Tour de Force
A True
A sincere and well-deserved "Thanks!" on behalf of our entire District to this year's Swiss Avenue Historic District Home Tour co-chairs, the Dynamic Duo of Charlotte Kerr and Zach Swanson. Their leadership, dedication, patience, and good-natured willingness to weather any challenge they encountered (and we DO mean weather), resulted in our most successful home tour ever.
The 2023 Home Tour
One For The Record Books
Due in large measure to Charlotte and Zach's expert stewardship of this year's Home Tour Committee, and despite a drizzly Sunday, this year's home tour was a record-breaking success. Thanks to all who were involoved and we hope to see everyone again next year!
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Neighbors Gather For Good Conversation
And Great Barbecue In A Grand Setting
On March 19th, members of The Dallas County Medical Society Alliance Foundation and Friends of Aldredge House hosted a neighborhood meet-and-greet at Aldredge House. An estimated 150 neighbors and friends gathered at the house for delicious barbecue, ice-cold refreshments, and a lavish spread of side dishes and desserts.
It was a welcome and long-overdue opportunity for old neighbors to reconnect post-Covid, and for everyone to meet and get to know the newer residents in the District. Attendance was far greater than expected; every table inside was filled and the overflow spilled out into the rear garden where there were activities set up for the younger kids. The response was so positive, in fact, that the Foundation has offered to make these neighborhood meet-and-greets an annual Springtime event.
The Miracle On 36th Street
In 1982, longtime Swiss Avenue Historic District homeowners, Bob Hopkins and Bob Whisnant, were living in Kansas City's Hyde Park Historic District. On a freezing January day, near the corner of 36th and Cherry Street, while helping a neighbor plow their sidewalks after a blizzard, they made a miraculous discovery: a newborn, wrapped in a blanket inside a cardboard box, that had been set on their neighbor's back doorstep. After rescuing the infant, they spent the next 41 years searching for information on her whereabouts and her welfare. And they finally found her.
Click on the links below to watch the news story from Kansas City's KCTV5, and to read the full article published in the Kansas City Star:
Candy's Dirt Visits The Second Saturdays Living History Tour At Aldredge House
In the Aldredge House Dining Room, Martha Heimberg (center left) and Rikki Sushaun (center right) portray staff members of the house's original owners, Willie & Will Lewis.
Candy Evans, founder of Candy's Dirt, the award-winning news site popular among real-estate lovers, along with her granddaughter, Hattie, and features writer, Karen Eubank, all attended the January performance of the Second Saturdays Living History Tour at Aldredge House. To read the article describing their experience, click on the photo link above.
SAHD APRIL BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, April 18th
6:30 PM – Social
7:00 PM – Meeting
Please join us for our April Neighborhood Board Meeting. During this gathering, committee chairs will update residents on topics of interest to the community at large, including: Home Tour Planning, Alliance Against Crime, Zoning Issues, Outreach Activities, Beautification Progress, and more.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE AT THE MEETING
In Person at Lakewood Towers
6301 Gaston Avenue, 1st-Floor Conference Room
For The Agenda, Please Refer To The Email Sent From The Association Secretary Just Prior To The Meeting.
Running With
The Wildcats
During the annual running of the Dallas Marathon, on Sunday, December 11th, Laura and Todd McCavit, whose home sits along the marathon route at 5533 Swiss Avenue, hosted the Wildcats from Woodrow Wilson High School on their front lawn and porch to participate in the day's festivities. Woodrow students and alumni gathered in front of the McCavit's home, along with a large inflatable Woodrow Wildcat, to cheer on the runners with live music from the Woodrow Band.
Meet Our New
NEIGHBORS
Caroline Sheridan & Larkin Dobson
6016 BRYAN PARKWAY
Caroline & Larkin, new neighbors in the District
Caroline & Larkin's new home at 6016 Bryan Parkway
Hello from 6016 Bryan Parkway! We are Caroline Sheridan and Larkin Dobson, and we moved to the neighborhood in June 2022. We feel so lucky to be part of such a fantastic neighborhood and I have loved settling in over the past several months. We are so fortunate that the Bexleys took such wonderful care of the home and decided to remain in the neighborhood.
