Preservation Dallas’ Historic House Specialist Seminar is a Must For All Dallas Realtors

I learned more on the first day of the Historic House Specialist seminar than I think I could have learned in an entire college semester.

That is if colleges offered historic preservation classes, but that’s another column.

I kid you not, Preservation Dallas knows how to offer more easily digestible information in less time than any organization I’ve ever encountered.  Each year, the MetroTex Association of Realtors and Preservation Dallas collaborate on a two-day Historic House Specialist seminar. Though it’s targeted toward Realtors who receive a certification and MCE credit, it’s a seminar everyone should take to learn more about Dallas.

So why did I, a writer about historic preservation, take this class? Because continuing education is essential whether you are a journalist or a Realtor.

If you are selling homes in a historic or conservation district and do not take this class, you frankly cannot hope to compete with a Realtor that HAS taken it. And you will be giving your clients advice that is, quite simply, wrong. 

I’ve learned a lot in the past few years because I have had access to the professionals that teach this course. It was an absolute delight to meet preservationists I’ve spoken to on the phone for years but never met in person. They have a depth and breadth of knowledge that is unmatched, and their devotion to preservation is beyond admirable.

Historic House Specialist Seminar

Wednesday kicked off with preservation architect Nancy McCoy who broke down the historical development patterns of Dallas from 1890 when there were only 500 people here.

Did you know the Trinity River was moved? It flooded, so the city worked with George Kessler and, in 1911, developed the Dallas Plan, which diverted the Trinity River and constructed the Jefferson Street viaduct.

Did you know our first courthouse was a log cabin? Did you know the Caruth farmhouse is still standing and that they had the first travelers’ quarters? Yep, we’d call that an Airbnb today!

I also learned that streetcar companies were often responsible for developing neighborhoods, and Ross Avenue was where wealthy families chose to live. This is a tiny part of what I learned on Day One of the Historic House Specialist two-day seminar.

Understanding what redlining did to our city, how the advent of cars changed the structure of houses, and how the Great Depression changed how we used our homes kept us glued to our seats.

The morning was rounded out by the vice president of the Preservation Texas board, Katherine Seale, who covered the architectural styles of Dallas, followed by historic and conservation district designations from preservation architect Marcel Quimby, FAIA, principal of Quimby Preservation Studio.

After lunch in the beautiful Wilson House, we learned how to dig deep and research the history of homes with historian and consultant Carol Roark. Here’s a cool tidbit she taught us: When searching for a particular address, put the address in the search bar in quotation marks. Otherwise, if, for example, you put in 1234 Main, you will get results offering every single time the word main has been used instead of the actual property.

We finished day one with Preservation Dallas Board President Norman Alston, FAIA, owner of Norman Alston Architects. Alston’s talk on sustainability and historic preservation dispelled many myths and broke things down to their essence. “Authenticity is the underlying concept,” he said. “For a building to be historic, it has to be authentic, and just because it has not been designated doesn’t mean it’s not historic.”

On Thursday, before we headed out on a bus tour to see some of our historic and conservation districts with Landmark Commissioner and Preservation consultant Jim Anderson, we heard from the City of Dallas Archivist, John Slate, who spoke on early Dallas developers and reminded us John Neely Bryant was frankly our first developer. If you think about the names you see daily — Cockerell, Stemmons, Zang, and Kessler — they were all developers and city planners!

“We are surrounded by history,” Slate said. “We drive on it and walk on it daily.”

We stopped for lunch at the stately Aldredge House, where David Griffin and Associates Realtor Bart Thrasher spoke on the Historic District Addendum, a document that’s integral to any Realtor selling or listing homes in historic or conservation districts.

After a luxurious bus tour with Landmark Commissioner and preservation consultant Jim Anderson, who knows absolutely everything about Dallas, we wrapped with the outstanding architect Wilson Fuqua of J. Wilson Fuqua & Associates. He taught us about residential architects and architecture in Dallas, which connected a lot of historic dots for us.

A Word From The Class

As we drew to the close of our second day I had a moment to ask a few of my classmates about the seminar.

Ben Villarreal, of The District Realty Group, at Keller Williams Urban Dallas, lives in Junius Heights.

“I work a lot in the historic areas, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn as much as I could and pass that knowledge on to my prospective buyers,” he said. “Learning the different types of architecture and hearing about Dallas history is so special.”

Amanda Tower, the Principal of A. Tower Public Relations, took the Historic House Specialist seminar because she wanted to dive deeply into preservation.

“I’ve always wanted to take the class.” Tower said. “I’m fascinated by history and love adaptive reuse and preservation. I really enjoyed discovering the history of the different neighborhoods in Dallas. There are gems I did not know existed, like Park Row.”

Allan McKeever of McKeever Real Estate grew up in Oak Cliff but lives in Midlothian now.

“My expectations of this seminar were that I’d learn the requirements for properly selling a historic home, and I did. I really liked the tour today because I have not seen Dallas in 15 years.”

It was a jam-packed two-day seminar, and I’m so glad I finally took the time to participate. Regardless of what you do for a living, the Historic House Specialist seminar will give you more information about the city you live in than you can imagine and a greater appreciation for all that our local preservationists do to keep our history and culture alive.