Dallas Eclectic Architecture
Dallas architects, in the first half of the twentieth century, were influenced by a variety styles found across the country. Dallas architects were also influenced by European travels and studies and by prominent architects who came to Dallas from the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest to design important homes for their Dallas clients.
Dallas Eclectic Architecture, Pre-1950
As Dallas continued its love affair with homes rooted in the European tradition, eclectic architecture became more varied and the results more diverse. The styles remained the same, the homes became bigger. 1910 Georgian homes were replaced by 1970 Georgian homes. 1920 Tudor homes were replaced by 1980 Tudor homes. 1930s Mediterranean homes were replaced 1990s Mediterranean homes. The proportions were forced to change. With a height limit of 39 feet, but an unrestricted width and length of a home, these classic styles often became stretched beyond any sense of authenticity. The details however, remained faithful replicas of their European origins.
Dallas Eclectic Architecure, Post-1950
As Dallas continued its love affair with homes rooted in the European tradition, eclectic architecture became more varied and the results more diverse. The styles remained the same, the homes became bigger. 1910 Georgian homes were replaced by 1970 Georgian homes. 1920 Tudor homes were replaced by 1980 Tudor homes. 1930s Mediterranean homes were replaced 1990s Mediterranean homes. The proportions were forced to change. With a height limit of 39 feet, but an unrestricted width and length of a home, these classic styles often became stretched beyond any sense of authenticity. The details however, remained faithful replicas of their European origins.
Dallas Eclectic Architectural Styles
Shear-Shingle
Thomas A. Kligerman, an architect, designed a home in Volk Estates in Dallas that draws from the Atlantic seaboard Shingle style, but is a fresh interpretation that advances the architecture and relates to the site and to the neighborhood.
Highland Park Eclectic
The early homes in Old Highland Park set the architectural tone for the Highland Park homes designed and built over the next 100 years. Architects Otto Lang and Frank Witchell designed this home at 3901 Gillon Avenue in 1914.
Normandy Cottage
These fanciful houses are influenced by architectural elements of farmhouses across France. Some are ornate and embellished, others are simple and rustic.
Normandy Farm
No other setting in Dallas would be as perfect for this Normandy Stone farmhouse. It is placed on top of a hill with no driveway or walkway interrupting the lawn that comes down to the small dead end street in a neighborhood you can only approach over the historic stone bridge that is framed by creeks and built on stone.
English
The use of half timbering in the construction of the home designed by Richard Drummond Davis identifies it as English, similar to a Tudor style home, while the massive quality of the home designed by Cole Smith presents more Elizabethan character with the use of symmetry, heavy stone, and verticality to draw ones’ eye up; all prominent design features used in this era.
Shingle
Commonly found in the Northeast, this home on Cedar Springs remains Dallas’ best example. Miller’s father received a 640-acre land grant where the Millermore house was built.
Stacked Duplex
The stacked duplex is a popular Dallas architectural convention. Often, these duplexes have similar elements of Tudor cottages or Spanish Eclectic homes. A series of these homes are found in several East Dallas and Lakewood neighborhoods, along with Highland Park, University Park and Oak Lawn.
Sullivanesque
This Chicago style of architecture is most likely to show up in Dallas on bands of trim and molding.
American Foursquare
The first Prairie style home Frank Lloyd Wright designed was in River Forest, Illinois, in 1893. This Winslow house is much closer in mass and style than the later Prairie style homes for which Frank Lloyd Wright is better known.
Mount Vernon
Several homes in Dallas were designed to replicate Mount Vernon. The Hunt Mansion survives; Governor Clements home has been torn down.
Modern Eclectic
This style is born not by rigid modernists but by artists who incorporated materials and space to accommodate their lifestyle.
Normandy Style
Characterized by their simplicity and strength, these Normandy style homes utilize semicircular arches and a variety of exterior ornamentation such as decorative lighting fixtures and stylized chimneys to complement their brick-patterned and contrasting stone facades.
Spanish Colonial
This style is born not by rigid modernists but by artists who incorporated materials and space to accommodate their lifestyle.
Mediterranean Modern
Mediterranean is one of the styles most conducive to a modern design and influence. This Mediterranean Modern home reflects the Mediterranean influence of Highland Park and the modern tendency of Weldon Turner.
Victorian
The Wilson block on Swiss Avenue has the largest collection of Victorian style homes in Dallas. The last of this collection of Victorian homes was built in 1903. High-pitched roofs and gabled rooms and much ornate detail and trim defined these homes designed more for decoration than function.
Colonial Revival
Entrances, windows and cornices of Colonial Revival homes are emphasized. Their front door often has a decorative and embellished pediment and the house if often lined with pairs of windows. Anton Korn designed 4700 Preston on 7.7 acres in 1917.
Edwardian
In Preston Hollow estate area Larry Boerder has designed the finest English manor homes and Edwardian estate homes in Dallas reflecting the Edwardian style of grace and elegance.
Mediterranean and Romanesque
The grandeur and grace of Beverly Drive has been defined for almost 100 years by the Mediterranean style homes invoking opulence and prestige reminiscent of Beverly Hills, California. You’ll find classic architectural idioms and Mediterranean style in these Highland Park Estate Homes.
Neo-Classical
Neoclassical elements found in this home include the roofline balustrades, the full height porch supported by two story classical columns with Corinthian capitals. This home has a curved portico, which is found in very few neoclassical homes.
Spanish Colonial Revival
This style developed in the areas Spain colonized, which included Florida and the Southwest. Buildings in the Spanish Colonial style were still being built in the 1800s, but by the late 1800s Victorian and Beaux Arts style eclectic homes came to the forefront.
Beaux Arts
Beverly Drive
The home at 4101 Beverly designed in 1912 expresses the exuberant grandeur of Beaux-Arts mansions. 4101 Beverly is still the centerpiece of Highland Park, across from the Country Club on Beverly and Preston. Italianate influence is seen in the colonnaded second story porch and entry and the flat roof lined with balustrades.
Craftsman
This style was developed by the Green brothers in California. The front porch is supported by tapered columns and open bracketed eaves are distinguishing features of this style found in Junius Heights, Vickery Place, Winnetka Heights and scattered through the older neighborhoods of Dallas.
English Country
The soft lines of the roof eave, the rustic carpentry and the casually complex facade allows this very grand home with the largest stained glass window in the Historic District to still come across as an English rural home.
French Chateau
In this style you see steeply pitched roofs, ornate carvings, dramatic chimneys and arched windows and doorways.
French Renaissance
French Renaissance connotes the revival of French homes with Renaissance detailing.
French Eclectic
French Eclectic homes designed primarily between 1915 and 1945 had steeply pitched roofs and flared eaves and the homes had some decorative half timbering, but not excessively used as in the Tudor homes.
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance style is perfect for the grandeur of early 20th century Swiss Avenue. The Italian Renaissance style also reflects the Beaux-Arts influence of 1900s mansions. These classically proportioned houses often had Palladian arch windows and doors on the first floor and smaller rectangular windows on the second floor.
Eclectic 1980s
Rockbrook is a street of cutting edge masterpieces designed over 50 years by architects such as Howard Meyer, Howard Hamilton Harris, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Steven Holl and Bud Oglesby.
Dear Doug,
On behalf of the members of the Dallas Woman’s Club thank you for the information and very interesting program last week. As always, you were a great success!! Everyone enjoyed the day.
Sincerely,
Judy Skinner
Highland Park Homeowner