Join us for the Preservation Achievement Awards on November 18!
Register Now for the
2020 Preservation Achievement Awards
November 18
Registration is now open for the 21st annual Preservation Achievement Awards! Join us from the comfort of your home as we go virtual to present all of the wonderful and inspiring preservation projects and people involved in preservation! Since we can’t gather together to celebrate, we are offering a delectable Experience Box from Fat Rabbit Provisions, sized for two people, to be delivered the day prior to the event to those that live in Dallas. Each box will also come with a 187mL bottle of Black Oak Chardonnay or Cabernet.
 
We have some incredible projects receiving awards this year including: 710 Dumas, The Gaston, Lobello House, Green House, Marcus House, 211 N. Rosemont Avenue, Mayor Sergeant House, Bella Villa Apartments, Bowlski’s – Lakewood Theater, Eagle Ford School, Samuell Grand Regional Family Aquatics Center, Sharrock Niblo Barn, Tyler Station, the UNT Dallas College of Law – Old Municipal Building, the new Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum and the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum Boxcar project.

This year we will be presenting several special recognition awards for contributions to historic preservation by a person or organization. The City of Dallas Archives will receive the Craftsmanship Award, Carolyn Brown and the Tenth Street Residential Organization will each receive a Spirit of Preservation Award, and the Finding Little Egypt Project will receive the Education Award.

The awards will also include a special tribute to the City of Dallas Park & Recreation Department for all that they have done to preserve Dallas’ historic parks and the historic features within them. The Department has received more Preservation Achievement Honor Awards than any other organization in the city and we applaud their list of stellar projects. Past honorees have included Merriman Anderson Architects, Downtown Dallas Inc., the City of Dallas, Sixth Floor Museum, Bishop Arts District, Swiss Avenue Historic District, Meadows Foundation and Matthews Southwest. 

Click below to register for this amazing event and celebration of historic preservation!
Thomas Leeds Clark (1954-2000)
I met Tom Clark in 1997, soon after I moved to Dallas, when he was introduced to me as the best window restoration contractor in Texas. I came to realize that this was a modest introduction of him and his company, Leeds Clark. Having recently completed an extensive study on the preservation of wood windows at the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC, I was primed for discussions with Tom, which tended to go long and deep. We co-presented on the topic of windows a few times, using my technical and academic study and his hands-on craftsman perspective. From that experience developed a friendship followed by years of professional collaborations. I came to learn of his national reputation beyond Texas and the surrounding states in places like the District of Columbia and Hawaii. I came to learn that his windows repairs could still be found in most of Dallas’ best-known historic buildings. Over time, I learned that while windows were a specialty, he also loved restoring whole buildings. His passion for his craft was infectious. His generosity with knowledge was epic. Most of all, his compassion for others and his willingness to be helpful was boundless. Tom Clark was a great preservationist and a great person who will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Tom passed away peacefully on September 16, 2020. For more information and to leave comments on his tribute wall visit here.

- Nancy McCoy, FAIA
Virginia Savage McAlester Tribute Project
Preservation Dallas is helping with a tribute to the late Virginia Savage McAlester, who of course was a pillar in Dallas and the preservation community. The Virginia Savage McAlester Tribute will recognize her incredible work and attributes through a commissioned sculpture by local artist Kat Warwick. The sculpture is to be placed in Savage Park, named for Virginia’s parents, located in the Swiss Avenue Historic District and to be dedicated next spring.
 
Donations are currently being accepted for the Tribute and donations raised above this project will go towards:
  • A Tribute Fund to honor her legacy of advocacy in Dallas by establishing opportunities to fund programs and surveys in key historic neighborhoods.
  • An Ongoing Virginia Savage McAlester Educational Program in partnership with the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and other partner organizations for lectures and scholarships in historic preservation and neighborhood advocacy.
 
We hope you can help with Virginia’s Tribute by making a donation, which you can do by clicking on the button below. 
McCree Cemetery Repair Work Underway
We are excited to announce that Texas Cemetery Restoration has started work on restoring the markers in the historic McCree Cemetery as part of a project funded by the B.B. Owen Trust and managed by Preservation Dallas.
 
As part of the work some of the smaller markers have already been put back in the upright position. The crew is also being very thorough and searching for broken stone pieces, missing footstones, and smaller stones that have disappeared and have had luck finding stones that haven’t been seen before. 
 
