Douglas Newby Insights
Neighborhoods, Architects, Architecture, Design, Dallas, and Organic Urbanism
Season Starts @SandoneChristmasTrees
My Christmas season starts with a trip to the Sandone tree lot to reconfirm my standing order for a 10 foot Blue Spruce tree with strong layered branches allowing it to hold handblown glass ornaments. Blue Spruce trees are what I grew up with and remain my favorite. In a 120-year-old house, a Blue Spruce tree provides a sentimental and nostalgic Christmas look. Tony Sandone and his family for 50 years have been growing Blue Spruce trees in Michigan and each year begin bringing them to Dallas just before Thanksgiving along with the other varieties of Christmas trees, including the 40 foot trees installed at SMU, the township of University Park, and a dozen other public places. Scrolling through, you will see in this post that the trees have just begun to arrive, where they are stood up and prepared for stands, and Tony Sandone inside the standing-seam metal roof command headquarters found on Northwest Highway behind Keller’s as the excitement builds for the Christmas tree pandemonium in a few days. Not pictured is Arturo, who is my Christmas tree whisperer. Over the years, he has come to know exactly the specific characteristics I want in a tree, which he selects for my approval and delivers in a stand measured to a half inch from my ceiling. In addition, he returns after Christmas to remove this gorgeous tree and any residual needles.
Aesthetics, luxury and service is something I think about every day. Luxury to me is more about quality and nuance than overt opulence. It is inspiring to see a Christmas tree lot provide luxury. At Christmas, whether you cut down your own tree, assemble a tree or visit public Christmas trees or trees of friends, I wish you a merry Christmas as we all enjoy the thousands of individual Christmas tree expressions and interpretations. *Season Starts
@SandoneChristmasTrees #Sandone #ChristmasTree #BlueSpruce #Luxury #Dallas #Design #NorthwestHighway
Iconic
The 1950 Keller’s sign is iconic, but for me the Sandone Christmas Tree sign below it is meaningful as well. How could one not go by the Sandone Christmas Tree lot to kick off the season and not be tempted to stop by Keller’s for a No. 5. Scroll through and you will see a carhop greeting a customer, architecture that conveys an era and mood, and the menu that never changes. There are powerful traditions like Christmas, and then there are small reoccurring moments that are also seared in one’s mind like Keller’s. Who has lived in Dallas for a while that doesn’t know exactly what and where one is talking about if a Number Five is mentioned. In a chaotic world, it is fun to have some constants. *Iconic
#Keller’s #No.5 #Carhop #NorthwestHighway #1950 #Architecture #Sandone #ChristmasTreeLot #Iconic #MidCentury
Highland Park Inspiration
Once every several years there might be a home built in Highland Park inspired by its original architecture and history and that also conveys the prominence of Highland Park. On a one-acre site framed by Armstrong Parkway and Belfort Place, the timeless grace of this perfectly executed Spanish Colonial Revival style home reflects and perpetuates the best of Highland Park. Blair Pogue, the developer of this home with roots in Highland Park, understands the aesthetics, quality and refinement a homeowner desires in a substantial Highland Park home that still relates to the neighborhood.
Architect Larry Boerder, who has designed 400 homes in the Park Cities, is intimately acquainted with the architectural nuance and notes of the community. He has also designed some of the most significant homes in Highland Park propelling him to design this architecturally significant home. Highland Park Interior designer Margaret Chambers has frequently collaborated on the design of the finest estate homes allowing her to further enhance the architecture of this home with her good eye and deft approach. Harold Leidner is Dallas’ preeminent estate home landscape architect and contributes another integral layer of excellence and appeal. The finest craftsmen and artisans bring to life the hundreds of pages of architectural details and the subliminal magic of the home.
I am excited to be involved with this home destined to become a Highland Park landmark. It is thrilling to see it emerge and evolve. In the last several years there has been no other new home that has come on the market with this level of elegance. This spring I will be offering this home for sale that provides an alternative to a homebuyer trying to find a one-acre lot in Highland Park and then waiting three years for the design and construction of a home while forced to live somewhere temporarily. Association with a project that contributes in an inspired way to the architectural landscape of Highland Park is the greatest reward.
*HighlandParkInspiration
#architecturallysignificant #HighlandPark #Architecture #HighlandParkHome @larryboerder_architects
@chambersinteriors @haroldleidner #blantyrehomes
Preservation Victory
Dallas has had sad moments but many preservation victories. Preservation writer Karen Eubank called 3925 Potomac that Hal Thomson designed for his family, “the most important home in Highland Park.” It will be preserved! The owners of 44 years, Dan and Cookie Owen, have been longtime lovers of architecture, Highland Park, Hal Thomson and preservation. Cookie grew up in a Highland Park Hal Thomson home and loved sharing her and Dan’s Potomac home with friends. Their 3,000 sf home, placed on one of the most beautiful .3-acre sites in Highland Park with a view of Turtle Creek and its backdrop of Dallas Country Club golf course, made it a target of lot buyers. Recognizing this, Dan Owen, as a tribute to his late wife Cookie and reflecting his own appreciation of architecture and history, adopted a strategy to preserve the home. Dan retained me to sell the home with a preservation front facade deed restriction to ensure it would not be torn down. Dan knew lot buyers only need lot dimensions to quickly buy a lot and home buyers need more information. Dan facilitated buyers understanding the home. A current survey was completed to clarify setbacks for additions. Floor plans were drawn to illustrate the glamorous current floor plan and proportions. Architect Wilson Fuqua, known for design work on Hal Thomson and other Highland Park homes, created several iterations of proposed plans. With Wilson’s inspired plans, buyers could easily begin visualizing configurations for themselves.
