The Daisy Polk Inn Might Just Be The Finest Arts And Crafts Home in Dallas

When I walked into the Daisy Polk Inn more than 20 years ago, I didn’t realize I was stepping into history.

My friend and former pharmacist, A. Wayne Falcone, knew I had a passion for historic homes and wrote about them, so he invited me to visit his Miss Daisy. It’s one of the loveliest homes I’ve ever seen.

On the landmark records, the home is known as The Lynn Talley/Daisy Polk House. It was built for $4,000 and completed in 1910 for Lynn P. Talley, the City National Bank’s assistant cashier, and his wife, Martha. Lynn went on to become the fourth president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. The Talleys did not live in Miss Daisy for long, but they certainly created something special.

Who is Daisy Polk?

The house went through three owners between 1912 and the 1930s. In 1944, opera soprano Daisy Polk (yes, she was a relative of President James K. Polk) purchased the three-bedroom home for $8,500.

Daisy was ahead of the curve in every way, especially for a woman in that era. She studied with the legendary opera singer Enrico Caruso and traveled extensively. Daisy spent time in Fontainebleau, France, raising money to rebuild the village that had been ravaged during the war. 

She moved to Dallas in 1922 when she was 32 years old. Daisy performed, created, and ran the vocal program at Hockaday and ran two vocal businesses. She ran an elite vocal instruction program out of this house. She also wrote numerous articles for the Dallas Morning News to draw attention to her causes.  I think the best way to sum up Daisy is with a quote from a reporter for the Dallas Morning News. Interviewing her in 1976 for a bicentennial story due to her connection to James K. Polk, the reporter had the audacity to ask her about aging gracefully. She said, “I am growing old rebelliously, not gracefully.” (I like to think she then kicked the reporter!)

Daisy lived in this home until she was 91. Her caretakers lived there for several years until Wayne persuaded her heirs to sell. He’d been driving by this house for years and loved it. Persistence pays off, and in 1996, Wayne became the proud owner. 

A Home With Purpose

“Now, I had to decide what I was going to do with her other than sit in there with a glass of champagne and admire the glorious rooms. A guest house or bed and breakfast would work since the house is close to many clubs and restaurants,” Wayne said. “It was not so easy obtaining this license. The Oak Lawn Committee approved my presentation to begin the restoration, only to rescind it after a few months of beginning. A changing of the guard or its president was responsible for this. What was I going to do now?”

As the saying goes, It takes a village.

Wayne had help from architect Mark Shekter, council members Veletta Forsythe Lill and Willie Cothrum,  preservationist Jim Anderson, and Mayor Laura Miller, to name a few. He obtained the license with a historic overlay condition, and the City Council approved it in 2003.

Daisy opened as the first full-service bed and breakfast in Dallas. 

In 2009, chef Michael Napier joined the Daisy team. The inn was decorated by Antiques Roadshow host and legendary antique dealer Gerald Tomlin of Tomlin Antiques. Miss Daisy is filled with beautiful antiques from around the world and draped in Scalamandre.

Ron Emrich did the research and submission paperwork for landmark status. At the time, he was a principal with Urban Prospects, and his report reads like the best historical novel. Here’s a delicious sampling:

It is most certainly likely that the client, the builder, and any architect that may have participated in the creation of the house on Reagan Street had seen and been influenced by the work of the few nationally recognized and published architects who were creating masterpieces of Arts & Crafts design at the time, not the least of whom were brothers Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene, of Pasadena, California.

Lynn and Martha Talley’s house on Reagan Street — sadly undocumented as to its actual architectural design history — exhibits nearly all of the design characteristics of the Greene’s maturing Arts & Crafts work: the massive roof with multiple gables, an exuberant blend of shingling and siding as wall cladding, the projecting roof beams and knee brackets with shaped ends, in California, yet the influences are clearly seen in it.

Regardless of the perhaps never-to-be-known roots of the house’s design inspiration, The Talley House remains as the best and nearly only example of the high style Arts & Crafts influenced “bungalow” in Dallas. Few such distinguished examples were ever built in the first place; Dallas was conservative in every respect, including in matters of architectural taste and fashion. One of the few known comparable works in the Arts & Crafts style, the Mayfield House on Lakeside Drive in Highland Park, was demolished during the late 1980s, leaving the Talley/Polk House as the lone survivor.

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As the house received landmark status, Falcone knew it needed a name.

“After a fair amount of deliberation, the answer appeared and was as obvious as the charm of the structure itself,” Wayne said. “Daisy Polk Inn was the only name that would do for such a wonderful and unique house that had weathered the ebb and flow of time and changing surroundings as rebelliously as the woman who resided there.”

I think Miss Daisy would be so proud of how her home has been loved and cared for. Wayne has hosted his fair share of well-known folks and is far too discreet to name them. He’s loved every minute, but now it’s time for Miss Daisy’s next act.  

I’ll leave you with the final paragraph in the landmark paperwork because it sums up this home beautifully:

The Talley/Polk House at 2917 Regan Street is a unique feature in the Oak Lawn neighborhood, reflecting an outstanding pedigree as the most distinguished remaining high-style Arts & Crafts house in the city.

For more information on Miss Daisy please contact Candace Rubin