This week, one crew was working on disassembling a marker taking it apart piece by piece and cleaning the edges of each piece. They built a new base for the marker out of gravel and sand and reassembled the pieces and leveled the stone. There is a “putty” like material (you roll it out like Play-Doh) that was placed between the stones which forms a barrier to keep moisture out. The stones are then sprayed with a natural chemical that “eats” away at the years of staining. When the sun hits the stones it activates the chemical and in about two months the staining should disappear.
 
The crew will be working for a couple of weeks to complete the repairs. See below for some pictures of the work so far taken by Michelle Wurtz Penton, PhD, RPA with Versar who is helping to manage the project along with Victoria Clow. 
David Preziosi Selected as an Outstanding Alumni
Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi, has been selected by the Texas A&M College of Architecture as an Outstanding Alumni for 2020. He joins seven others for 2020 in receiving that honor. Those selected have distinguished themselves as leaders and humanitarians in their respective fields and are being recognized for extraordinary talents, ambition and work ethics that have strengthened and enhanced their disciplines and the organizations for which they have worked.
 
The 2020 Outstanding Alumni were nominated by former students and selected for their outstanding achievements by a college committee. Less than one percent of the college’s more than 16,000 former students have been recognized as Outstanding Alumni, the highest honor bestowed by the college to its graduates. The 2020 Outstanding Alumni will be recognized at a ceremony in February of 2021.

To read more about those selected go here.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation PastForward conference is going virtual this year! You’ll hear from expert speakers who will provide practical, relevant information to meet the evolving needs in the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. Featuring the themes Resilience and Relevance, PastForward Online 2020 will feature more than 32 sessions on topics such as racial justice and equity, dealing with the effects of the pandemic, climate change, the challenges facing America’s main streets, and many more. Attendees will be inspired to think through what these changes mean for individuals and for organizations. Register by October 26 to receive a discount. 
Has your online research hit a brick wall?
Have you done all the research you can online and now need to access information housed at the library but the physical building is closed? The Dallas History & Archives Division, located the seventh floor of the main branch of the Dallas Public Library, offers virtual research at this time. Email them with the information on what you are researching and they will look up information for you!
PRESERVATION ISSUES
Amendments to City Code Impacting Historic Preservation - The Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) is proposing several amendments to the City Code regarding the Certificate of Appropriateness request process for structures located in City of Dallas Landmark districts. The proposed amendments aim to:
  • Make the Certificate of Appropriateness design review process more efficient
  • Allow the OHP to contribute to a citywide priority to expedite permitting
  • Contribute to boosting economic development arising from COVID-19
  • Free up staff time to address critical preservation issues
  • Afford an opportunity to balance the historic preservation program

As part of the amendment process, the OHP will be holding a series of meetings with various stakeholders around the city with a goal to have the Landmark Commission vote on the amendments at their December 7 meeting. Preservation Dallas will be hosting a virtual meeting on October 22nd to hear about the proposed amendments from Murray Miller, the Director of the OHP. After the presentation there will be a chance to ask questions and give feedback on the proposed amendments. Click here to download a brochure on the proposed amendments. To join the virtual meeting on the 22nd at 6:00 p.m. click here. If you would like to call in, use the number below and enter in the meeting ID and passcode:

346-248-7799
Meeting ID: 876 5519 3030
Passcode: 949437

The OHP staff will also be holding two public meetings as well on the following dates:

October 19, 2020 at 2:00 PM
Videoconference:
Click here for link.
Password: kZUMKEja753

Teleconference:
Dial (408) 418-9388
Access Code: 146 091 6917

October 26, 2020 at 6:00 PM
Videoconference:
Click here for link.
Password: aiCyFRtG384

Teleconference:
Dial (408) 418-9388
Access Code: 146 923 7784
Director's Letter
David Preziosi
I would like to take this opportunity to start out my letter thanking everyone who supported Preservation Dallas during North Texas Giving Day last month! Donations large and small helped carry us to a record year with over $17,000 in gifts which beat both our goal for this year and what was given last year. An incredible feat and we are so thankful for all who gave to help us with our work! We participated this year with 3,242 other nonprofits in the North Texas region and over $58 million was raised during the day, an impressive increase of $8 million from 2019.

