Douglas Newby Insights
Neighborhoods, Architects, Architecture, Design, Dallas, and Organic Urbanism
Cafe Celebration
What better place than Cafe Pacific to celebrate a new modern architect-designed home that just closed and to be able to share the news with friends. Attire: Savile Row linen suit, London bespoke shirt by Deema, Hermes tie from Highland Park Village, and pocket square created with cocktail napkin supplied by Cafe Pacific Bar to enable me to satisfy dress code. Cocktail is French 75 made by Jonathon. Service by Lazlo, dining room manager of the day, Jo Ann Terrill. Inspiration: John Reoch. Photograph by Karen Foster. *Cafe Celebration
@CafePacificDallas @kfosterzsb @hp_village @deemaabichahine
#CafePacific #HighlandParkVillage #HighlandPark #Dallas #French75 pocketsquare
1915 – House and Automobile
1915 was an elegant year in Dallas. Wood pavers downtown had largely given way to concrete streets. Following a classic European Grand Tour, Hal Thomson returned to Dallas and began designing the city’s most elegant society estate homes, including this residence on Swiss Avenue in Munger Place, the grand boulevard of Dallas.
The motor court between the original architecturally significant 1915 residence and the later garages and secondary house is the perfect place to park a 1915 Packard Twin Six Seven Passenger Touring Car.
More than a century later, both remain reminders of an era when craftsmanship, engineering, and architecture were celebrated as expressions of progress and elegance. Today, the touring routes are more likely to be White Rock Lake and Swiss Avenue than the roads of 1915, but the Packard still looks entirely at home.
The home of John and Elise Willding was a highlight of this year’s Swiss Avenue Historic District Mother’s Day Home Tour. Mel, the family chauffeur and mechanic, stands by for special occasions and family motoring excursions. *1915 House and Automobile
@JohnWillding @EliseMcDonaldWillding #HalThomson #1915 #Packard #5323 Swiss Avenue #DallasNeighborhood #DallasHistoricDistrict #MungerPlace #Architect #HistoricHome #Dallas #MothersDay #HomeTour
Talking About Dallas
Lunch with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson always leaves me thinking about the future of the city.
Mayor Johnson has an incredible understanding of what is possible for Dallas. Even if he were not mayor, his observations about the city — and his understanding of both its challenges and its potential — would still be exhilarating and unrivaled.
Mayor Johnson is a thoughtful urbanist. The evolution of cities — particularly Dallas — has always been a great passion of mine. The mayor’s clarity of thought about the city may come from the vantage point of having been raised in West Dallas, educated at Greenhill in North Dallas, graduating from Harvard, and maintaining close ties with SMU as the city and the university become increasingly intertwined through shared initiatives.
One thing that dawned on me at lunch was the much-discussed move AT&T is making as it relocates its headquarters from downtown Dallas to a suburban campus. My initial reaction was disappointment. But as we talked, I realized that many AT&T employees already leave Dallas every evening for the suburbs. Their presence has limited impact on Dallas life.
In contrast, the Goldman Sachs headquarters moving to Dallas will have employees who are more likely to live in the city and involve themselves in Dallas life, contributing to the vitality of the city long after the workday ends.
If Dallas were a city in decline, we would cling to every company in an effort to slow the loss. But a vibrant city must continually upgrade — improving the quality of opportunity, participation, and civic life.
For Dallas to continue to flourish, it must sometimes allow some companies to leave so new and better ones can take their place.
#DallasMayor
#DallasDowntown
#Dallas
@cafepacific
Layered Art
John Pomara drew collectors, art patrons, artists, and art aficionados to his opening at Barry Whistler Gallery in the Dallas Design District. Every once in a while, a Dallas gallery opening feels like New York — because of the art, the space, the artist, and those attending.
John Pomara stands in front of the work as we experience shifting layers of color and pattern.
Barry Whistler perfectly displayed John Pomara’s art in the gallery space designed by architect Russell Buchanan.
@buchananarchitecture.
#DallasArt
#DallasGallery
#DallasDesignDistrict
#JohnPomara
City Hall for the City
Dallas City Hall is not an office building for bureaucrats; it is an architecturally significant building designed to promote the city and encourage the people of Dallas to propel it forward.
Unlike many municipal buildings cloistered from their constituents, City Hall’s open floor plan, abundance of windows, and council chamber invert the traditional civic posture. In contrast to the Dallas County Commissioners Court, where the county judge presides with commissioners seated on an elevated dais above the audience, at Dallas City Hall the mayor and city council look up at the public.
The call to tear down City Hall is fueled by its need of repairs. Of course it needs repairs. It is a 50-year-old building, just as Swiss Avenue was 50 years old when it became a historic district over the objections of developers who wanted it torn down. Those homes did not simply need maintenance; each required a major renovation to enter a new era.
Like Swiss Avenue then, the surfaces of City Hall are dingy today, and makeshift partitions make some floors feel closer to the favelas of Brazil than the transparent civic architecture City Hall was meant to embody. Maintenance has become the focus. The opportunity should be modernization — bringing new technology into City Hall that makes the city of Dallas as transparent as the building’s design.