Most encouraging was a pool of potential buyers that emerged, from young couples to empty nesters, from historic homeowners to those just realizing historic homes were more elegant than new homes, from those in the market to those who were not even in the market. There is a much bigger demand for historic homes in Dallas than anyone realizes—they just need a chance to buy one. Dan Owen selling his home with a facade restriction was a gift to Highland Park and Dallas. Architecture is our public art and our history. Thank you, Dan!
*Preservation Victory
#Preservation #HalThomson #Architect #ArchitecturallySignificant #Architecture #HistoricHome #HighlandPark #PreservationParkCities #Dallas
Trail of Tears
An architectural trail of tears should start at 4101 Beverly Drive where the Cox Mansion recently stood. There have been several architecturally significant homes preserved in Highland Park and several destroyed. The Herbert M. Greene architect-designed home torn down is the most monumental. This is because 4101 Beverly was a residential monument. Architect Herbert Greene designed this home in the Beaux-Arts style, used at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century for monumental public buildings. The location chosen for this magnificent home was the middle of Highland Park on Beverly and Preston. Across from the Dallas Country Club, it anchored the largest homes in Highland Park. New York has its Gilded Age homes on Park Avenue. Dallas had its Gilded Age home at 4101 Beverly. This Beaux-Arts style home was the beacon of opulence and good taste in Highland Park. It announced the early aspirations of Highland Park which came to fruition. This Gilded Age mansion was conceived in 1910, when Main Street was paved with Bois d’Arc wood. In the 20th century Dallas went from a successful outpost to a thriving modern city. The glorious Victorian mansions from the late 1800s on Ross were replaced with modern homes. Munger Place in 1905 became the first planned development of architect-designed homes. Dallas continued to boom throughout the 20th century and still thrived in the 21st century — many historic homes preserved and architecturally significant homes added. Preston in Highland Park is our Gilded Age street of mansions. All original mansions on Preston will or have been replaced except Harlan Crow’s Anton Korn designed home. The 21st century homes will include one designed by British architect Quinlan Terry that replaced Governor Clements’ C.D. Hill designed home; an extraordinary Scottish architect-designed home will replace the Tudor of Trammel Crow; a NYC architect-designed French Home will replace the Herbert Greene designed home. The Gilded Age homes of the 20th century are gone. Can Preston Road turn into a street of 21st century Gilded Age homes? Hope so! *Trail of Tears
#GildedAgeHome #CoxMansion #4101 Beverly #HighlandPark #Preservation #BeauxArts
My Favorite Cover
Favorite cover! While many of my clients have had their home published, this is my favorite cover. This D Home cover features an architecturally significant home, a fabulous family, wonderful friends and extraordinary clients of mine, and an example of a 5,000 sq. ft. home on three highly desirable acres that has been preserved, not torn down. There is something else about this home owned by Bryan and Megan Fears at 4321 West Lawther Drive overlooking White Rock Lake that is so extraordinary and revealing about good architecture. This Georgian style home was designed by the famous modern architect Howard Meyer. We would not expect one of the finest Georgian style homes in Dallas to be designed by a modern architect, but we should. Howard Meyer, so adept at proportions, sightlines through the home to the outside, and finish details in his modern homes, applied his architectural deftness to this Georgian home. Just walking into this home, one knows it is special. Bryan and Megan Fears are the perfect owners for this 1939 home. They honored the exterior and did not reconfigure the interior to create more utilitarian spaces. Working with architect Eddie Maestri, they kept the refined finish details and the coolest bookshelves ever—they open up to become a walk-in bar. They have made the pool house into a lovely retreat and added a flourish of opulence with timeless Gracie wallpaper depicting their home, White Rock Lake and family pets.