We have both lived in Dallas since 2015, having moved here to go to school at SMU. We have been together for seven years and got engaged on May 1, 2022. On May 10, we closed on our home! We are planning our wedding and looking forward to celebrating in North Carolina on September 16, 2023. Prior to living in Dallas, Caroline is from Nashville and Larkin is from Charleston. We have always loved the charm of East Dallas and both lived along Greenville Avenue before we started our home search process. We knew we wanted to end up in this area and are so happy to have found such a wonderful community on Bryan Parkway and in the Swiss Avenue Historic District as a whole.
Aside from a bit of maintenance work, we are so lucky that the house was move-in ready for us. This year, we are hoping to spruce up the backyard and make it a great space for friends to be together and for barbecues on our smoker. Wedding planning has been our first priority but we are looking forward to putting more time into the house this fall.
Other than the obvious charm and beauty of the neighborhood, we love how welcoming our neighbors have been and how convenient it is to almost everything. Caroline walks nearly daily throughout the neighborhood. We are enjoying trying out all the neighborhood spots and love to grab a drink at Cosmo’s, dinner at mot hai ba or Calle Doce or a weekend breakfast at Benny’s.
Become One Of Our
District's Newest VIPs!
The Dallas Police Department periodically puts on Volunteers in Patrol (VIP) certification classes for qualified Dallas residents. VIPs are trained on police department operations, procedures, and analysis of crime statistics. After certification, VIPs organize according to neighborhood (i.e., SAHD) and perform two-person patrols designed to prevent and report on potential crimes. The training stresses and focuses on how VIPs should merely observe and report on suspicious or ongoing criminal activity. VIPs are never supposed to confront suspects or interfere with an ongoing crime.
On Saturday February 19, 2022, neighbors from the Swiss Avenue Historic District participated in the VIP training. Jean and David Dean, Jan Mohammed, Ken Kuesel, Zach Eccleston, Jeff Woodson, Paul Lockman, and Christine and Peter Loh all attended. Peter and Christine’s son, Petey, also attended but is ineligible for certification because he is a minor. Representatives from other neighborhood groups throughout Dallas were also in attendance. The session lasted about 4 hours and was very informative.
The Alliance Against Crime has plans to meet and discuss the training and eventually begin to organize patrols. If you would like further information about the VIP program and how to become a VIP, please contact AAC Chairperson David Dean at ddean@dean.net.
We've Made The Top Ten. Again.
A Critic's List Of The 100 Best Places
That Make Dallas And Its Architecture Unique
Dallas Morning News Architecture Critic, Mark Lamster, recently republished his list of the Top 100 locations that make Dallas and its architecture special among American cities. Our own Swiss Avenue Neighborhood is ranked #8. The Porch Life of Old East Dallas also made the list, it comes in at #77.
Here's the complete list:
