Dallas is home to the best collection of 20th century homes in the country. Highland Park is associated with the best homes in Dallas. How did Spanish Revival style homes come to represent the finest homes in Highland Park – the best of the best – and evoke the excellence of Highland Park? The story…
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The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art (ICAA) invited me to moderate a panel of top Dallas contractors on February 13 to discuss building traditional homes in contrast to building modern homes. I’m very excited about this upcoming event and wanted to share some of my thoughts as I prepare for what promises to be…
A Highland Park teardown is just another old, out-of-date house or it is an architectural accomplishment designed by one of the best architects in Dallas or the country, and the former home of prominent residents. An insignificant Highland Park teardown makes room for a new architect-inspired home. An architecturally significant home that becomes another Highland…
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For a perfect illustration of home value and the many factors that elevate a home’s value, consider the Hal Thomson-designed home at 3925 Potomac Avenue. As I’ve shared before, home value is determined by a home’s location, its neighborhood, its site and its historic and architectural significance. All these characteristics combine to make this architecturally…
If Dallas Loses its Homeowners All of Dallas Loses Perhaps you’ve heard that there is a plan moving forward at Dallas City Hall that will permanently change single-family neighborhoods throughout our city. Whatever you might know about it, it’s actually worse than you think. Not only is there a proposal from five council members to…
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This ForwardDallas talk was presented to the North Dallas Neighborhood Alliance of 50 Homeowners Associations. Thank you for allowing me to join you this evening. It is fitting that we are meeting in a church as Sharon Grigsby, a Dallas Morning News columnist who I have admired and considered a friend for many years, wrote:…
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Preservation celebrates another preservation victory. I just sold one of the most important architecturally significant homes in Dallas with deed restrictions included in the sale that prevent the home from being torn down, and helped the property sell for a higher price than the appraised value. David Williams-Designed Home Sold for Over Appraised Value and…
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Dallas Should Nurture Home Ownership for Stable and Appealing Neighborhoods A recent Dallas Morning News column reveals the argument that zoning consultants and STR lobbyist are using to promote rental units and apartment developments in single-family zoned neighborhoods. Esteemed zoning consultant Dallas Cothrum in his Dallas Morning News column recently wrote that homeowners, usually older…
Understanding the relationship of architecture and neighborhoods is the foundation of understanding preservation. This 50th anniversary home tour by Preservation Dallas on April 15th is the best Preservation Dallas Home Tour yet. The tour elevates itself from previous home tours that focused on a specific neighborhood, a specific architect or random historic Dallas houses. This…
Most houses sell at generic prices and there is a reason why. The real estate industry is geared for homeowners to sell their homes for the same prices as their neighbors’ homes. The whole industry—realtors, lenders, appraisers, homeowners and homebuyers — accept the current concept of comparables. Legislators and regulatory agencies even dictate the restrictions…
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Below is the Talk Presented by Douglas Newby to the Beverly Drive Book Club It is a real treat for me to be here with you today. Thank you, Susan Bednar Long, Karen Edwards, Ruth Ruhl and the Beverly Drive Book Club for inviting me. I can’t think of any place better than the Beverly…
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Dallas has the best collection of 20th and 21st century architecture in the country because of the cross-pollination of ideas from the extraordinary lineage of talented Dallas architects with the regional and national architects that design homes in Dallas. The interaction of architects with each other and the patrons of architecture at this architecturally significant…
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The Dallas Architecture Forum, on their 25th anniversary, highlighted eight architects in an informative and insightful way. The program at the Dallas Museum of Art was presented in two panels. One was led by Kate Aoki, AIA, who now designs the DMA exhibits, and Kelly Mitchell, AIA, who is a talented architect and who many…
Anchor neighborhoods zoned MF2, made up of architecturally significant modern townhouses, condominiums, attached single-family, and single-family homes, are being threatened by the shifting downtown Dallas density and proposed mid-rise and high-rise zoning. Downtown Dallas Density Keeps Moving Towards Our MF2 Anchor Neighborhoods Downtown Dallas keeps creeping away from the original Central Business District on Main…
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Why do single-family occupied homes matter and need to be protected? Homeowners are the heart and soul of the city. When homeowners start leaving a neighborhood, the neighborhood declines. When homeowners have confidence in the future of a neighborhood, they buy a home in that neighborhood or reinvest in the home they already own in…
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