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