Happy and safe holidays to everyone!
Special Virginia Savage McAlester
Donation to Preservation Dallas
Preservation Dallas has received an amazing gift from Virginia Savage McAlester's family. They have donated the family's dinning room table and chairs due to their connection with historic preservation efforts in Dallas. The family felt it was important that the furniture go to Preservation Dallas as Virginia's dining room served as command central for countless preservation battles in Dallas and numerous meetings to develop strategy and advocacy efforts for each battle. In the early days of preservation efforts in Dallas while the Historic Preservation League, now Preservation Dallas, was still young and without a home, the dining room was an important place to meet regarding preservation issues. Even after HPL/PD had a home it still was an important place for meetings with Virginia rallying the troops and devising strategies to fight for Dallas historic places and neighborhoods.

The dinning room set was appropriately placed in the library of the Wilson House as Virginia worked so hard to establish and develop the resource library at the Wilson House. With the dinning room furniture and the library, her memory and incredible work will live on. In Virginia's honor, Preservation Dallas is dedicating the room as the "Virginia Savage McAlester Resource Library."

In addition to the furniture, Preservation Dallas has also received numerous books, files, and maps which Virginia used in her preservation and advocacy work along with portraits and pictures from the Harris and Savage families.

Preservation Dallas extends its heartfelt gratitude to Virginia's family for the donation of the furniture and the materials. It means a great deal to have a tangible connection to Virginia and to have a space where she can be remembered for her incredible work in preserving Dallas' historic places. A formal dedication ceremony for the donation and the room will be held in the spring when it is safe to do so. When planning for future preservation battles we will be sure to meet around the table in the hopes that it will bring Virginia's spirit and energy to the fight!
Submit a Nomination for the
2021 Preservation Achievement Awards
Have you, or someone you know, completed an outstanding preservation project that deserves recognition? Well then, nominate it for the 2021 Awards! Or, let us know about the project and we will pursue a nomination. The 22nd annual Preservation Achievement Awards are planned to be held next May during National Preservation Month.

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. Nominations are due by January 29.
Virginia Savage McAlester Tribute update
The marble has arrived and artist Kat Warwick has started sculpting the public art to be installed at the Aldredge House in the Swiss Avenue historic district to honor Virginia Savage McAlester. We are currently $25,000 away from our goal to complete and install the sculpture. Additional funds raised through the Tribute will go to fund programs and surveys in key neighborhoods and an educational fund for lectures and/or scholarships in historic preservation and neighborhood advocacy.

With your funding contribution, we will be able to recognize the outstanding efforts of Virginia Savage McAlester to advancing historic preservation in Dallas and across the nation. We thank you for your support with this project and look forward to celebrating with you when we unveil the Tribute!
Artist, Kat Warwick, with the slab of marble she will sculpt to produce public art for the Virginia Savage McAlester Tribute. Kat is holding sculpted hearts from the same marble that will be given to those who contribute $250 or more for the commission.
The Spirit of tRuth shown here is a recently completed sculpture by Kat Warwick It will be auctioned to the highest bidder with a generous percentage of the proceeds going to the Virginia Savage McAlester Tribute. This sculpture is similar in style to the Tribute commission. The starting bid is $1,870. with bid increments of $50. Send bid or inquiries to kat@theartlifeway.com. 
A special thank you to the following contributors to the
Tribute Fund to date
Clementine Adams & Virginia Adams
Ellen Amirkhan/Oriental Rug Cleaning Company
Caroline Giles Banks
Debra Barrios
Suzanne Bartolucci
Zaida Basora
Beth & Rick Bentley
Bernbaum/Magadini Architects
Sandy Brothers & Mike Holub
John Brown
Roger L. Carroll
Karen Casey
Cal & Clare Buie Chaney
Jane Chapman
Scott Chase
Steve Clicque
Philip & Melissa Crew
Kyle Crews
Harryette Ehrhardt
Chaitan & Courtney Fahnestock
Ross & Lois Finkelman
Friends of the Aldredge House
Wilson & Betty Fuqua
Monty Garretson
Ann Gaspari
Peggy L. Gould
Erin Granberry
Suzi & Jack Greenman
Mary & Clifford Grum
Elizabeth Gunby
Lynn Hamilton
Jason & Alisha Harper
RuLan Hebeler
Martha Heimberg
Katy Ehrhardt Henderson
Philip C. Henderson
Barry Henry
LaRue Howell Henry
Katherine Homan
Kaki Hopkins
Carl Hunermund & Kara Murphy
Debora Hunter
Alfredo & Margaret Jimenez
Teresa Judd
Paula Lambert
Gary Lawler
Julie Lowenberg
Suzy Lowry
Elizabeth Mast
Arch C. McColl, III
Linda McFarland
Judy McMillen
Linda Mitchell
Carol D. Morse
John & Anne Mullen
Mary & Weldon Nash
Marcel Quimby
Alicia Quintans
Dan Patterson
Melissa Prycer
Skikha & Ganesh Raj
Ralph M. Randall
Linda Rayes
Carol Roark
Debby & Kevin Rogers
Lorie & Keith Routh
Janice Salmon
Mrs. William Seale
Belinda Senevey & Adele Malpert
Cynthia Scofield
Scovell Family Foundation
Nancy Shelton
SHM Architects
Danelle Smith
Suzanne Naomi Smith
Linda Solomon
Suzanne Starling
Mary Suhm
Summerlee Foundation
Amy Talkington & Robbie Adams
CM "Carty" Talkington
Olive Talley
Fred Tally
Julie Travis
Eloise Vellucci
Sharman Vesecky
Lynn Vogt
WaaL.architecture
Liz Wally
Joan & Alan Walne
Mike Warren
Chad West
Shirley Whitfield
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
City of Dallas Preservation Vision – The Landmark Commission voted this month to establish an ad-hoc committee to work with the Office of Historic Preservation on implementing the Vision as set forth over the past summer and to work on potential amendments to the City Code regarding historic preservation. The committee will work from January to August and Cyndy Steiner will serve as the chair with members to include Diane Sherman, Daron Tapscott, Jason Harper, and Katherine Seale.

