Swiss Avenue and Munger Place Historic Districts

One of the Five Best Homes on Swiss Just Sold – Architect Hal Thomson

5323 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, Texas

Hal Thomson Historic Home on Swiss Avenue – Sold by Douglas Newby

Swiss Avenue is the cradle of Dallas architecture and architecturally significant homes. Architect Hal Thomson, who designed this home in 1914 at 5323 Swiss Avenue, is the godfather of Dallas architects. Many don’t realize the impact and influence the homes on Swiss Avenue and architect Hal Thomson have on the architecture and architects in Dallas. Many consider 5323 Swiss to be one of the best five homes in the Swiss Avenue Historic District and one of the most architecturally significant homes in Dallas. You can scroll through Centennial Pictures of all 100 homes on Swiss Avenue and determine what you think are the best five homes on Swiss Avenue.

After a Grand Tour of Europe, Hal Thomson Made His Mark on Swiss Avenue

Henry B. Thomson (Hal Thomson) was a society architect who after his grand tour of Europe made his mark on Swiss Avenue before he began designing architecturally significant homes in Highland Park. The Aldredge house also on Swiss Avenue and 5323 Swiss Avenue that Douglas Newby recently sold quickly come to mind when one thinks of architect Hal Thomson.

Douglas Newby Sold and Closed Lang & Witchell Designed Home on Swiss Avenue in Ten Days

5112 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, Texas

Architects Lang & Witchell Designed Home on Swiss Avenue Boulevard – Sold by Douglas Newby

This architecturally significant Lang & Witchell designed home is the architectural exclamation mark of this Swiss Avenue block that boasts three Lang & Witchell architect-designed homes. National award-winning Realtor Douglas Newby has now sold every home on this block face of Swiss Avenue boulevard, including all three Lang & Witchell designed architecturally significant homes on the block.

Swiss Avenue Home Designed by C.W. Bulger & Son

5105 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, Texas

Prominent Italian Renaissance Style Home on Swiss – Sold by Douglas Newby

This Italian Renaissance style home designed by C.W. Bulger & Son has long been a favorite home on Swiss Avenue and in Dallas. The home at 5105 Swiss Avenue is on a block of the Swiss Avenue boulevard that is made up of some of the most important architecturally significant homes on the street. Elaborate vast gardens create an environment you would never guess is only two miles from the Dallas Arts District in downtown Dallas.

Over the years many people consistently identified this architecturally significant home as their favorite on the street. The Swiss Avenue boulevard is the only street in Dallas people will stroll down or drive down, looking at the houses as if they were walking through an art gallery. Each home is architecturally distinctive and creates an unsurpassed 20th century body of work.

Munger Place Home Built in 2016

4946 Victor Street, Dallas, Texas

Sold by Douglas Newby

Horizontal banks of tall double-hung windows across the front of the home allow natural light to illuminate the four-bedroom, three and one-half bath Munger Place Historic District home. The front porch roof shields the home from the harsh midday sun. The wide, three-foot eaves that are another architectural signature of Munger Place further protect the interior from direct afternoon sun. The wide and deep front porch contributes to the architectural continuity of the historic district and provides another living space for family or another space to entertain visiting friends or neighbors.

Munger Place Home for Sale

5012 Junius Street, Dallas, Texas

One of the Finest Homes in Historic District – Sold by Douglas Newby

This Munger Place home received the Restoration House of the Year Award when it was first restored by a founder of Preservation Dallas. Recently, it has been further renovated by its current owners who are in the design industry, including a new kitchen. Beautiful front doors open to the wrap-around porch in a neighborhood known for its front porch atmosphere and neighborhood collegiality.

Munger Place Historic District

Munger Place was the first single-family historic district in the city. This neighborhood is in the center of vibrant Old East Dallas neighborhoods, and it is surrounded by three other historic districts: Jefferson Peak Historic District, Junius Heights Historic District, and Swiss Avenue Historic District.

Munger Place Historic Home For Sale

4950 Victor Street, Dallas, Texas

Historic Home in Heart of Historic District – Sold by Douglas Newby

In the heart of Munger Place, this 100-year-old home with a wrap-around porch and porte-cochere conveys all of the aesthetic attributes that propelled Munger Place as the finest residence park in the Southland when it was built and then as the first single-family historic district in Dallas.

Finest Original Detail in Munger Place

It is rare that the original craftsmanship, moldings, beams, and trim of a home survive 100 years and they have in this renovated home.  The wood floors, wide passageways, and tall ceilings celebrate the original character of the home and its innate architectural modernity and its style was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lot Next Door is Zoned for a Historic Single-Family Home

The adjacent Munger Place lot will be sold and the buyer is required to build a historic looking home with the height and setbacks of the original deed restrictions of the neighborhood.  While many neighborhoods are disrupted by large or unsightly homes being built, you are protected by the Munger Place historic ordinance.

