City of Dallas Office of Historic Preservation

The City Council voted unanimously to designate the White Rock Cemetery Garden of Memories as a City of Dallas Historic Landmark. Thank you to Tony Suber, president of the Cemetery association; Sheniqua Cummings, board member; Dr. Rhonda Dunn, senior preservation planner, and the Designation Committee of the Landmark Commission. We appreciate all the hard work Sheniqua Cummings put into the project--researching the history, working with city staff and helping to shepherd this important site through the process. Thank you also to Larry Offutt, Landmark Commissioner, for his support along with all the Commissioners. Thank you also to City Council member Schulz for being such a great champion for this designation!

The Dallas Historic Preservation staff had lunch at one of the Preservation Dallas' Preservation Achievement Award winners, Cenzo's Pizza in Oak Cliff. The building is a former gas station that became a variety of things over the years. Congratulations to Cenzo's and all the Preservation Achievement Award Winners! Get your tickets for the Preservation Dallas awards on May 21st at the Historic Kalita Humphreys Theater Center (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). https://preservationdallas.org/events/awards

Do you want to save some place special? Here's a 10-step guide from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

10 Steps to Start Saving Places | National Trust for Historic Preservation If you want to protect a place near and dear to your heart, but aren’t sure where to begin, then today’s toolkit is for you.

May is Preservation Month! Let's celebrate preservation in Dallas.
Why do we preserve? Here are some of the reasons we preserve. Feel free to add your own reasons in the comment section!

1) To save the places and sites we love! Imagine Dallas without your favorite neighborhoods.
2) Because no one ever moved to a city because of their Walmart or McDonalds! They move because a city offers historic areas and place, the arts, cultural places and spaces, parks and a great quality of life!
3) Preservation is a great tool for neighborhood revitalization! We have 21 historic districts to prove that.
4) Small businesses love historic buildings. Think of your favorite independent coffee shop--where is it? in a historic building!
5) Economic development: think of all the downtown buildings rehabilitated and spaces created for living, working, and enjoying life!
6) Preservation creates jobs--both short term construction jobs and long term jobs generated by businesses that move into those buildings.
7) Heritage tourism--preservation creates opportunities for heritage tourism--visiting historic sites and museums as well as touring neighborhoods and eating at restaurants in historic places. There are jobs created too!
8) Historic designations stabilize and improve property values.
9) Incentives for historic properties attract reinvestment.
10) Preservation is sustainable! The "greenest" building is the one already built. Historic buildings are “green” due to their design.
Retaining historic buildings promotes healthy and strong communities due to continuity of cultural identity.

Today the Dallas City Council, upon recommendation from the Landmark Commission and the City Plan Commission, voted unanimously to rescind the 3,000 square foot court ordered demolition section of the preservation ordinance. This provision of the ordinance had resulted in a significant number of demolitions in the Tenth Street Historic District as well as demolitions in Wheatley Place Historic District, both African American neighborhoods. Thank you to the neighborhoods who worked with us, to Preservation Dallas and to the Landmark Commission members. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Arnold led the way on this back in 2019 when she asked for a code amendment to remove city funding for the court ordered demolitions. In late 2023, the Landmark Commission sent a request to CPC to vote to rescind this provision which they did. And today was a culmination of these combined efforts. Thank you to all who helped move this forward, it is a wonderful victory for the neighborhoods and historic preservation in Dallas.

You may have noticed in the last few days that our web page has gone "missing." The City of Dallas is in the process of revamping department websites, and ours has migrated here:

https://dallascityhall.com/departments/developmentservices/historicpreservation/Pages/default.aspx

You can continue to access our forms and ordinances from here.

We hope to have updates to the site in the coming weeks, so please check back!

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Lindalyn Adams was an early champion of historic preservation who helped establish the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza, among many other accomplishments that are detailed here. Her presence will be greatly missed, and our deepest condolences go out to her family and loved ones.

Lindalyn Adams Obituary - Dallas, TX Celebrate the life of Lindalyn Adams, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home.

You hear the word “Craftsman” a lot when talking about historic homes in Dallas. Craftsman was the most common style in the country during the first three decades of the 20th century, and it dominates many of our Landmarked historic districts because that is when our earliest neighborhoods were developed. Craftsman style is so common that it is frequently used as a catch-all term for any small modest wood-frame home, but it is a distinct style that will have a combination of features that will correctly identify it as a Craftsman home. So what does it mean to be a “Craftsman?” See our illustration below for many telltale features. Not every house will have every feature, but these are the most common ones. Look for a combination of several of these features to correctly identify the style. REFERENCE: “Field Guide to American Houses” by Virginia McAlester.

Another beautiful day in Old East Dallas! This is St. Joseph's Church and Academy at 2712 Swiss Avenue, designated as an official Dallas Landmark in 2010. The academy building on the right was built in 1905. The church was completed five years later, when it became the fifth Catholic church in the city. Both buildings are in Colonial Revival Style.

Did you know that you can find detailed information about each City of Dallas Landmark Historic District and individually Landmarked structure on our website? The page for each resource has information on the date of the designation, location, the preservation guidelines (i.e. ordinance), and the nomination report – which includes a detailed history and architectural description for the property or district. Click below to visit the page!

Historic Buildings

Join us tonight at 6:00 PM for an online meeting to discuss proposed fees for non-routine CA and CD applications.

Virtual Meeting 8/9/21: Proposed Fees for Certificate of Appropriateness and Demolition Applications The Office of Historic Preservation is hosting an online public meeting on Monday August 9th at 6:00 PM to discuss Certificate of Appropriateness and Demolition fees that have been proposed in the …

OHP is seeking applications for our Landmark Historic District Task Forces! Do you live in a Landmark district and want to be more involved? Here is your opportunity! See blog post for details.

City of Dallas Seeking Volunteers for Historic District Task Forces 2021-2023 Are you passionate about historic preservation? Would you like to be directly involved in the protection of Dallas’ historic resources? Volunteer opportunities are available on most of our Landmark…