When the owner of Texas Textile Mills, Clarence Miller, and his wife, Esther, built their family home at 5112 Swiss Avenue in 1914, it began its life as a 10-room, red-brick Progressive Style House with a deep veranda and wide, overhanging eaves. In 1926, after a fire had partially consumed much of the original structure, the Millers hired Otto Lang, of the renowned Dallas architectural firm, Lang & Witchell, to reimagine the house. Since Progressive Style homes had fallen out of fashion by the mid 1920s, Lang designed a classic English Country Manor with strong French Normandy influences. The result is the elegant home that occupies that address today.

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Dallas newspapers at the time described the house as "a garden spot". Its centerpiece was Esther's Chinese Garden Lounge, where the Millers entertained noted celebrities of the day, including Clark Gable, Enrico Caruso, and opera soprano, Edith Mason.

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Due to the size of the house and the demands of their personal and professional obligations, the Millers hired a domestic couple, Earl and Rosie Goins, to help manage the house and its grounds. They were hired immediately after Earl was discharged from the military at the end of World War I and remained in the Millers' employ up until Earl's passing in 1963. Both Earl and Rosie were an integral part of the house, the family, and its history.​ 

 

Over the years, three generations of the Miller family enjoyed the home, including the Miller's sons, Giles and his wife, Betty Jane, and Connell, and his wife, Martha, as well as Martha and Connell's sons, Connell, Jr., Alex and Burns. The photos in this album are a snapshot of those early days.

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