Mission style mansion that belonged to the influential Parks family. The home was sold in 1957 and became a YMCA after major modifications to the property. In 1999, it sold to a private owner who ran into financial trouble and the property went into foreclosure in 2003. Preservation Dallas placed the house on its Endangered list and it was donated to Preservation Dallas in 2006. Not wanting to take on another restoration project, Preservation Dallas sold it to new owners who restored the house back to its former glory. 
Preservation Dallas Young Professionals
Preservation Dallas Young Professionals Summer Happy Hour Social at The Statler!

Thursday, June 16, 2022
The Statler - Scout (1914 Commerce St)
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Get to know other preservation-minded young professionals by stopping by Scout at The Statler for Happy Hour! No agenda or presentation this time, just the opportunity to meet other young professionals.
The Preservation Dallas Young Professionals Board needs your help!

If you're a young professional looking to get involved in promoting preservation in Dallas, consider joining the PDYP Board! Events are typically happy hours at preservation-worthy locations and are a social way to learn a more about historic Dallas architecture. Don't worry, you'll never be expected to do anything 100% solo.

What's expected:
- Attend 2 board meetings a year (casual bar gatherings)
- Plan 1-2 Events a year
- Attend as many events as you can
- Follow-through on commitments and be a positive supporter to the other board members

Interested? Click here to let us know!
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
Atlas Metal Works – The City Plan Commission (CPC) voted on May 19th to allow the rezoning of the historic Atlas Metal Works property at the corner of Sylvan Avenue and Singleton Boulevard from Industrial Research to Multi-family use. As a condition of the approval, the developer must save the original 1929 masonry office building on the site, document the metal sheds they will be demolishing, and install a Texas Historical Marker on the site to denote the history and importance of Atlas Metal Works to Dallas. Replacing the historic metal warehouse sheds on the property will be a 440-unit apartment complex with retail and restaurant space.
 
Historic Resources Survey – The Downtown and Deep Ellum Survey and Historic Context Statements were presented to the Landmark Commission on May 2 by the consultants working on the project. They will be presenting the results to the City Plan Commission on June 2 and then it will go to City Council. The city has uploaded the survey information to their website, and it is searchable through their GIS database. You can go here to access the survey.
DIRECTOR'S LETTER
David Preziosi, FAICP, Hon. AIA Dallas
Wow, what a way to celebrate 50 years of preservation work in Dallas! The 2022 Preservation Achievement Awards and 50th Anniversary Celebration earlier this month was an absolutely superb event with everything from the location, food, and the program. It was so wonderful to see so many people attend the event in such an amazing historic place like The National. There was such a great variety of people there with everyone from the founders of the organization to those attending a Preservation Dallas event for the first time.
 
One of the best parts of the evening was being able to share the story of our work over 50 years and what a difference we have made in Dallas. It was definitely a team effort to get to where we are today and we couldn’t have done it without the direct support of so many, including you, our members. The film of our work, which premiered at the event, really tells our story beautifully and how far we have come in 50 years. It highlights the battles we fought, the losses, the successes and what it has meant to have an organization like Preservation Dallas working to protect our historic resources for the future. If you weren’t able to attend the event, be sure to check out the 50th film above.
 
A big kudos to everyone who had a hand in making the 2022 Preservation Achievement Awards and 50th Anniversary Celebration a success and a night to remember for a long time! We couldn’t have done it without the support of our wonderful hosts and presenting sponsors – The National and Todd Interests, the 2022 Awards Committee, Preservation Dallas staff, numerous volunteers and Preservation Dallas Board members.
 
This will be my last Director’s Letter for the Preservation Dallas newsletter as I will be starting my new role with the Texas Historical Foundation on June 13. As my time is coming to an end at Preservation Dallas I am thinking about when I first arrived nearly ten years ago and how much has changed since then. In 2012, development was just starting pick up again post real estate recession and more and more development pressure and issues brewing. In contrast, today there is so much of that development pressure everywhere that it is a constant battle to try and save historic places before the wrecking ball gets them.
 
Like my predecessors Catherine Horsey, Dwayne Jones, and Katherine Seale, I have had my own preservation battles to tackle. Thankfully there were many dedicated people along the way to help me and Preservation Dallas with our efforts. I’m proud to say that we won many significant battles, but we have sadly lost others. No matter how hard we tried, the reality of new development was just too strong of a force in many cases.
 
I’m also thinking back on all of the great programs and events we have had over the years and the really great historic places we have been able to get access to for our members and guests to tour. That is one thing about people who love old buildings, they are always up for seeing more of them!
 
During my time at Preservation Dallas, I really enjoyed working on many fun projects, like the Architectural Styles of Dallas exhibit and booklet, the Pegasus Urban Trails App, 50th Anniversary film and booklet, and more. I’m glad that those projects will continue to educate people for years to come. 
 
Before I sign off on my final letter, I want to thank everyone for their great support over the years including you the members and the many Preservation Dallas board members I have worked with over the years. I would especially like to thank our amazing staff at Preservation Dallas that I have had the privilege of working with including Donovan, Irene, Jennifer and Linda. They are some of the most dedicated and giving people I have worked with. I have so enjoyed working with them and will truly miss the great team camaraderie we had together. 
 
I know that everyone will be just as welcoming and supportive with the person who comes in after me. I also know that the organization will continue to thrive and grow with the support of so many. I will surely be one of those great supporters. I’m not going to say “goodbye” as I will still be in Dallas and be around at future Preservation Dallas events. So, I’ll just thanks again to everyone for an amazing ten years with Preservation Dallas and that I will see you again soon! 
Membership News
Please welcome our newest members:
Preservationist I

Beckie Brown
Natalie Clarkson
Ken Duble
John Hall
Jane Little
Joel Moore
Richard Pratt
Satchit Srinivasan
Sarah Woodley
Community Partner

Steel Toe Stiletto

PDYP

Kelley Smith

Student

Andrew Clarkson
Thank you to the following members for renewing:
Andres Construction Services
Ludowici
Ann Abernathy
Amanda Adler
Trevor & Makalah Brown
Michael Callac
Scott Chase
Nancy Ferro
Larry & Diane Finstrom
Chip Harper & Marvin Gorley
Morgan Harrison & Nathan Piller
Denny Hunt
Terry Lantrip
Candace MacMahon
Cheri Mullins
Phyllis & Andy Prycer
Lance Raney
Carol Roark
Jules Roberts
Diane Sherman
Gary Smith
Howard Weiner
Donovan Westover & Gregory Boggan
Steve Whitcraft
John Wimberley
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!
Did you know that when you shop through AmazonSmile, 5% of your total is donated to Preservation Dallas at no extra cost to you? Click on the logo above to get started!
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