The future of the past: The C. M. Davis “Aparthomes” in Fort Worth

by Kevin Buchanan of Fortworthology

In the 1930s, as the Great Depression brought on tough times for the city of Fort Worth, a concrete engineer named Charles M. Davis and his daughter Zoe became interested in transferring that concrete engineering knowledge to the creation of affordable, compact homes. They adapted that engineering work to the Streamline Moderne style and created a series of one-bedroom “Aparthomes” (apartment-homes) in the TCU/Berry Street area. The homes were sponsored by the Portland Cement Association.

Today, four of the C. M. Davis Aparthomes are still standing, and here’s a look at how they are today.

By a wide margin, the Aparthome that is in the best condition today is this one on Lubbock. It’s been radically restored, revamped, and expanded, and is the home of local architecture & design firm Firm 817.

From the front, the home is mostly original, the biggest change being the windows ringing the new raised roof, allowing vastly more natural light into the structure than the original design.

At the back, the radical nature of the remodeling is apparent, as the home has a large addition in a very modern style (one of the few examples of such contemporary design in Fort Worth). Given the futuristic mindset of the original Streamline Moderne style, the addition actually works very well with the original home.

So far, so good -- one of the Aparthomes transformed into a cutting-edge design studio & residence. From here on out, the Aparthomes become somewhat less well-cared for.

One of the better examples of the other remaining homes is this one on Waits. While it’s not in the best of shape, it appears reasonably original and looks like it could be restored fairly easily.

Across the street is another of the Aparthomes, and it’s in slightly worse condition. Still looks restorable and in decently original shape on the exterior.

In perhaps the worst shape is the house on Devitt, though even it appears restorable and not too badly modified. It shows off the style of Streamline Moderne quite nicely, especially with that curved corner.

It’s our understanding that none of the Aparthomes have any sort of historic protection. (We imagine that the only one that might is the Firm 817 home.) Apart from Firm 817’s on Lubbock, they’re not located in areas that have seen any real redevelopment booms, but it’s hard to say how long that could last. The remaining C. M. Davis Aparthomes might be prime candidates for a historic preservation push, to preserve not only the works of a local engineer as a group, but also to preserve examples of Streamline Moderne residential architecture in Fort Worth, a style that was popular for commercial buildings in the city but which is rather rare in homes around here.

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