Reserve your spot for the Holiday Party!
Meet our Special Guest at
the Preservation Dallas Holiday Party
on December 3!
Join us for the annual Preservation Dallas Holiday Party at the festively decorated Wilson House! We have been busy getting the Wilson House ready for the holidays and are happy to invite our members to join us as we bring back our Holiday Party on Friday, December 3! The halls will be decked for you to enjoy refreshments and beverages while catching up in person. 

We also look forward to sharing our wonderful Virginia Savage McAlester tribute and exhibit at the Wilson House. You do not want to miss our terrific collection and display of her work, up for a limited time.
 
Our special guest this year will be 16 year old author Jack Drake. Jack will be signing copies of his new book Preston Hollow: A Brief History. We will have copies of Jack’s book for sale and members receive 10% off book purchases. Come meet our newest Dallas historian, and definitely our youngest. You can read more about Jack here. If you would like to purchase a book outside of the Holiday Party please contact the Preservation Dallas office.
  
The annual Holiday Party is a members only event. Please consider bringing a new member guest with you. If you would like to volunteer your time, or bring a food item, please contact us here.
Enter the Dessert Contest for the Holiday Party!!
Bring your favorite dessert to the Holiday Party and enter to win in our annual Preservation Dallas Holiday Dessert Contest. We will have two categories this year – cakes/pies and cookies/brownies/pastries.
 
The rules are simply delicious: 
  • Desserts must be homemade and ready to eat (we don’t have prep space or a way to heat items).
  • You may enter as many desserts as you would like.
  • Entries MUST BE REGISTERED no later than Wednesday, December 1st at 5 p.m.
  • Entries MUST BE DELIVERED by 4:30 p.m. on Friday December 3rd to be sampled by our panel of judges.
  • Delectable first and second place prizes will be awarded!
 
To register for the contest or if you have questions click here. 
The Cemeteries Of Dallas Tour Was A Big Success!
On October 30th we were blessed to have a great group of enthusiastic tourgoers, captivating symposium speakers and remarkable cemeteries, all precluded by perfect weather! With tour stops around the city, guests explored a vast array of timeless landscapes abundant with historic grave markers, mausoleums and statuary. The tour was a one day showcase of some of the most famous burial sites in Dallas including multitudes of local architects, business leaders, baseball players, some good guys and some bad guys.
 
Beginning at the 1937 Anton Korn designed Hillcrest Mausoleum, guests were treated to a discussion highlighting cemetery history, evolution and the built environment. Moderated by Dallas Municipal Archivist John Slate, the symposium panel included Sparkman/Hillcrest Vice President Teresa Schnur, Dallas Genealogical Society Past President Tony Hanson as well as Versar Cultural Resources Lead Michelle Wurtz. The entire day was filled with beautiful structures and stories, all in the great outdoors.
 
Thank you to our Title Sponsor Versar, our other Sponsors and the many volunteers who helped show off the historic features of Dallas’ cemeteries.
Nominate a Project for the
2022 Preservation Achievement Awards
Do you know of an outstanding preservation project that deserves merit, or maybe one that you have done? If so then nominate it for the 2022 Preservation Achievement Awards to be presented in May. Nominations are due January 28. Let us know about a project we should pursue for submission here.

Award nominations are being accepted for: Rehabilitation or Adaptive Use of a residential historic building; Rehabilitation or Adaptive Use of a commercial, institutional, or mixed-use building: Rehabilitation of a Historic Landscape, Park or other Historic Resource; and New Construction/Infill in a historic neighborhood which may include an addition directly attached to a building, or an entirely new building (infill) which enhances the historic nature of the original building, streetscape or urban environment.
Wilson House Mural Restored
Thanks to the Meadows Foundation, Brown Mountain Restoration has completed work on our entryway mural! The mural consists of the Belle Époque-style ceiling painting which is believed to have been painted around 1905, as well as the cove paintings surrounding the ceiling painting which were completed later in Art Nouveau style. Restoration work on the cove paintings was finished last month, and completes what began in 2019 when the ceiling painting was restored. The work corrected cracking, fading, and other damage incurred over the years.

