Proactive Preservation: How to Protect a Historic Home From Demolition

It’s been a bad year for preserving historic homes in Dallas. We are losing homes built by significant architects at an alarming rate.

Recently, there was quite a social media outcry over the demise of a 1932 Clifford D. Hutsell on Lakewood Blvd. The comments on various posts made me realize that the majority of us know absolutely nothing about how we can prevent a historic home from biting the dust if it is outside of a historic or conservation district.

So, I started to ask questions.

I called everyone you can imagine. From city officials, Realtors, and preservation offices to real estate lawyers. The overall response? It’s a difficult issue.

Well, nothing worth doing is ever easy, is it?

Two options came up repeatedly. Landmark the house and/or create a deed restriction.

Protecting Historic Homes With Deed Restrictions

Let’s talk about deed restrictions first because that is the fastest way to protect your historic home. One of our local Realtors, Douglas Newby, has had a lot of experience with deed restrictions and a lot of success. 

One of the best examples of Newby’s involvement with saving a significant home was the 1924 Normandy-style cottage at 3211 Mockingbird Lane designed by architect Mark Lemmon. Lemmon, according to the former director of the Kimbell Art Museum Edmund P. Pillsbury, was the most important historicist architect of 20th-century Dallas.

“Because it is a small home on a double Highland Park lot, it was important to the seller to preserve,” Newby said. “The buyer specifically wanted an architecturally significant and historic home that they had no intention of tearing down, so the deed restrictions were never a detriment. These deed restrictions just get added to the deed that gets recorded. Deed restrictions allow homeowners to control their destinies. The sellers and I discussed this strategy 20 years before they were ready to sell. They enjoyed knowing their home could and would be preserved when they did eventually sell.”

Now, you might find a Realtor who will tell you not to do this because it will limit your buyer base. Well, don’t you want to limit your buyer base to those that won’t tear your home down?

Oddly enough, a buyer who values historic homes and will often purchase for more than the appraised value because they understand the significance of their purchase. An architectural deed restriction can enhance the sale of a home.

“Most think preservation deed restrictions will depress the sales price of a home,” Newby said. “I have consistently sold properties that had deed restrictions protecting the front facade of the home, which prevents the home from being torn down for prices higher than the appraised values. This is the case with the David Williams architect-designed home at 6292 Mercedes Avenue in the Wilshire Heights neighborhood.

Of course, ever the intrepid researcher, I also reached out to Scott Rooker at Republic Title. Rooker is not only the senior vice president but also branch manager and legal counsel for the company.

“Deed restrictions must be carefully drafted,” Rooker said. “They are recorded to run with the property, so when you convey a property to a new owner, and you are restricting the use of it, it must be detailed and spelled out. They cannot go against public policy, health, and welfare or create a nuisance within the community.”

I also checked in with Derrick Long, an Attorney with Penfold & Long, P.C., and an attorney and escrow officer with Chicago Title Insurance Company.

“You can file a deed restriction as long as it does not break a law, he said. “The risk is you don’t know what will happen in the future to surrounding property, especially if it only benefits one home.”

So, consider getting a couple of neighbors involved. For instance, if you have neighbors on either side of you or an entire block involved, then it’s clear the deed restrictions benefit the character of the neighborhood, not just your home. 

Christopher I. Clark, a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP, warned that the biggest issue with deed restrictions is enforcement: “A deed restriction must be reasonable and not contrary to public policy.”

Although it’s hard to imagine, we still have deed restrictions in place against people of color in some parts of Dallas, and that violates federal law, so of course, they would be struck down.

“It’s one of the reasons neighborhoods apply for historic and conservation district status,” Clark said. “The city is the party that enforces the restrictions. If there is not a common theme or set of reciprocal covenants, who is entitled to enforce the restrictions? 

Landmarking a Historic Home

There was a lot of buzz on social media about why the Landmark Commission does not step in or why Preservation Dallas does not have something in place to prevent historic home demolition. Neither entity is the preservation police. If a homeowner has not done their utmost to protect their home, then an external body cannot help. So that brings us to landmarking a home. 

“Landmarking is the best way to protect historic homes,” Andreea Udrea, City of Dallas Urban Planning Assistant Director, said. “You are involving a city-based impartial commission.”

That leads us to The City of Dallas Office of Historic Preservation and Chief Preservation Planner Katherine Singleton. “The best way to protect historic homes is with a neighborhood historic or conservation district designation. Historic designation is the most effective because it allows the city to say you cannot tear a residence down.”

Remember, nothing moves fast at City Hall. Some of that is for good reason, and some of it is because of understaffing issues and a huge amount of requests. So, landmarking is not going to be quick. But if you are serious about preserving your historic home, get started. The process can take about a year, and yes, there is a ton of paperwork involved.

You can also hire a professional consultant, like a preservation architect, to do the research and fill out the forms. However, the moment you start the paperwork, you have begun protection.

“We do an initiation for pre-designation, “ Singleton said. “If the owners want to sell and make sure a home is not torn down, they can initiate the designation process. You have to tell any future owners that is what you are doing, and, of course, there is an appeal process within a certain time frame.”

Singleton used to be the Executive Director at Preservation Austin, and they held restrictive covenants (deed restrictions) for properties. So, for instance, you could obtain a historic designation for your home and then ask Preservation Austin to hold the covenant on the house in perpetuity. In effect, they are the partner in your efforts, and any future owner would have to ensure they sign off on proposed changes.

Now, this would generally require the homeowner to provide some funding for that situation because there may be legal challenges. Still, it’s certainly worth considering for Preservation Dallas to create a similar scheme.

To really protect your historic home, it’s important to consider both options. Create deed restrictions immediately, then start your landmarking process. These are the tools that are in place to help homeowners, but homeowners MUST be proactive. The moment you purchase a historic home, do the work to protect it. Don’t moan when the person buying it tears it down if you did nothing.

I will repeat my mantra. When it comes to historic preservation, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.