Downtown Survey Approved by City Council!
New Board Members Elected at Annual Member Meeting
Yesterday a new class of Preservation Dallas Board of Trustee members was elected at the virtual Annual Member Meeting. The new members elected for a 2020-2023 term include: David Griffin, Steve Lucy, Nancy Shelton, Ron Siebler, Patrick Todd, and Claudia Worme. Norman Alston, John Brown, Dave Millheiser, and Leigh Richter were elected to serve a second term. Board members whose terms ended were recognized at the meeting and include: Chris Bell, Joanna Hampton, Diane Sherman, and Joan Walne. Thank you to those board members rolling off the board for their service to Preservation Dallas!

After the meeting the Board of Trustees elected the officers for the 2020-2021 year to include:

John Brown – President
Jason Harper - VP, Preservation Issues
Charles Brower - VP, Membership & Development
Vanessa Baker - VP, Education
Jamie Slagel – Treasurer
Will Stovall - Past President
Downtown Survey Approved by City Council
Last month the Dallas City Council approved the funding and the consultant for the Downtown Dallas Historic Survey. A big thank you to everyone who asked their Council Members to support approval of the project! HHM & Associates, Inc. out of Austin was selected as the consulting firm to complete the historic context assessment and survey of downtown Dallas. They are a well respected firm and have done survey projects before in Dallas and around the country.

The survey is badly needed as the last one was completed in 2003. Since then many more buildings are now considered historic by age and need to be identified as important for future preservation and planning efforts. The survey was also recommended by the Downtown Dallas Historic Preservation Task Force in 2015 as part of their final report in response to the surprise downtown demolitions the year before.

The City of Dallas is providing $100,000 for the survey from the Building Inspection Fund and Preservation Dallas is providing $95,000 for the project, which was raised through multiple grant sources.

Once HHM gets the contract from the city they will start work this summer on research for the survey and preparations to start work in the fall with the field survey.
Braniff Hostess College to be Rehabilitated
In 1968, the Braniff International Hostess College opened on Wycliff Avenue as the training facility for Braniff’s Hostesses, as they were known then, before they were allowed to serve passengers on the most colorful airline in the sky. The striking building was designed by local Dallas firm of Pierce Lacey and Associates and could house 142 hostesses at a time for training. The building was nicknamed the “birdcage” for all of the lovely ladies behind the bars on the balconies.
 
After Braniff moved out of the building it became a retirement home and served in that capacity for many years until a few years ago when that closed and the building sat vacant and for sale. Well, there is a new owner for the building who is now working to convert the building into a boutique hotel. In fact, it is the same developer as The Statler and the Cabana, which is currently under rehabilitation.
 
An agreement with Braniff Airways, Incorporated (the former international airline based in Dallas and now a leading global historic airline branding and marketing, retail and historic airliner tour firm) has been made to license Braniff’s designs for use in the new hotel. The h otel will feature 75 luxury rooms amidst the elegant and stylish themes of Braniff International including both historic as well as Braniff's newly created designs and styles. The hotel will be the only Braniff hotel in existence in the United States with the TWA Hotel in New York as the only other airline-themed hotelier. A Braniff Boutique store will be housed in the new hotel lobby offering Braniff branded goods for home and travel.
 
The owners are also pursing the listing of the building on the National Register of Historic Places so they can access state and federal Rehabilitation Tax Credits for the project, which is expected to take two years. 
Legacies Dallas History Conference Call for Proposals
The organizers of the 22 nd Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference welcome proposals from both professional and lay historians on topics related to the theme: “Law and Disorder in Dallas Revisited.”

Throughout its history, Dallas has experienced periods when outlaws, criminals, and even protests for change presented special challenges to the forces of order, such as:
  • The 1870s, when the coming of the railroads turned Dallas into a boomtown which brought a huge increase in saloons, gambling, and related crimes associated with those vices.
  • The early 1900s saw concern over red-light districts, with prostitution and drugs.
  • The 1920s were the era of bootleg whiskey and the KKK, while the 1930s saw Bonnie and Clyde grab the headlines.
  • Organized crime, including gambling, flourished for a time in the 1940s.
  • In the post-World War II era, civil rights protests pushed for an end to racial segregation of African Americans, fair treatment for Mexican Americans, and equality for the LGBT community.

Papers presented at the conference may focus on topics related to crime, law enforcement, legal proceedings, protests and might examine an incident, an individual or a group.

All papers must be based on original research and must not have been presented or published elsewhere. The best papers will be published in a subsequent issue of Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas. Those interested in presenting papers should submit a brief summary of their proposal by JULY 31, 2020, to “Dallas History Conference, 1515 S. Harwood St., Dallas, TX 75215,” or by email to LegaciesDHC@gmail.com. Those selected will be notified by August 31, 2020.
Corporate Partner Highlight
JM Construction
JM Management LLC dba JM Construction Solutions (JMCS) is a Dallas-based full service commercial general contractor and construction management firm specializing in new construction and remodels, specifically interior finish out projects, retail, restaurants, landlord work and municipal in the state of Texas. The company has a diverse workforce with experience in a multitude of construction facets.

JMCS is a client-centered and results-focused construction firm with a solid reputation for doing honest work, placing integrity and skill at the forefront of everything they do. Most clients come via referral or word of mouth based upon an incredible reputation. The commercial construction industry may be big, but it is still a pretty tight community.