Our mural marks the Wilson House as one of only forty Victorian-era residential structures in Texas that has interior decorative painting. We are thrilled with the results and can't wait for our members to see the restored mural in person!
Corporate Partner Spotlight:
Versar, Inc.
Versar, Inc. is a full-service environmental planning, engineering, and remedial services firm that has provided support to governmental and commercial clients since 1969. Headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, Versar has staff located in 12 national and international offices (including two offices located in Texas (Richardson and El Paso]), and additional outsourced personnel stationed at numerous Department of Defense (DOD) facilities around the country. The majority of Versar’s technical staff have advanced degrees and include engineers (chemical, mechanical, civil, environmental, electrical), scientists (biologists, computer scientists, chemists, ecologists, exposure and risk assessors, geographic information system [GIS] specialists), hydrogeologists, geologists, archeologists, historians, architectural historians, policy and regulatory analysts, and communications experts.
 
Versar provides unique solutions tailored to meet client needs through three primary service lines:
  • Program and Construction Management
  • Environmental Services
  • Security Systems
 
The Cultural Resources Group of Versar, Inc. (previously known as Geo-Marine, Inc.) is nationally recognized as a leader in the inventory, assessment, and management of historic properties. Versar’s 34 years of experience in navigating the cultural resources regulatory processes at the national, regional, and local levels throughout the United States ensures that client objectives are met with creative and successful solutions.
 
Versar has been involved in a number of key Dallas/Fort Worth projects over the years. A few of these projects include:
  • Phase I cultural resources investigations for the expansion of the City of Dallas Convention Center conducted as part of the required cultural resources investigations related to plans to expand the Dallas Convention Center in the area adjacent to the southern edge of the Pioneer Cemetery.
  • Clyde Lane/Greenwood Cemetery investigations conducted for the City of Dallas in advance of the widening of Clyde Lane.
  • Historical Study of Freedman’s Cemetery, 41DL316 tasked with interpreting and reporting on the archaeological and archival investigations at Freedman’s Cemetery, Dallas, Texas. The Cultural Resources Division of Geo-Marine, Inc., worked closely with TxDOT, Black Dallas Remembered, and the African American Museum to tell the story of Freedman’s Town/North Dallas and the associated cemetery
  • Archaeological and historic-age resource survey for the Dallas Zoo African Savanna Exhibit in advance of construction.
  • Cultural resources investigations conducted in advance of the development of the Texas Horse Park.
  • Archeological investigations at Temple Emanu-El Cemetery.
  • Various archeological, architectural, and geoarcheological investigations related to the Dallas Floodway.
  • Cultural resources survey and geoarcheological investigations of Segment IV of the President George Bush Turnpike.
  • Assessing the potential for intact archeological deposits within the Pegasus Project: Reconstruction of the IH-30/IH-35E Corridor (Canyon/Mixmaster/Lower Stemmons).
  • Central City, Fort Worth investigations included geoarchaeological and historical studies. Architectural survey and evaluation of historic age properties was conducted, NRHP nominations developed, oral histories conducted, historic context developed and HABS III documentation conducted.
  • Additional archaeological and historical investigations related to linear right of ways conducted for the Texas Department of Transportation, DART, and various engineering firms.

Learn more about Versar and their work here. Versar proudly presented the Preservation Dallas 2021 Fall Cemeteries Of Dallas Tour.
The Texas Historical Commission’s Real Places 2022 conference will take place in person, in Austin, February 2–4. Presented by the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission in partnership with Phoenix I Restoration and Construction, Ltd., Real Places is the premier historic preservation and heritage tourism conference in the Lone Star State, where anyone interested in protecting our past can work directly with industry-leading experts to learn practical, actionable solutions they can apply in their community.

Learn more and sign up at realplaces.us 
Has your online research hit a brick wall?
Exciting news for those that would like to research in person again! 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 reserach 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
Streamlining Certificate of Appropriateness Process - The Landmark Commission on November 1 held a public hearing at their meeting to review the Ad-Hoc Committee recommendations and Staff recommendations for streamlining the process. There were numerous speakers on the issue and discussion took more than two hours. The Commission decided to support two of three recommendations from the Ad-Hoc Committee including the creation of guides for each historic district and ideas for making the CA process more efficient. They asked staff to bring back the other proposal which contains language on what can be reviewed by staff as routine maintenance instead of coming to the Landmark Commission with those cases. When staff is ready with the language they will return to the Landmark Commission.

