By The Time You Read This, Another Landmarked Historic Highland Park Home Will Bite The Dust
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The phone calls and texts started coming fast this weekend. Highland Park neighbors on Fairfax Ave. were angry and sad that another one of the homes that define the character of the Park Cities has a bulldozer parked out in front. The word on the street is that the landmarked home at 4415 Fairfax will be demolished by the time you read this.
Handmade signs began to appear on the block, and concerned neighbors started posting on social media in early August. Although several people attempted to reach out to the potential buyer to see if there could be a discussion about restoration, these attempts failed. It appears the $2.5 million house was never put into MLS. The word on the street is that the family received a letter with an all-cash offer and no contingencies.
As for impending demolition, a Single-Family Residence Permit has been applied for at Highland Park Town Hall, but at present, the permit log also shows that no permit has been issued at this address. A Highland Park building inspector told a neighbor that a demolition permit had been paid for, but the staff has to mark the permit as issued, which they will do sometime on Monday after 7:30 a.m. There seems to be a lag time between the issuance of permits and those permits appearing on the website, which of course is critical for anyone wanting to delay demolition.
The Highland Park Construction Management Policy, which is for Single-Family Residence Permits, states in Section 2.3 Public Notification: “The contractor is required to distribute a letter of construction notice to all residents within the disturbance area no later than ten (10) days prior to construction.“
No one on the block has received a letter from the contractor concerning this.
What is Happening in Highland Park?
Sunday morning, the neighborhood held what can only be called a wake for this venerable home, which according to reports, was once owned by the C.F. Hawn family. Locals gathered and celebrated the life of the home and discussed what more they could do to prevent future teardowns. They distributed informational flyers on this home and on what can be done in the future.
We are sorry to see this happen and wish a dialogue could have been had and a compromise reached before it reached this point, but the buyers would not engage in dialogue.
Fairfax neighbor
A Sad Day For Preservation Park Cities
Preservation Park Cities has been diligently working to promote awareness of the destruction of historic homes and has been gaining ground recently. In July, I spoke to incoming Preservation Park Cities president Amy Beale about the movement, and she said the wake-up call came when the Hal Thomson-designed home at 3800 Beverly Dr. was razed.
“It was a catalyst for Preservation Park Cities to become more visible and relevant in the community,” she said.
Christina Dandar of The Potted Boxwood noticed the momentum as the comments on her Instagram profile began to swell each time a home was endangered.
“The momentum is there,” Dandar said. “It’s now about education.”
That education includes several points. One is understanding the costs involved in preservation and that preserving is more economical than demolishing and rebuilding. It’s also more responsible. With ever-diminishing resources, it’s irresponsible to continue contributing to landfills. With no preservation laws in the Park Cities, homeowners can still turn to the law. They can include architectural deed restrictions and architectural easements in their estate plans.
George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying ‘Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.’ I think the 4400 block has kept things clean on their side of the aisle and are patiently waiting for the developer to do the right thing despite opaque and disorienting actions. Good architecture is worth preserving. Good communities are worth saving. Good neighbors are worth protecting.
Mark Marynick- Highland Park resident
Update
Demolition has commenced.
23 Comments
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SO sad to see our architectural history disappear at a rapid rate.
Thank you for posting this article! We love our block! The builders cheered as the house came down. Sad day!
How absolutely insensitive and completely tasteless for them to cheer.
So sad to see this gorgeous house torn down. The Town of HP needs to get serious about preserving these homes.
Thank you so much for spreading light on 4415 Fairfax! We love our street and want to preserve when possible!
Another wake-up call in support of preservation in Highland Park! HP already has enough white box houses that it will soon look like an expensive cookie-cutter subdivision! So hope the Town will finally take action in support of PRESERVATION.
Thank you, Karen, for this post. I favor preservation and deplore the destruction of this graceful Federal revival American house. It appears that our Park Cities challenge will be to balance proposed mandated preservation with property ownership rights.
They did not even salvage the architectural details and windows. That is really sad.
I thought the exact same thing, so much could have been salvaged! So so sad.
The arrogance of buyers who tear down architecturally significant, even landmarked houses in favor of bloated contemporary crap is breathtaking. These buyers presumably move into neighborhoods because they like its character; then they proceed to destroy it. To not even salvage the architectural elements, original fixtures, etc., is a travesty and a tragedy.
The wastefulness of it all is obscene.
My M Streets neighborhood is facing the same challenges. We need to get a lot more serious about defending our neighborhood’s vintage charm and cozy ambiance. Having parts of it zoned as a Conservation District is not enough.
Betsie, DCAD indicates the buyers are the builders.
So very sad. Usually, salvage companies will come in and take out the architectural pieces to be resold. The bricks alone are valuable! Unbelievable!!
Yes, however the buyer must call a salvage company. Value is, unfortunately, in the eye of the beholder ( or the owner).
Cynthia I fear you are correct. The character of a neighborhood is what draws buyers who love these homes. Destroy the character and Highland Park becomes just another suburb that looks like every other suburb.
Thanks for a great article! We love our street and tried hard to save the house and the character of our neighborhood. I hope this is a wakeup call to start strengthening the preservation ordinances in the Park Cities.
Well this is unfortunate. Highland Park needs to get serious about historic preservation. What will go there, a big farmhouse box? Beverly Hills got on the bandwagon of historic preservation way too late and it is filled with big white character free boxes mixed with some preserved homes. If you’ve been there you know what I mean.
Sad to see history rewritten again, I wonder what home this land gave way to before it was built upon initially? As if this isn’t a process that hasn’t already occurred on the same soil before or better yet the soil of this country entirely. An irony if you will, that so many eyes fail to see so far into the past; a guise of their own vanity.
It is my understanding the sale price was $2.5 million. Was there an actual offer above that price from someone interested in keeping the house? Furthermore, why aren’t the sellers held accountable? They could have only sold to someone who wouldn’t tear the house down. Why are they blameless?
Accountable for what? We live in a free market. A seller can accept an offer from anyone they choose. This is a larger problem than one house. Look around and see how badly Highland Park has been gutted of original historically significant homes. Many communities, including Dallas, have historic preservation laws in place. The Park Cities have none.
Karen, this is almost as bad as what happened to Old Alice in HP……the only appropriate action after that lovely house was horrifically compromised would have been to raze the entire structure. RIP Old Alice!
KP, the loss of Old Alice gutted every preservationist in Texas.
The house I was raised in when I was 10 years old, 5514 , I think, Morningside was torn down, but they had to follow an architectural review committee. My parents purchased it for $ 15,00.00 dollars. I loved the Tudor design.
Until the values of historical significance and respect for authentic architecture win over the value of the almighty dollar and town leadership leads, this is just another chapter in decades of woe and conversation. Sad.