Williams House – Great news for the Elbert Williams House at 3805 McFarlin! The house which was on Preservation Dallas' Most Endangered Places list in 2016 has been purchased and will be saved as is. That is wonderful news for such an important house and the first of the Texas Regionalism style. Read more here about the purchase of the house. The Park Cities Historic Preservation Society is selling a great new book out about the house and you can find out more information about that and videos about the house here.

Historic Resources Survey – The field work for the Downtown Historic Resources Survey has been completed and now the survey team will be moving to survey Deep Ellum. Originally, Deep Ellum was not a part of the project; however, since there weren't as many resources as anticipated in the downtown area they were able to add Deep Ellum to the survey without additional cost. This is great news to have Deep Ellum included in the survey.
Director's Letter
David Preziosi
What a year this has been for all of us! Certainly no one expected it to turn out the way it did and for all of our lives to have changed so drastically. As you all know, we have had to make a lot of changes and accommodations due to COVID this past year. When the pandemic was declared we had no idea how long it would last and how it would impact our work. Well, we know the answer to the later and are still waiting on the former. We had to scrap many of our plans for the year and rearrange others to try and adjust to a new reality.

There were many impacts from COVID for Preservation Dallas with the biggest ones not being able to do in-person events and the loss of income from fundraising events. I hate that we have not been able to hold events, tours, and in-person programs this year. I missed showing off interesting historic sites during InTown Outings and it was sad to not to be able to hold our Fall Architectural Tour to see some outstanding historic homes. Thankfully we were able to make the leap with Summer Sizzlers to a virtual format to continue that terrific series. Moving the Preservation Achievement Awards to a virtual format was definitely a challenge and took a lot of coordination. I wish we could have celebrated the awards and honored the winners in person; however, I’m glad we were able to give some recognition to all of the outstanding 20 award winners this year and our Honoree, the Dallas Park and Recreation Department.

Thankfully we were able to compensate for some of our financial losses during the year with receiving a PPP loan, and emergency operating grants from the Summerlee Foundation and Humanities Texas. We also had an amazing Giving Tuesday in May and a North Texas Giving Day in September. Both of those campaigns beat our goals and it was so wonderful to see the amazing support! Thank you so much to all of you who participated in one or both of those campaigns! And, if you would like to give a gift before the end of the year you can do so here.

Advocacy was tricky this year with having to do everything virtually. With City Hall being closed to the public it made it harder to support or oppose issues at City Council. Landmark Commission and City Plan Council. While you can still sign up to speak at those virtual meetings it is just not the same as showing up at City Hall with a bunch of folks in support or against an issue. With the help of members like you sending in support to Council Members, we were able to get City Council to approve the Historic Resource Survey of Downtown Dallas and to extend the City’s Preservation Tax Incentive program for another five years. Both big wins for preservation!