Geneva Heights Elementary School – DISD held a Community meeting on November 3 to discuss plans for the rebuilding of the school. At the meeting, they announced that the original 1931 portion of the school, minus the auditorium, would be incorporated into the new design. A couple of schematic designs were shown by the architecture firm of BRW who have been selected for Geneva Heights. The current additions to the school would be demolished and a new rear addition would be built. The historic portion of the school would be converted into office space and labs for the new school. There will be future meetings for the school design with more final plans and material selections to be presented. Thanks to everyone who sent an email to DISD Trustee Dustin Marshall and DISD staff as that was crucial in the decision by DISD to save the historic portion of the school.

Reverchon Ballfield - The Park and Recreation Board at their November 4 meeting discussed plans presented by DSGN for the preservation of the historic ballfield and grandstands. The Park Board voted to keep the ballfield grass instead of going with artificial turf and voted to place new restroom facilities under the historic grandstand. Preservation Dallas supported the grass for the ball field but had recommended that the restrooms and concessions stand not be built under the grandstand as was presented in the plans from DSGN. The Park Board requested that DSGN return with plans to place those functions under the grandstand.
Director's Letter
David Preziosi, FAICP, Hon. AIA Dallas
We have gotten ahead of ourselves with getting the Wilson House decorated for the Holiday Party. We started a little earlier this year with the party coming up quickly on December 3 and both Donovan and I being off next week for the Thanksgiving holiday.

It has been great to have Donovan back to work on the tree and garland as that was my least favorite thing to do when he was gone. This year we have a metallic theme tree with randomly flashing bulbs, which you have to see in person to appreciate in all its glory.

We also have some new mantle décor with Jennifer jumping in and creating a woodland theme for the mantle in her office. I pitched in as well filling in some of the gaps and working on the red mantle in the dining room and garland and lights in the library. You don’t want to miss out on seeing the holiday magic at the Wilson House during the Holiday Party!
 
And make sure to enter the Holiday Dessert Contest! We have some fierce competition this year with previous entrants coming back to vie for first place and the great prizes for the winners. And the rest of the non-bakers get to enjoy the delectable eats! The wine pull that Irene started is also coming back with Jennifer taking over the wine pull coordinator duties. We will also have a raffle with some wonderful items. In addition, we have our favorite Spanish guitar live music coming back as well. It will be a fun party and a great time to visit with your preservation friends!

Thanks to all who attended the Fall Cemeteries of Dallas tour last month! We didn’t know what to expect with a brand new tour that we haven’t done before and one that didn't include buildings. We very pleased with the results and there was a great turnout to see seven amazing historic cemeteries in Dallas. For the tour, we had incredible help from groups representing each cemetery and who also provided great inside knowledge to tour attendees about each of the cemeteries. The historic Sparkman/Hillcrest Mausoleum was a wonderful place to start the tour with the insightful symposium and chance to explore the vast mausoleum space, which I believe has the most interior marble and granite of any building in Dallas. Pretty much every surface was covered with it. We hope to bring back the cemetery tour in the future and to explore many other historic cemeteries in Dallas. We already have requests to see several cemeteries from people who attended the tour!
 
I hope that everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving this year with family and friends! I know last year many people had to do a virtual one, including me, and it will be nice to be together in person this year for those that can. I’ll be heading down to Austin to be with family for Thanksgiving and I’m looking forward to it. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and hope to see y'all at the Holiday Party on December 3!
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!
Please Welcome our New Members!
Corporate Partner I
Preservationist I
Suzanne Buss
Jole Luehrs
John Rothermel
Jody Shafer
Mary Ann Webster
Urban Armadillos
Colleen Murray
Thank you to the following members for renewing!
Braniff International Corporation
Kelly & Scott Bradley
Sally Branch
Carolyn Brown
Richard Cass
Rob Elmore
Mary Mesh
Masha Prior
Reagan Rothenberger
This newsletter is sent to all current and past members, and those interested in preservation in Dallas. To become a member or to renew or upgrade your membership, please click here:
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Legacy Corporate Partner
Corporate Partner Level II
Corporate Partners 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