Preservation Dallas Celebrates 50 Years at The 2022 Preservation Achievement Awards on May 19

By Donovan Westover
Special Contributor

It takes a great deal of teamwork to maintain anything for five decades.  Lots of people, lots of time, lots of wins and losses, and lots of devotion go into developing a sustainable entity.  I know because I am 51 and every day I question my making it this far. 

For a grassroots organization born from the necessity of saving the stately houses on Swiss Avenue, Preservation Dallas (then Historic Preservation League) took hold and quickly extended advocacy efforts throughout the city.  A city, mind you, that is focused on the new and the shiny. 

A unique program platform re-educated our partners and future partners on the benefits of historic preservation by way of neighborhoods, city officials, architects, real estate agents, developers, and those generally interested in maintaining the historic fabric of Dallas.

Our Preservation Achievement Awards gala is one of those events which combines all our partners into one incredible night of praise (and eating and drinking) for all things preservation worthy.  Plus, 2022 is a year of significance for the organization and the 23rd annual awards will be presented in the ballroom at the iconic First National Bank Building, now fully restored as The National by our friends at Todd Interests. 

We are honored to have a powerhouse awards committee chaired by Shawn and Cheryl Todd alongside David Griffin and James Ferrara.  The committee is made up of familiar Preservation Dallas friends and boy howdy, do they have a great night planned for y’all, Texas-style.

The breadth of this year’s award winners includes residences, workspaces, a church, a caboose … the eccentric list goes on.  We offer huge congratulations to our 2022 Preservation Achievement Award recipients: Continental Gin Building, FW&D Caboose, Gibson Grant Cabin, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Magdalen House, Music Hall at Fair Park, Purse Building, Struck House, and 5028 Milam Street.

One of our award-winning residences is a quintessentially charming Charles Dilbeck designed home in the Cochran Heights neighborhood. The neighborhood has been recognized for its concentration of Dilbeck designs by the Texas Historical Commission.  This is the second house on Milam Street that our winner is being awarded for restoring, and hopefully, she does not stop there.  What a great way to repair the fabric for future generations to enjoy.

Two of our award-winning workspaces are both Dallas icons, one being Deep Ellum’s Continental Gin Building and the other West End’s Purse Building.  The Gin building dates back to 1888 and is one of the structures designated in the City of Dallas’ Continental Gin Historic District.  The conglomeration of structures is a significant part of our city’s built history and development, and has aptly been recognized as such by the city since 1987.

My attention was grabbed by the Gibson Grant Cabin project not only because it is one of the few remaining log structures still standing on its original site (think Bryan Cabin relocated across the street from the Purse Building), but because the log construction was discovered within the walls of the house being resoted. 

The cabin was determined to be constructed circa 1860 via tree ring dating and built out of hewn timbers, with carefully notched corners and flush ends, a stone chimney and wood plank floors.  Needless to say, the original single pen log house changed dramatically over time and exemplifies the evolution of early homesteads on the Texas frontier.

The Parlin and Orendorff Building, or the Purse Building as passers by know it, was built in 1905 as one of a number of buildings and warehouses owned by its namesake company.  The building was once occupied by Hall and Purse Furniture Company, hence the moniker and large painted ghost sign on the east façade, as well as later reinventing itself as a Dallas County Services Building.  As a contributing building to the National Register’s West End Historic District, it is important that Purse still retains its architectural integrity, materials and craftsmanship.  While the building has been through many iterations, it remains a keystone to the West End as well as an important historic backdrop to all those photographs taken at Dallas’ most famous Plaza.  Subsequent to the tragic event in the Plaza, the building was also a temporary FBI operations center due to its proximity.

Speaking of all things preservation worthy, Preservation Dallas will also be presenting special recognition awards for contributions to preservation. We will  be presenting the Dorothy Savage Award to Remembering Black Dallas, the Craftsmanship Award to Brown Mountain Art & Antique Restoration, the Stewardship Award to Sparkman/Hillcrest Mausoleum & Memorial Park, the Spirit of Preservation Award to Connie Harris, the Gail Thomas Paterson Award to the Hall of State, a Preservation Education Award to Jack Drake, a Preservation Education Award to Alan Govenar, a Preservation Education Award to Legacies Journal, and a Preservation Education Award to Jim Foster.  Congratulations to this year’s recipients!

You can learn more about the Awards and purchase tickets, while checking out our distinctive programming at PreservationDallas.org.