JMCS’ philosophy is the better our service, the more opportunities that will come our way. With owners who cater to each client every project receives full and undivided attention, thus allowing a guarantee of the work and providing clients with assurance that they made the right choice. Joshua McDowell as President of JM Construction Solutions serves as a Member of the Central Business District (CBD)/Individual Landmark Task Force for the City of Dallas. The applications this group reviews and advises on are those that come from the West End Historic District, Harwood Historic District, and all of Dallas’ individually landmark structures. As a company, we have a passion for reclaiming and reusing architectural materials and working with artisans to preserve history. Taking a special interest in preservation projects has become a hobby and will hopefully translate into more projects of this nature. As a company JMCS has completed many restorations in the municipal sector in Dallas County and the surrounding area, often times remodeling older buildings while preserving their unique characteristics.
Please visit their website for more information.
PRESERVATION ISSUES
DART D2 - DART has made available the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Dallas CBD Second Light Rail Alignment (D2 Subway). The SDEIS includes several appendices, including the Historic-Age Resource Reconnaissance Survey Report which is part of the appendix. Click  here  to access the SDEIS. 

DISD – The DISD Board of Trustees is continuing with virtual meetings regarding the 2020 Bond and the DISD Board of Trustees will be discussing the Bond at their upcoming meetings. You can go here to find out more about the 2020 Bond and the meetings. 

Fair Park - Fair Park First recently briefed the Park and Recreation Board on their update to the Fair Park Master Plan. The update includes items such as access and circulation, transit and mobility, parking improvements, proposed buildings, park edges, greening of the park, and more. Also included was the new community park to be located near the Dos Equis pavilion and the preliminary design of the park. A new mixed project with parking, hotel, retail and restaurants has been proposed to go behind the Music Hall outside of the 1936 Exposition boundary and at the corner of Parry Avenue and Robert B Cullum Boulevard. You can view the slide presentation of the plan update by going here .

Polar Bear - The City of Dallas has issued a demolition permit for the former Polar Bear restaurant in Oak Cliff. Earlier in the year the building suffered a fire and this month it partially collapsed leading the Fire Marshall to declare the structure an imminent safety hazard in danger of further collapse.
Director's Letter
David Preziosi
Tomorrow we began our new fiscal year and with that we have several new board members and a new board President, John Brown. He is taking over from Will Stovall and is an architect and Vice President of Selzer Associates. John has been involved with Preservation Dallas for many years and has served on the board for the past three years during which he has served as Co-VP of Preservation Issues. I look forward to working with John in the next year as we navigate the challenges and continue to face issues in preserving our built heritage.

As John starts his presidency I would like to thank Will for his service in the past year as the Board President. As we all know, it has not been an easy past few months and Will has done a wonderful job of navigating Preservation Dallas through that including dealing with major preservation issues like DART D2, DISD bond, Kalita Humphreys, and more that we have worked on in this past year. I greatly appreciate his time and dedication to the position as it is no easy task to keep with the volume of items to deal with as President. Especially all of the emails, texts, phone calls and meetings to discuss the various issues, planning for events, board and committee work and more. I also want to thank him for his leadership in the search process for our new Director of Development - Danelle Baldwin Smith. Thankfully he will continue to serve on the board and be involved, especially with the Membership & Development Committee and working with the new VP of that committee, Charles Brower, and our new Director of Development.   

I would like to thank our board members who rolled off the board for their service to Preservation Dallas. Those include Chris Bell, Joanna Hampton, Diane Sherman, and Joan Walne. Their time and energy given to Preservation Dallas is most appreciated and I will miss having them on the board. I am excited about our new slate of folks joining the board including: David Griffin, Steve Lucy, Nancy Shelton, Ron Siebler, Patrick Todd, and Claudia Worme. With all of their wonderful qualifications and experience between them they will make great additions to the current board. 

As y’all know we have had to put our events and tours on hold due to not being able to meet in groups. We are looking at alternative ways to meet including for the Summer Sizzlers series to start in August. We were hoping to be able to meet in person by then but with the current situation with COVID it looks like we will have to move to a virtual format for this year. More information on that will be coming soon. We are also looking at options for the Preservation Achievement Awards this fall. The Fall Architectural Tour has been postponed to the spring due to too many uncertainties for what the fall will bring.

On a positive note, we were lucky enough to receive two emergency operating grants to help with our operational expenses. One is from The Summerlee Foundation and the other is from Humanities Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal CARES Act.

Thank you for everyone’s continued support and I hope that everyone stays well as we continue to deal with the effects of COVID!
EVENTS
All in-person events have been postponed until restrictions on meeting in groups is lifted.
Support Preservation Dallas While Shopping!
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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!
Thank you to the following members for renewing!
Amanda Adler
Norman Alston
Lorlee Bartos
Trevor and Makalah Brown
James Carmichael
Dallas Architecture Forum
Peggy Dear
Brian Duffy
Angela Ellexson
Maureen Gibson
Chad Gillespie & Tim Murphy
Chip Harper & Marvin Gorley
George Keaton
Don Kingston
Jann Patterson Mackey
Candace MacMahon
Michael McCue
Gay Prewitt
Melissa Prycer
Phyllis Prycer
Terri Raith
Glenna Taite
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
Joe M. and Doris R. Dealey Family Foundation
Preservation Dallas | 2922 Swiss Avenue | Dallas TX 752518