1. The sense of drama walking the double-stair at the Meyerson Symphony Center.
2. The fountains of Fountain Place (and the tower, too).
3. The weathered aluminum forms of Atlas Metal Works.
4. The stalwart dignity of the Knights of Pythias Temple.
5. The native animals in mosaic on the floor of the Hall of State.
6. The Kirby Building, the Woolworth-style tower built by a beer magnate.
7. The way the Elbert Williams House in University Park shows its Texas roots.
8. The stately grace of Swiss Avenue.
9. Its less affluent doppelganger, South Boulevard.
10. The whimsical play structures at Pacific Plaza Park.
11. The way the Rolex Service Center building twists as it rises.
12. The delicate arches of the Houston Street Viaduct as seen from between the Trinity levees.
13. The enclave of fairy-tale homes by Charles Dilbeck in Cochran Heights.
14. The boho chic vibe of Bishop Arts.
15. The Kodachrome colors of West Jefferson Boulevard.
16. The cheery yellow neo-brutalism of the Webb Chapel Park Pavilion.
17. The townhouse scale of Travis and Buena Vista streets in Oak Lawn.
18. The dizzying concrete grid of One Main Place.
19. The simple decency of the Cottages at Hickory Crossing.
20. Walking the greenways of Greenway Parks.
21. The Crayola colors and sharp geometries of the Latino Cultural Center.
22. The Milliners Supply Co. Building, still holding out on Elm Street downtown.
23. The exquisite midcentury detailing of the Meadows Building.
24. The mod homes of the Disney Streets.
25. The vernacular pride of Historic Tenth Street.
26. The beaux-arts dignity of Ferris Plaza.
27. The polka dot skylights in the entry pavilion of the Dallas Zoo.
28. Cocktails on the terrace of the Nasher Sculpture Center on an opening night.
29. O’Neil Ford’s Bromberg House.
30. O’Neil Ford’s Haggerty House.
31. Looking up at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge from the paths in the Trinity levees.
32. The brazen golden ingots of the Campbell Centre.
33. The modern opulence of the Gold Crest.
34. The stately pleasure of Bishop Boulevard at Southern Methodist University.
35. Sitting with a beverage and watching the action in Klyde Warren Park.
36. The mosaic façade of Saint Jude Chapel on Main Street.
37. The unapologetic glam of the Beck House on Strait Lane.
38. The plush comfort of Moody Performance Hall.
39. The Rat Pack swagger of the reborn Statler.
40. The soaring atrium and glass elevators of the Hyatt Regency.
41. The Purist forms of the Frito-Lay silos.
42. The deco style of the Dallas Power & Light Building.
43. The Wilson Building’s continental urbanity.
44. The sweet cloud that is the Interfaith Peace Chapel at the Cathedral of Hope.
45. Jorge Pardo’s colored tiles on the façade of 1217 Main.
46. The chandeliers at the Church of the Incarnation at the University of Dallas.
47. The out-of-nowhere corkscrew chapel of Thanks-Giving Square.
48. The stylized script NM door handles on the Neiman Marcus flagship.
49. The isolated quietude of Joppa.
50. The regal Eagle Apartments building in the Cedars.
51. The architectural petting zoo that is Dallas Heritage Village.
52. The brick tubes of O’Neil Ford’s St. John’s Episcopal.
53. The play of light on the punched metal façades of the Republic Bank Center.
54. The lithic power of Cistercian Abbey church.
55. The vertical force of the piers of the West End’s Kingman Implement building.
56. The view of downtown coming in over the Jefferson Viaduct.
57. The elemental wood-frame bird-blinds at the Trinity Audubon Center.
58. The way Mountain View College embraces the landscape.
59. The spatial experience of traveling up and under the High Five.
60. The marquee of the Majestic Theatre.
61. Deep Ellum’s loft aesthetic.
62. The bonkers roofline of Old Red.
63. The arcades at the Decorative Center in the Design District.
64. The view over White Rock Lake from the Test Pavilion at the Arboretum.
65. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gillin House: the Usonian goes elite.