Renovated, the home is still about the architecture and setting. Sited on top of the hill, Megan and Bryan and their sons love the rolling front lawn down to the lake in the front and the rolling rear lawn down to a park. This D Home cover and article showcases the best of Dallas, a fabulous family, great architecture and White Rock Lake. *My Favorite Cover
#MeganFears #BryanFears @RMegan79 #HowardMeyer #ArchitecturallySignificant #Dallas @DHome #WhiteRockLake #DallasNeighborhood #Architect @EddieMaestri #Preservation #HistoricHome #Magazine Cover #GeorgianHouse #ModernArchitect
Ice Cream Express
Summer always makes me think of ice cream, no matter how it is made, delivered or consumed. While now I sometimes think I exist on gelato at Botolino, I associate ice cream and summer in so many ways. These include memories of ice cream sandwiches at the country club snack bar, soft-served ice cream cones after swimming meets, Sunday ice cream socials, occasionally even making homemade ice cream, ice cream shops dotting beach towns visited in the summer, cartons of ice cream consumed at home growing up, lavish sundaes at ice cream counters, a pan of homemade brownies heavy on the a la mode consumed with a school friend at one sitting, parties where ice cream bars on a stick are plentiful, and I almost forgot root beer floats. Also, what better way to enjoy fresh picked or sourced blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or peaches scattered on mounds of vanilla ice cream. My choice of flavors have maybe evolved from mint chocolate chip to salted caramel, white coffee, pistachio and others, but how can one deny the appeal of the all-time favorite flavors, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. These three flavors almost sound patriotic. I know I feel like a better American when I am eating ice cream. *Ice Cream Express
#icecream #DallasNeighborhoods #Summer #Gelato #Dallas
King of Gallerist@BarryWhistlerGallery
Gallerist Barry Whistler reminded me a bit of a younger King Charles at the opening of Reed Anderson/Flagworks 2017-2024. I thought it was fitting for Barry Whistler, who is a Leo, to have a royal comparison as he approaches his birthday. Barry Whistler is the link to the great Dallas gallerists of the past like Murray Smither, a mentor of his, and the new gallerists that add additional vibrancy and depth to the art world of Dallas. However, Barry Whistler and his gallery at 315 Cole Street in the Design District remains the key gallerist and gallery in Dallas. Every show is a great exhibition of beautifully curated works by important artists who are either emerging or experienced, but always who have staying power and create art with lasting value. Barry Whistler, the artists he represents, and the clients he consults with are a major part of the sophisticated art collections found across Dallas. *King of Gallerist
@BarryWhistlerGallery #Art #ArtGallery #BarryWhistlerGallery #DallasDesignDistrict #BarryWhistler #Dallas #ModernArt #ReedAnderson #ArtOpening
Cool Space@ThePoloBar @Nellcan
On a hot summer day it is easy to think about cool places. Distant locations come to mind but also do dark wood-paneled restaurants and bars that bring relief from the sun and heat. In New York, what is cooler than the Polo Bar. What I find interesting is that in the winter these dark wood spaces feel warm and cozy, protecting us from the bitter cold of winter. Maybe that is why in the spring and fall I often gravitate to lovely patios and terraces for lunch and dinner. The Polo Bar is an extension of the Ralph Lauren international brand. The Polo Bar has also become a New York institution because of the number of celebrities and friends of Ralph Lauren who join him at the Polo Bar. The incredible Nelly Moudime, the maître d’, contributes to the Polo Bar becoming a New York institution as she extends the warmth and style of Ralph Lauren himself.
The most popular and successful restaurants in Dallas like Cafe Pacific and Javier’s are not extensions of a national brand but are Dallas institutions. Cafe Pacific and Javier’s are owned by Highland Park and Preston Hollow homeowners respectively. They attract celebrities and a prominent clientele with international reputations. Those at the front of the house express the quality, warmth and style of their owners as well. And, like the Polo Bar, they have dark stained wood featured in the interiors – that are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They also both have glorious patios and terraces.
In the mean time I will head through Paris to cooler temperatures and maybe I will see some Ralph Lauren Olympic attire in transit. *Cool Space
@ThePoloBar @Nellcan #PoloBar #NewYork #IconicRestaurants @CafePacificDallas @JaviersGourmetMexicano
Aesthetic Eye
On the last week of Jeremy Strick’s 15 years of successful leadership as the Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center, we went to lunch and discussed his approach to the Nasher. I have always loved the exhibitions at the Nasher while Jeremy was the Director. Credit must also be given to the Jed Morse, Chief Curator. These exhibits were all very different and I never stopped to think what was their common denominator. At lunch I discovered that any potential exhibition first had to pass through two filters. The work had to have a point of view and the work had to be visually appealing. This might sound obvious. Modern art is known for having an edgy point of view, and art is of course stimulating and appealing. But how often has one gone to a modern art exhibit and you get the point the artist is making but aesthetically the work is lacking? Jeremy Strick’s aesthetic eye was drawn to powerful pieces that were presented as more than a concept; they were presented as art.
A protestor can shout a point of view, but an orator can entice and compel with radical ideas eloquently presented. I looked back at just how diverse the Nasher exhibitions were. One saw hard edges, soft edges, some were humorous, some were stern, subtle or exaggerated. However, they were all like visual oratory – graceful and lyrical as they presented a strong point of view.
While Jeremy Strick did not announce his plans for the future outside of traveling to Europe and both coasts this summer, I presume he will be advising on art in some capacity. What a good baseline for any collection – think like Jeremy Strick. Does the piece you are considering have a point of view and is it visually appealing? What a good baseline for any architecturally significant home – does it have an architectural point of view and is it appealing to live in?
Thank you, Jeremy, for what you added to Dallas and to my personal enjoyment and understanding of art.
*Aesthetic Eye
#JeremyStrick #JedMorse #NasherSculptureCenter #CafePacific #HighlandParkVillage #ArchitecturallySignificant