The big highlight of the year for us was the selection of Preservation Dallas as the 2020 winner of the Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We were incredibly honored to have received the very competitive and prestigious award which recognized our work in the past 48 years in fighting for Dallas’ historic places. The National Trust put together a great video highlighting our work and the award. If you haven’t seen it, view it here.

The new year will be another challenging one for us as there is still a lot of uncertainty out there, especially as to when it will be safe to hold events again. We are still planning and hoping for a tour in the spring and the awards in May, but as we have learned from this year we may need to change our plans as things progress. In January, we will be launching our new web site and are really looking forward to that. Next year, we will continue working with the Office of Historic Preservation on The Vision and amendments to the City Code they would like to put forward. That will also be studied in depth next year by a new ad hoc committee established by the Landmark Commission this month. 

2020 has certainly been a year of challenges, change, and sadness for many. We have all been impacted by COVID in some way and some more than others. I’m hoping that 2021 will be a better year for all and that we get can get back to a more normal life closer to what we used to have. Despite all that is going on, I hope that everyone enjoys the holiday season as best they can and that the new year will bring good health and happiness for all!

And, a big thank you to everyone for your support of Preservation Dallas in this most challenging year! Your help has kept us going in extremely difficult circumstances and allowed us to continue to fight for Dallas’ historic places! 
VIRTUAL EVENTS
All in-person events have been postponed until it is safe to meet in groups again.
Towards the Next 100 Years: 2020 Update of the Fair Park Comprehensive Development Plan
January 7
Preservation Dallas and AIA Dallas will be holding a joint discussion on updates to the Fair Park Master Plan. In the more than 80 years since the Texas Centennial Exposition, it has been said that Fair Park has been in a continual process of trying to determine its role in post-Centennial Dallas. Since the last Fair Park Master Plan update 13 years ago, challenges that face both Fair Park and the neighborhoods that surround it have regularly been in the headlines. Fair Park First and their partners, Spectra, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, In the City for Good, and Perkins&Will, will share their plans and ideas to address these challenges and take Fair Park into the future. Following the presentation there will be a Q&A for the the public.
Legacies Dallas History Conference
January 30
The 22nd Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference is going virtual next year with the theme of “Law & Order in Dallas Revisited.” Presentations this year will include: Historic Courthouses and Jails in Dallas by Marcel Quimby; A Fun Look at Crime by Rose-Mary Rumbley; Murder It Was: The Deaths of Two Women That Shocked Dallas in the 1910s by Rene Schmidt; Horror in Hollywood Heights by Teresa Musgrove; Ejected from Old Red: Black Jury Service in the Time of Jim Crow by Ralph Cousins and The Man with Nine Lives: Herbert “The Cat” Noble by Peter Kurilecz. In addition, there will be video tours of various parts of the Old Red Courthouse shown between presentations. 
Real Places 2021 Conference
February 3-5
Presented by Phoenix I Restoration and Construction and hosted by the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, this will be the first virtual Real Places Conference. The robust schedule features 44 speakers from across Texas and the U.S. and 28 sessions on a variety of historic preservation and heritage tourism topics.
Support Preservation Dallas While Shopping!
Did you know that when you shop at AmazonSmile, they donate to Preservation Dallas? Click on the logo above to get started!
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!
Contributor
Cindy Walker

Individual
Amy Dugan
Scott Hall
Mary Mesh
Lydia McCutchen
Celia Saunders
Stephen Smith

Young Professionals
Kathryn Ernst
Bryan Tony
Reagan C Rothenberger

Student
Caitlin A Parish
Thank you to the following members for renewing!
Joe M & Doris R Dealey Family Foundation
Crystal Bell
Blackland Management
Scott & Kelly Bradley
Sally Branch
Carolyn E. Brown
Ben Cass & Collin Ice
Harrison Connor
Justin Curtsinger
Susan & Warren Ernst
Judy McMillen
Joella Phillip
Marsha Prior
Ralph McBride Randall
Jon Rollins
Rene R Schmidt
Elizabeth Timpson-Clark
Kay Schaefer Troutt
Michael Van Enter
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
Joe M & Doris R Dealey Family Foundation
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