When Addressing The Work at White Rock Lake’s Stone Tables, Words Definitely Matter
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Words matter. I don’t think that’s ever been more evident than in the project to bring the White Rock Lake Stone Tables picnic area back to full public use. I thought I was going to write a short post on the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed project.
Then words happened.
Words like preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, reconstruction, and renovation. Those words created controversy surrounding one of the most popular areas of the lake. They tell stories about a place that is deeply embedded in Dallas’ history.
A City Built by The CCC
In 1931, the City of Dallas was one of the few municipalities to benefit from the Civil Works Administration under one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-era works programs. Most of the workers employed under the program went to national parks, so Dallas got very lucky.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) opened a camp at White Rock Lake in 1935 and set to work building many of the existing structures we still use today. The CCC also performed the first lake dredging. Now remember, these were young men with no specific abilities or talents. They were out of work and had families to support, so on-the-job learning was the rule of the day. Keep that in mind as we wind through this saga.
A Favorite Spot at White Rock Lake
You’d be hard-pressed to find a Dallasite who doesn’t love White Rock Lake, and the Stone Tables picnic area — in particular — has many devotees. This is not surprising.
The Stone Tables area is a magical little place in the woods with a stone pavilion and these funky little stone tables and benches placed in a grove of trees. When the CCC built it, its entire purpose was to serve the public. The original intention for the Stone Pavilion was as a wedding venue and the Stone Tables were constructed for families coming to picnic near the lake.
The Pavillion before Mark Hoestery started work. Note the giant hole in the corner stonework where it joins the roof.
The Stone Tables and its pavilion and picnic area have continued to serve the public. If you scroll through the Dallas Morning News archives, you can find it has served as a meeting place for all sorts of organizations — from gardening groups to running clubs. Name an event, and it’s been held in that pavilion.
Over the years, the entire area has stood up to the crazy Texas elements and heavy use. Obviously, the wear and tear on the more-than 80-year-old structure had to be appropriately addressed at some point.
So, what was the proper way to address structures built to serve the public back in the 1930s? Generally, in circumstances like this, the City of Dallas and the Parks Department look to partner with nearby stakeholders that can help to raise the money for a substantial project. The city holds public meetings, shares proposed drawings, and tries to create clarity and transparency.
Texas Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects
Restore, Renovate, Reconstruct, or Rehabilitate?
Enter the White Rock Lake Conservancy. The organization describes itself and its involvement as follows:
A public and private partnership with the City of Dallas Park Department. We work together to choose projects the Conservancy can help fund that the Park Department has deemed vital to the integrity of the Park.
In 2012, the Board of Directors of the White Rock Lake Conservancy agreed to take on the renovation and restoration of the historic and very popular Stone Tables Pavilion and Picnic area for the Parks and Recreation Department as identified in the Top 10 projects. Volunteer architects and planners developed a renovation plan and worked with the City of Dallas to fulfill this goal.
Here is where words matter the most. They state renovation and restoration. Let’s forget opinions and interpretations of words and go to the source.
According to the National Park Service(NPS), “There are Standards for four distinct, but interrelated approaches to the treatment of historic properties—preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction.”
In a nutshell:
Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property. Work, including preliminary measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement and new construction.
Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.
Restoration is defined as the act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other periods in its history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period. The limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and other code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a restoration project.
Reconstruction is defined as the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location.
Now, if you want to argue these definitions, I encourage you to listen to someone that knows a great deal about the topic: preservation architect Marcel Quimby.
”Within the United States, the National Park Service is the keeper of preservation ethics. They were the first federal agency to preserve buildings and parks. They developed the common vocabulary we use in preservation,” Quimby said. “There are about six words that, depending on who you are, mean different things to different people. Within the preservation community, we use the words specifically as defined by the National Park Service.”
So, by those definitions, this project was rehabilitation and reconstruction, not restoration and renovation. I know. It gets sticky because words matter and their proper definitions matter even more.
Two game tables were added to the area a bit later and artist Lucan Watkins repaired the seats and resealed the tops.
Unfortunately, misunderstandings happen.
They certainly did in this case. Many people were appalled when they saw a bulldozer knocking down the Stone Tables, and social media went wild. Understandably so, because what a lot of people thought would happen was preservation and rehabilitation. Now the pavilion was indeed preserved and received an award from Preservation Dallas. The toilets were also beautifully rehabilitated and are now ADA compliant.
As you can see the original restroom doors would never accommodate a wheelchair. 
There are now two single use restrooms that are ADA compliant, a far cry from this image. 
Potter Art Metal Studios original work in the windows!
The tables are another story.
“It was never the intention here to do preservation,” Park Board Representative for District 9 Maria Hasbany said. “The project was always described as restore which means that you restore as close as you can to the original.”
So, restore is an important word.
But a more significant word is reconstruction. Architect Mark Hoestery with the world-renowned firm SHM Architects took this project on. He knows what National Park Service words and their definitions mean and is a founding member of the White Rock Lake Conservancy. He and his firm have devoted hundreds of hours and a sizable amount of money to ensure it properly served the public once again. It’s been a passion project for both Mark and his wife, Jennifer, the present director of the White Rock Lake Conservancy.
The game tables after Watkins completed repairs.
“We had to dig out the tables from silt to put in a drainage system that was not needed in 1935,” Hoesterey said. “The tables were actually unsafe.”
The bulldozer was necessary because there was concrete was involved, and that nasty drainage issue. Now remember, architects did not design and build these. A group of CCC guys with no experience cobbled together existing materials, including granite recovered from a headstone company, added concrete, and some local stone, and created the tables and benches.
They were never intended to match the pavilion, and they were never meant to be pieces of art or architecturally significant structures.
The thing is, we all just fell in love with them and wanted to protect them. And that’s an excellent thing. To care about our city, its structures, and the integrity of the work is essential. But it’s so easy to judge without understanding all the parameters of a project.
“We wanted to preserve the legacy of the original intention,” Hoestery said. “There were plenty of public hearings for people to address their concerns. We addressed everything from lighting and parking to signage. People have strong opinions, and that’s great. Everyone loves White Rock Lake, but everyone has a different idea. It was not easy, but I love where it’s going. It cleaned up an eyesore and made it usable for the public.”
The White Rock Lake Stone Tables, Pavillion, and restroom project was actually a perfect marriage of all the NPS terms. Was the Pavillion preserved? Yes. Are the tables precisely like they were? Of course not. Is the entire area going to be enjoyed by generations to come, and is that a win for the public? A resounding YES.
The ribbon-cutting takes place at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 28, at 711 East Lawther Road. We’re lucky to have a usable picnic space, event pavilion, and a working public restroom again. Go and enjoy it!