Color media walls integrated into the building could show where crime is occurring, where potholes and infrastructure issues have been reported, and how the city is actually configured — distinguishing single-family neighborhoods, apartment complexes, residential high-rises, and low-income tax credit housing, alongside retail, office towers, and parks — allowing Dallas to see itself clearly as it evolves.
Keep Dallas City Hall a city hall for the city.
#DallasCityHall#Architecture#Dallas
Defining Neighborhoods
For Texas Independence Day Sesquicentennial, HPL (Preservation Dallas) unveiled the book I wrote, Guide to the Older Neighborhoods of Dallas. It was the first book devoted to Dallas neighborhoods — before street sign toppers existed and when neighborhoods were known as general areas rather than specifically defined places.
We marked the Sesquicentennial with a “Toast to Texas” event inviting prominent Dallas residents to offer a toast to Texas. The day was chosen to launch the book because we believed the strength of Texas begins with its neighborhoods.
I recall the late Bill Murchison of the Dallas Morning News editorial board offering a toast to Texas, preservation, and Dallas neighborhoods. Though the editorial board at the time was very conservative — as was Bill — he was a genuine advocate for preservation and Dallas neighborhoods.
The book explored both small and large neighborhoods in Old East Dallas, Oak Lawn, Highland Park, and Oak Cliff. Great care was taken not to overuse the phrase “tree-tunneled streets” when I was describing neighborhoods. By the final edit, I realized “tree-tunneled streets” was not used one time in the book. Also, home prices in neighborhoods were not used so that the book could remain relevant for 20 years. We were successful, in many ways it still feels current.
I recently bought a copy of this book at an estate sale for $12 — only a few dollars less than its original $15 price when it first rose to number two on the Dallas nonfiction bestseller list.
So here in 2026, another Toast to Texas — and to the neighborhoods that continue to shape Dallas.
@preservationdallas
#Dallas #DallasNeighborhoods #TexasIndependenceDay #Preservation #PreservationDallas
Provost Power
Provost Rachel Mersey dazzled Town and Gown members with her pragmatic inspirations and impressions of SMU and Dallas. She discussed the brand of SMU, the interdisciplinary thrust of the university, and SMU’s growth — with a focus on high-quality niche programs that can be among the best in the country and that link existing SMU programs, majors and degrees. She spoke about freedom of academic expression, athletics, the prospect of a baseball team, honors housing, graduate student housing, and the importance of a formal Dallas office at SMU.
SMU has had many fine provosts, but Rachel Mersey brings exceptional energy and creative vision to what SMU can become. She is building on the attributes of SMU rather than trying to make SMU into something it is not.
When asked about the brand of SMU, she said, “principled leadership.” I found this answer especially telling.
My impression of SMU students, from the moment I first stepped onto the SMU campus until now, has been that they are well-rounded, accomplished, and inclined to contribute and participate. Even recently, when I was interviewed for an SMU 1911 Group video, I said that SMU graduates were all quite different, yet the common denominator was that SMU graduates were high-capacity contributors to the community.
Rachel Mersey is focused on nurturing and developing that principled leadership.
@rdmersey
#TownAndGown #Provost #Dallas #SMU
First Flower of Winter
From bare, thorny branches encased in ice emerges the first flower of winter — the flowering quince.
Its brief mid-winter and early spring color feels earned after months of straggly summer foliage and a winter of bare, tangled branches.
A single flower is always a bright spot.
#floweringquince #mungerplace #singleflower #historicneighborhood
Winter Wisdom
Through the year, there is a regular cycle of about two dozen different species of birds that visit for food and water. Intermittently, they’re chased away by a hawk that perches in the center of this outdoor aviary.
Occasionally, an egret finds its way through the heavy urban canopy of trees to try to feast on the koi in the ponds. But only once in a while does a barred owl come by. It seems fitting for an owl to observe quietly for over an hour.
Winter does make one feel wiser. Ice may keep one from venturing out. A fire might lure one to read. The surrounding silence is perfect for anyone inclined to write. Winter has a different pace — one an owl seems to represent, absorbing and exuding wisdom.
#barredowl #winter #dallas #mungerplace #historicneighborhood
This week on SMU Stories, we sat down with Douglas Newby
This week on SMU Stories, we sat down with Douglas Newby (BS ’74, MPA ’80), past president of the SMU Town and Gown Club and founder of Architecturally Significant Homes.
Doug’s career reflects a rare combination of scholarship, civic leadership, and real estate vision. From his SMU master’s thesis that helped lay the economic groundwork for revitalizing Munger Place to his role in establishing Dallas’s first single family historic district, his work has shaped how the city understands preservation, value, and place.
In this episode, Doug shares his path from early urban revitalization efforts in East Dallas to representing some of the most significant residential properties in the country, including the Crespi Estate. He explains his philosophy of “homes that make us happy,” his focus on architectural integrity and site context, and how his background in social science led him to become the first realtor in the United States to specialize exclusively in architect designed residences.
For the SMU community and real estate professionals alike, Douglas’s story offers a compelling example of how passion, education, and respect for history can create lasting value. Tune in to hear how Douglas has dedicated his career to preserving the architectural soul of Dallas while reshaping how we define the value of our neighborhoods.
🎧 Tune in to hear Douglas’s insights on why modern organic architecture is so important to our happiness. Link in bio.
#SMU #SMUAlumni #1911Group #architecturallysignificanthomes #douglasnewby