Preservation Dallas: Despite Progress, Historic Homes Still Left Unprotected
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Right now, 4901 Live Oak isn’t much more than a pile of rubble. That’s despite a lot of outrage and manic phone calls to City Hall from preservationists. It’s not unlike the reports that streamed in about the Bishop Arts District building that was razed yesterday, or the proposed bulldozing of several cottages on 10th St. in Oak Cliff. Some are all-too-eager to bulldoze a building in the name of profit, it seems. And it’s the neighborhood that suffers because of it.
Despite all of the progress we’ve had when it comes to preserving the older structures in our city that give it texture and character, many buildings worth saving are left unprotected.
We reached out to Preservation Dallas executive director David Preziosi about the demolition of 4901 Live Oak. Here’s his response:
The situation with the demolition of the historic house at 4901 Live Oak Street is very unfortunate. We only have a limited number of historic resources left in Dallas and when we lose another one it is hard to swallow, especially a house that is in good shape and could be easily reused. The house was not a City of Dallas Landmark or in a local historic district, so there was no legal protection from demolition, which goes to show that we need better protections for historic buildings which have none now. On Tuesday the Mayor and City Council voted to approve the greater downtown area and a portion of north Oak Cliff to fall under a new demolition delay procedure for buildings over 50 years old which meet certain criteria. This is a great step forward for the City of Dallas and will help historic buildings in those areas; however, there are many other historic areas of the city which are not protected. Even with that positive action this week by the city it has not been a good week for several historic buildings with the demolition underway at 4901 Live Oak, the Calvario Funeral Home tearing down half of its building in Bishop Arts and several Court Ordered demolitions which were taking place in the historic Tenth Street neighborhood until Council Member Carolyn King Arnold put a hold on those for 60 days.
Here’s hoping that we can figure out a way to make demolishing these buildings spark an architectural review of some kind, as I know this beautiful building at 4901 Live Oak would have been worth it.
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News 8 doing a story on it now
It’s sad that Dallas (City Council & residents collectively) is letting this happen. Frankly, this is probably the ONE REASON that I’m ashamed of being from Dallas. Someone needs to get in there and save the city’s history and culture. Austin has set a decent example. Although it’s being redeveloped like crazy, residents raise hell when things like this are proposed. Don’t get me wrong… Austin has grown considerably in the last few years, but Austin is also a lot more attentive to their history (see: Seaholm Residences). Ironic that Dallas is considered one of the more “conservative” cities. It’s terrible that a city with so much history has become notorious for just tearing things down and building new – seems pretty “new money” to me. Dallas “Historical Society,” get it together.
Could not agree more!
The most important lesson from these teardowns is that Dallas does not have sufficient legal protections, even with this new “delay” ordinance. All the City Council did was to allow for a time-out when a demolition is threatened. If the owner merely waits it out for a paltry amount of time, the owner is then free to demolish. The destruction is not stopped; the building is not saved. True preservation action would bar such destruction. Until demolition is prevented in at least SOME cases, we have made no progress.