66. The giant concrete numbers facing Northwest Highway on Fire Station 27.
67. The wiggy geometry of the College Park Park Pavilion.
68. The meandering stone steps of Reverchon Park.
69. The scale and detailing of Highland Park Village.
70. The International Style purity of the Magnolia Lounge at Fair Park.
71. The chunky red-orange address numerals of 211 Ervay. Also the baby blue panels.
72. The lose-yourself floor plan of the Dallas Museum of Art.
73. The structural system of Richland College.
74. The view of the Kalita Humphreys Theater along the banks of Turtle Creek.
75. The ethereal light at NorthPark Center in the afternoon.
76. The theatrical flare of the aluminum tube façades of the Wyly.
77. The charm of porch life in Old East Dallas.
78. The sheer dramatic force of City Hall.
79. The unexpected airy lightness of its interior.
80. The whitewashed deco lines of the former GLOCO station on Lamar in the Cedars.
81. The joyfully florid jumble that is the top of the Adolphus.
82. The Charco Broiler bull.
83. The Forest, Granada, Inwood, Kessler, Lakewood and Texas theaters.
84. The Harry Bertoia screen at the Public Library.
85. The cool gray brick and low lines of the Booker T. expansion.
86. The empty Tollway late at night.
87. The sense of community on the Katy Trail.
88. The gentle touch of Frank Welch at the Lamplighter School.
89. The modest bungalows of the M Streets.
90. The meandering paths along Exall Lake.
91. The architectural goodie bag that is the Greenhill School.
92. The calming luminosity of Lefkowitz Chapel at Temple Emanu-El.
93. The shadow play of the concrete sunscreen of 3525 Turtle Creek.
94. The old-Hollywood style of the Maple Terrace Apartments.
95. The white block of First Unitarian Church on Preston Road.
96. The white block of the Rachofsky House on Preston Road.
97. The exposed concrete structural system of Paul Rudolph’s Brookhollow Plaza.
98. The elemental simplicity of the columbarium at Saint Michael and All Angels.
99. The block of Exposition Avenue leading to Fair Park.
100. The Woofus.
Second Saturdays
Aldredge House
at the
STEP BACK TO A SIMPLER TIME
JOIN US ON THE SECOND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
FOR LIVING HISTORY TOURS AT ALDREDGE HOUSE
The Aldredge House invites you to travel back with us to a simpler place and time; to a Gilded Age steeped in gentility, refinement, and the finer things in life. Join us on the Second Saturday of each month for Living History Tours that will transport you to back to the early days of Swiss Avenue when, in 1917, West Texas Rancher, Will Lewis, commissioned renowned architect Hal Thomson to design and build this magnificent French Eclectic Mansion as a wedding gift for his Debutante Bride, Willie Newberry.
Actors outfitted in period costumes portray individuals who played significant roles in the Aldredge House's illustrious history, including its earliest owners, their maids, their chauffeurs, and even their family physician.
DOORS OPEN AT 10 AM FOR HOUSE TOURS. LIVING HISTORY TOURS BEGIN AT 11 AM
To rsvp for the tour, or for more information, Email us at:
November 2021
President's Letter
Dear neighbors,
It is my pleasure to write to you for the first time since becoming president of the District. We are entering a season of change. October brings fall colors and a lowering of the temperatures. We are also experiencing (hopefully) an end to the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes are ushering in a return to (a sort of) normal.
Outreach
On October 16, the Risa Weinberger-led Outreach Committee conducted an alley cleanup. Over 20 of our neighbors walked the alleys of the District and picked up garbage and debris. Collectively we picked up 220+ pounds of garbage and debris over 2.5 miles of alleys. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Halloween
We will also welcome back trick-or-treaters back to the District for the first time since before the pandemic. As in years past, we will have off-duty Dallas police officers in the neighborhood directing traffic at Munger and Swiss and providing extra security.
Alliance Against Crime
David Dean is our new chair of the Alliance Against Crime Committee. David has done a great job getting neighbors involved. One great new development is the AAC’s use of the GroupMe Mobile App to communicate the latest information in our fight against neighborhood crime. Special thanks to Kelly Gordon who took the lead on creating the app and recruiting neighbors to participate. Please contact Kelly Gordon (kellypgordon@gmail.com) for instructions on how to join the GroupMe AAC Group. It is easy!
Home Tour
One of my priorities as President is the revival of Home Tour. I view the Tour as one of the most important things we do as a neighborhood. It provides the District with much needed financial resources and is a wonderful celebration of our efforts at historic preservation. The Home Tour does not happen without the support and commitment of many of our neighbors. If you would like to put your home on Tour and/or volunteer, please let me or our Tour Chairperson Nancy Phillips (nancy@teamphillipsinc.com) know as soon as possible.
I am honored to serve as your President of the District for the next year. Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in serving the District in any way.
Be safe and I will see you in the District!
Christine Reagan Loh
214-732-7227
Halloween Houses
We would like to congratulate the winners of the 2021 Best Halloween House Contest and thank each of our neighbors who went all-out to decorate our District for the holiday.