Hal Thomson Designed Home on Swiss Avenue Sold by Douglas Newby

5520 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, Texas

Henry B. Thomson Designed Residence – Sold by Douglas Newby

I always strive for a gracious transaction like this one between a fabulous buyer and seller who both love historic homes. The seller, a Swiss Avenue home owner for nearly 4 decades, asked me to sell her home. I was delighted and honored to represent her. Also, I was excited to offer a home for sale designed by Hal Thomson, the first prominent society architect of Dallas and his junior architect partner James Cheek who went on to design Highland Park Village and many architecturally significant homes with his architecture partner Marion Fooshee.

Munger Place Monuments are Dedicated by City Council Member

Munger Place homeowners gather at 4936 Junius Street for the dedication of the Munger Place Monuments.

50th Anniversary Swiss Avenue Mother’s Day Home Tour

Snow Falls on Swiss Avenue

Walking down Swiss Avenue as the snow falls, reminiscing about some of the Swiss Avenue homes that I have sold over the years.

Swiss Avenue Value

Homes on Swiss Avenue boulevard might offer the greatest combination of aesthetic attributes and value in Dallas. After many years of Swiss Avenue and the surrounding Old East Dallas neighborhoods being suspect, now a new generation of very successful young professionals and families have embraced this beautiful safe neighborhood. With historic districts on three sides of Swiss Avenue, and Lakewood shopping center and Lakewood conservation district at the end of Swiss Avenue, the Swiss Avenue historic district is now surrounded by beautiful homes and neighborhoods. Further, new residential and retail development is surging in the next layers of neighborhoods surrounding Swiss Avenue. Munger Place and Swiss Avenue is also in the heart of the restoration area, and is the origin place of all great 20th century architecture in Dallas. Before Hal Thomson and Fooshee & Cheek were designing homes in Highland Park, they were designing homes for the society families and industrialists who wanted to live on Swiss Avenue. Three miles further out from downtown Dallas an acre of land is selling for almost $2 million an acre. Swiss Avenue land closer In has even more intrinsic value. Pictured here is a perennial favorite home on Swiss Avenue. It is beautifully designed on almost an acre of land with views down the boulevard to the downtown Dallas skyline. With well over 5,000 s.f. and high ceilings, spacious open rooms, and an enormous amount of large windows, this one hundred year-old renovated home is a perfect example and exemplifies why Swiss Avenue homeowners are so excited about where they live. What other city has a neighborhood of architect-designed homes in such a lovely environment just two miles from downtown? A few blocks away, the Sante Fe Trail leads you to White Rock Lake and SMU in one direction and Deep Elm and Trinity groves in other direction. The value of a home is derived from the aesthetics, site, and neighborhood.

*Swiss Avenue Value
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Preservation Step Four

Interior designer Michael Lee recently mentioned to me that he always tries to find an old photograph, preferably black and white, of a historic home to show the original essence of the home when he meets with a client to discuss saving and renovating it. The reason for this is the original design, unencumbered by decades of modifications or landscaping grown out or proportion, provides a more compelling appreciation of the home. In my blog series, Preservation Five Steps for Saving Homes, I discuss in Preservation Step Three that at the beginning of my career my first transaction was negotiating 22 options on divided-up rent houses for the Historic Dallas Fund, which included the home pictured. The fund would re-sell these homes to homeowners who would return them to single-family. It was thought impossible to sell these divided-up rent houses, with 30 bad weekly tenants in a bad Dallas neighborhood, to a homebuyer. My solution was to retain an architect to draw a floorplan of the home reflecting the home when it was originally single-family, before it had four kitchens and bathrooms in the living room. This prompted me to continue to create floorplans even a decade later when I began selling some of the most beautiful homes in Highland Park and other parts of Dallas. I was the first Dallas realtor to create floorplans for listings, now it is standard practice for realtors. Also, I had an architect create a pen-and-ink drawing of the home, stripping away the deterioration, the three front doors, and adding back the original porch that might have been eliminated or closed in.

In Preservation Step Four of the blog series, I discussed how for the home pictured—one of the original Historic Dallas Fund houses—I had a contractor provide a bid to renovate the home back to single-family. It was subsequently renovated and actually resold eight years later for the same price as a larger brick Swiss Avenue home. A family has enjoyed raising their children in this Munger Place home originally destined for demolition.

*Preservation Step Four

#SavingHomes #Preservation #InteriorDesigner #Architect #Architecture #Dallas #Neighborhood #HistoricHomes #mungerplace

Centennial Photographs of Swiss Avenue Homes

Realtor Douglas Newby took photographs of every Swiss Avenue home during the centennial of Swiss Avenue so that you would have an opportunity to see this collection of architect-designed and architecturally significant homes in geographical order. You can scroll through and see the homes on each block on Swiss Avenue as if you are driving down the boulevard.

Centennial Photographs of Munger Place Homes

Realtor Douglas Newby took photographs of every Munger Place home during the centennial of Munger Place so that you would have an opportunity to see this collection of architect-designed and architecturally significant homes in geographical order. You can scroll through and see the homes on each block in Munger Place as if you are driving down the boulevard.