This year, we had 105 wonderful gifts and I want to personally thank and recognize all those who gave this year including: John and Irene Allender, Norman and Jean Alston, Cathy S. Apple, Buddy Apple and Brad Nitschke, Ann and Jim Bagley, Vanessa Baker, Tancy B Baldwin, Danelle Baldwin Smith, Camille and Kelly Barnes, Lisa Benskin, Steven and Sara Besly, Christopher Bowers, Colleen Brainerd, Marie and Pete Brookhart, Randy and Marti Brooks, Joe Buskuhl, Leslie and Jeff Clay, Charlene Clements, Victoria Clow, Deb and Scott Coldwell, Deborah Dobson-Brown, Adrienne Dominguez, Susan and Warren Ernst, Betty Gallagher, Jacque Gavin, Erin Granberry, Elizabeth Gunby, Nell Baldwin, Michael and Lynette Hajduk, Andreea Hamilton, Joanna Hampton, Dr. and Mrs. Phillip Hansen, Jason Harper, Morgan Harrison and Nathan Piller, Michael V Hazel, RuLan and Rick Hebeler, Philip Henderson, Katherine V Homan, Megan R Horan, Carol Huang, Carl Hunermund and Kara Murphy, Linda Jebavy, JQAQ Atelier, Lisa Kays, Brian Keith and Koko Nomura, Victor Kralisz, Barbara and Franklin Lloyd, Susan Lowry, Stephen Lucy, Nancy McCoy, Alexis McKinney, Judy McMillen, Craig and Becky Melde, Peggy and Dave Millheiser, Brady Moore, Lawrence Moser, Juanita Nanez, Greg Nieberding and Eddie Ortega, Laura Noe, Fred and Ashley Pena, Pauline Peters, Joyce and Al Preisser, Pat and Al Preziosi, Leigh Richter, Paul E Ridley, Lisa Ricci, The Roden Family, Jonathan Rollins, Alicia Schroeder, Michael Seay, Douglas Sharp, Nancy Shelton, Eileen A. Shibata, Steve Shipp and Marianne Miller, Douglas and Jamie Slagel, Stephen Smith, James Stone, Daron Tapscott, Douglas Taylor, Peter and Beth Tiggelaar, Ambrosio Villarreal, Michelle Walker, Howard J Weiner, Herschel Alan Weisfeld, David Whitley, and Claudia Worme.
 
Normally at this time of year we would be heading into the home stretch for the Fall Architectural Tour at the end of the month, but with COVID we will have to wait until at least next spring for our Architectural Tour. We are staying busy though preparing for the Preservation Achievement Awards next month, postponed from May this year, as we venture into a new virtual format for the event. Thank goodness we have a production company to put it together for us and work out all of the technical issues of holding a virtual event. However, it is still a lot of work getting everything prepared and coordinated and we are working hard to pull all of that together. While it is sad that we can’t celebrate the amazing award winning projects and people in person, at least we can give them a virtual congratulation for their excellent work. We have some great projects and people to recognize this year and hope you will join us virtually for the event on November 18th! And you can even order an Experience Box for the Awards to help you celebrate from your own home.  

I also want to take a moment to recognize the passing of Tom Clark, which Nancy so wonderfully covered above. He was a wonderful person who did so much to save historic windows in Dallas and around the country. One of my biggest pet peeves is the replacement of historic windows and how easily they are tossed into the landfill for usually a substandard window replacement that will last a fraction of the time the historic window was there. Even horrible looking historic windows can be repaired and trust me on that as I personally spent two years restoring my own 1941 steel casement windows. I'm so grateful for window craftspeople like Tom who are able to restore historic windows to keep such an important character defining feature of historic buildings intact. Tom helped to restore countless historic windows in Dallas and across the country and I thank him for his amazing work. And don't worry, Tom's sons will carry on the family business and continue with window restoration projects!

And last but certainly not least, I am also extremely happy that we are able to assist in the Tribute to Virginia. The idea came from her friends and neighbors in the Swiss Avenue Historic District and they approached us to serve as the fiscal agent for the project, which we were happy to do. This Tribute is a wonderful way to recognize Virginia who gave so much to the community she loved and who fought so hard for the historic places that make Dallas a special place. Preservation in Dallas would not be where it is today without Virginia's hard work and dedication and we are honored at Preservation Dallas to take part in helping with the Tribute to Virginia.
EVENTS
All in-person events have been postponed until further notice.
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Please Welcome our New Members!
Contributor
Jason R. Saucedo

Sustainer
Joe Buskuhl

Individual
Amanda McNeill

Young Professionals
Sarah A. French
Barbara A. Kratus Stark
Thank you to the following members for renewing!
DeCarla Anderson
Karen Casey
Charlene Clements
Nancy Ferro
Stephen Grice
Becky Gruber
Diane Gruber
Kathy Hewitt
Fred & Mahlon Hight
Cris Jordan & Scott Potter
Miranda Pereyda
Jennifer Rode
Carey Roper
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 below.
CORPORATE PARTNERS
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