2021 Winner
5703 Swiss Avenue
Amelia & Michael Hartman
Honorable Mentions
5902 Swiss Avenue
Rachel & Steve Goniwiecha
6322 Bryan Parkway
Anthony Barbier
5603 Swiss Avenue
Alex & Daniel Watters
5650 Swiss Avenue
Wes Smith
4912 Swiss Avenue
Marjo & Dion Dyer
2020
Yard Of The Year
Swiss avenue historic district
6005 Swiss Avenue
The Residence Of
Marianne & Tim Howells
The beauty of the charming home at 6005 Swiss Avenue is greatly enhanced by consistent displays of rich, colorful plantings as well as tasteful seasonal decorations such as pumpkins and gourds lining the steps in the fall. This landscape effectively combines bright colors in the focal point of the sunny area near the house, framed by cool greens of the surrounding shady areas. The plantings show great variety, including both the usual and the unusual, such as native plants. The textured green of carefully clipped ivy on the façade of the house reflects the perfectly groomed lawn. Exemplary maintenance and attention to detail in this yard make it a constant standout within the district—always a place to slow down and admire when passing by at any time of the year.
A BIT About Our District
The Swiss Avenue Historic District, in Old East Dallas, is a diverse neighborhood containing the finest collection of Early 20th Century residential architecture in the entire Southwest. Established in 1905 by real-estate developer, Robert Munger, it was designated in 1973 as the first historic district in the City of Dallas. It is an official Dallas Landmark District and, in 1974, the entire District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The boundaries of The Swiss Avenue Historic District include portions of some of the city's earliest streets:
Beacon Street • Bryan Parkway • Bryan Street
La Vista Drive • Live Oak Street • Swiss Avenue
Beacon Street
Bryan Parkway
Bryan Street
La Vista Drive
Live Oak Street
Swiss Avenue
With Profound Gratitude
Historic preservation throughout the City of Dallas exists largely due to the exemplary efforts of our neighbor, our friend, and our District's most ardently devoted advocate,
Virginia Savage McAlester
Virginia dedicated her life's work to preserving, protecting and promoting the historic dignity of her native hometown. She was the nation's foremost authority on historic architecture; she was instrumental in the founding of our District, which became this City's first Historic District; and she spearheaded efforts throughout our community that have impacted and improved the quality of life for us all.
Her contributions will reverberate for generations to come. For that, and for so much more, we are profoundly grateful.
Virginia Savage McAlester
May 13, 1943 – April 9, 2020
THE BRILLIANCE OF VIRGINIA SAVAGE McALESTER
In tribute to our dear friend and neighbor, Virginia Savage McAlester, we invite you to view the video below, featuring a lecture on the History of Munger Place presented by Virginia at the Hall of State in Fair Park on May 18, 2017
As you walk our scenic neighborhood, you may have noticed bronze plaques installed near the sidewalks in front of some of the homes. Our neighbor, Virginia Dupuy, worked with City Hall to obtain approval for SAHD residents to install these plaques on their properties.
The purpose of the plaques is to identify the year of a home's construction, its architectural style, the architect/builder (if known), and the original owner. If there's room remaining on the plaques, a fact or two about the history of the home or its original owners can be added. Although there are only a handful of these plaques in place today, visitors walking our District frequently stop to read them.
If you are interested in obtaining one of these plaques for your property, the process is relatively simple. A Certificate of Appropriateness is required. City Staff can approve the wording without going before the full Landmark Commission but you will be asked to provide the source of the facts you will be displaying.
Bring Home
The Bronze
Two good, reliable sources of information are the fileson our Historic District located at Preservation Dallas, and a Masters Thesis available at the Dallas Public Library downtown. The 3-volume thesis, titled, "History and Guide to the Swiss Avenue Historic District", was written in the 1970s by three architecture students at UT Arlington: Robert L. Canavan, Patricia T. Canavan, and Judy S. Dooley.
Erie Landmark Company is the manufacturer of the plaques (637 Hempfield Hill Road, Columbia, PA 17512, Telephone: 800-874-7848). The cost of one plaque is approximately $250. Under the agreement with the City, the plaques are to be installed on a flat concrete pad that can be easily fabricated by your handyman.
