UPDATED: Preservation Dallas jumps on the Statler Hilton bandwagon

More from Preservation Dallas concerning their 2008 list:

<p>The former Statler Hilton Hotel in downtown Dallas, named last week as one of the most endangered properties in the nation, tops this year’s list of eleven other endangered buildings and neighborhoods announced by Preservation Dallas.</p>

<p>“It was a timely and fortunate coincidence that the continuing threat to the Statler is recognized by both the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Texas, as well as our organization,” said Chris Culak, president of Preservation Dallas. “Across the nation there is growing awareness, appreciation and support for the distinctive Mid-Century Modern architectural style we see with the Statler.”</p>

<p>Culak says the back-to-back listings may boost the prospects for renovation of the historic hotel, especially among city leaders and staff as well as from the foreign-based owners of the property and potential buyers. Other Dallas commercial and residential properties classified as Mid-Century Modern are threatened with demolition, and Preservation Dallas notes that the city has some of the best examples of the sleek architectural style in the nation.</p>

<p>“The strength of this style in Dallas is due to the tremendous growth in city during the 1950's and 1960's,” says Katherine Seale, Preservation Dallas executive director. “Dallas is receiving national attention and admiration for these buildings, even though our recent past is not always valued locally. <objectxref content_type="34" id="12368" sticky="0">Downtown Dallas</objectxref> has some notable recent successes in adaptive reuse in mid-century buildings, but there continues to be a perception that these properties are ‘dated’ and should just go away.”</p>

<p>This marks the fourth consecutive year that Preservation Dallas has issued its list of historic buildings, sites, places and programs that are significant to protecting the city’s past.</p>

<p>For a second year in a row, the <objectxref content_type="34" id="11152" sticky="0">Deep Ellum</objectxref> area is listed as endangered. The closing of multiple businesses in recent years, increased development pressure spurred by the construction of a new <objectxref content_type="34" id="362" sticky="0">Dallas Area Rapid Transit </objectxref>rail station, and the lack of a historic overlay designation has several historic buildings in Deep Ellum ripe for demolition.</p>

<p>An example is perhaps Deep Ellum’s most significant historic building, the Knights of Pythias Hall, also known as the Union Bankers Building. Designed in 1916 by William Sidney Pittman, Dallas’ first African-American architect, the building was an important social and commercial center for the African-American community in Dallas. The Knights of Pythias is designated a City of Dallas historic landmark, affording protection from demolition as well as potential preservation tax incentives. But the building remains vacant.</p>

<p>Nearby, the former Dallas/Crozier Tech High School returns to the 2008 list. The city’s oldest high school buildings (1907 and 1911), the Dallas historic landmark was the subject of six years of litigation between the property owner and the City of Dallas. While the building is legally protected from the wrecking ball, the building sits vacant with no plans for redevelopment. Until a new owner is in place the building continues to be threatened.</p>

<p>Opened in 1917 and designed by William B. Ittner, an icon of American public school architecture, <objectxref content_type="34" id="10141" sticky="0">Adamson High School</objectxref> has been designated to be “replaced” as part of the recently approved DISD bond program. While it is clear that Adamson requires updating, a successful local model already exists of integrating historic and new educational facilities – the recently completed <objectxref content_type="34" id="9937" sticky="0">Booker T. Washington High School</objectxref>. Such an approach to rehabilitation could provide a state-of-the-art Adamson High that retains its historic features.</p>

<p>Likewise, there is a vanishing neighborhood around Adamson High School that is threatened by further destruction of its historic structures, trees and residential street patterns. The proposed additions to Adamson High School and the purchase of additional property for athletic fields, parking and related purposes could result in an insensitively designed campus that results in further deterioration of its surroundings. Originally a vibrant residential community, the neighborhood suffered from the intrusion of large, multi-family buildings following WWII; however, many of its historic Victorian and Craftsman homes and other structures remain.</p>

<p>In the last year, city bond money has provided new sidewalks, curbs and drainage for the Tenth Street area of Oak Cliff. Located between Interstate 35 and Clarendon Drive, several Tenth Street Historic District homes have been renovated but additional attention and resources are needed to save the oldest relatively intact freedmen’s town in Dallas.</p>

<p>The last remaining business from Little Mexico, Dallas’s earliest Hispanic neighborhood, the <objectxref content_type="34" id="12460" sticky="0">Luna Tortilla Factory</objectxref> faces increasing pressure from the development occurring in the immediate area and a sharp rise in property values. Built in the Spanish Eclectic-style in 1938, the building is in good condition but is vacant and for sale. The Little Mexico neighborhood is fast disappearing with only a few physical reminders remaining.</p>

<p>Unlike most major cities in Texas, Dallas retains many of its Historic Streetcar Shops. These small, one-story commercial buildings were built at prominent stops along streetcar routes from the late 1800s through the 1930s. Examples are found near residential neighborhoods in historic South Dallas, Oak Cliff, and East Dallas, such as the unusual crescent-shaped shops at the southeast corner of Swiss Avenue and Hall Street where the infamous Bonnie Parker reportedly waited tables. Sensitive redevelopment of these largely unprotected buildings can help support Dallas’ increasingly desirable urban neighborhoods.</p>

<p>As part of its Endangered List, Preservation Dallas also notes the city’s Lack of Demolition Review for Historic Properties. Other Texas cities have procedures that allow city preservation staff to review demolition applications for properties of probable historic merit. This allows the city and property owners additional time to explore alternatives to demolition and the availability of tax incentive programs for rehabilitation. The City of Dallas Long Range Planning Division and city volunteers are already investigating possible solutions, but political support for such a review is necessary.</p>

Erin Rice Verified

1 year, 5 months ago
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Which group and whom what to save this building..... gee I only felt and thought we had Spartan Sports Preservation in Dallas....A.T. Pearl Diver.

alexander troup Verified

1 year, 1 month ago
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Again I will respond to this, on behalf of Rice's very good run down on what is Preservation, in a probation city,where the laws of holding on to the quality of life, and I feel the old Community buildings are an example in this Old Texas we should be addressing, while I had worked and done much with the preservation.... con.mune/unity over 30 years..... and I would observe these groups love to hire outsiders to run this city, as the lession is observed and now released to you...., and the outsiders are then later run out when they have had their fingers caught in the cookie jar....now what is Preservation..TAR AND FEATHER, The Natives or the good old boy outsider.. besides, I miss my Old Original Corner Grocer Store..Alexander Troup., Survior of Tar and Feathering.

alexander troup Verified

1 year ago
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