By Sriya Reddy
From neoclassical to European mansard to Spanish Tudor, Glen Oaks, a south Oak Cliff neighborhood, has every style of mid-century home available.
As the neighborhood was built over a period of 15 years between the 1950s and the 1960s, most homes were custom-made to the owner’s taste, which is what gave each house a unique touch.
It’s the history and diversity in style that kept Glen Oaks residents in their homes and brought new residents to the neighborhood, and it’s an identity that the community wants to keep.
“There’s a lot of prominent people that lived in this neighborhood, and I love the mid-century homes,” said resident Chris Lewis. “The landscaping is based on farmland, so you have deep setbacks and beautiful trees that overlay with the homes and the streets, which I love. Kind of gives you that prairie look.”
Now, decades later, residents are concerned with new development bringing in “cookie-cutter” homes. That’s what spurred Lewis to action. He suggested to his neighbors that Glen Oaks could become a conservation district to protect its unique architectural style. A conservation district distinction protects the physical features and overall identity of a neighborhood.
“I started getting a lot of good positive feedback about it,” Lewis said. “I would describe what becoming a conservation district can do to bring us that power, influence and control to retain that natural beauty that this neighborhood has been holding on to for about 50 or 60 years.”
Glen Oaks was developed by Claton Wyman on what was originally farmland, according to Heritage Oak Cliff, a conservation organization that aims to preserve Oak Cliff history.
Lewis has been leading the conservation district process, which has been in the works for about three years. He and the committee of about 10 people are working on dating and documenting the architectural styles of each of the 2,000 homes in Glen Oaks. The process has been slow with a small team. After finding the history and style of each home, the committee will begin to talk to their neighbors for a petition.
The committee has run into issues of renters and next-of-kin owners while compiling information about each home.
“In our neighborhood some of the property owners are renters, so we’re trying to find those actual property owners on [the Dallas Central Appraisal District website]. Then also some of the properties are owned by kids of some of the recently passed property owners, as well. So it was kind of a couple of things that have been staggered that slowed us from getting that 50%,” Lewis said of the property owners who have to sign a petition for the conservation district process to move forward.
After identifying all the homes to become a conservation district, about 58% of the homes must sign a petition for the proposal process to begin, said Trevor Brown, chief planner at Dallas Planning and Urban Design.
“What they’ll do is they’ll eventually submit all of that information along with what’s called a determination of eligibility, which our office will review,” Brown said. “We’d make sure that it meets all the criteria, boundaries, make sense, etc. If that is accepted, that triggers that next phase of a public meeting and petition process before anything moves forward in terms of really getting into becoming a conservation district.”
Dallas has 17 conservations so far and two in the process — South Winnetka Heights and an expansion of an existing conservation district in Lakewood. A new conservation district has not been approved for more than 10 years, according to Brown.
Mayor Pro Tem and District 4 City Council member Carolyn King Arnold has lived in Glen Oaks since the 1980s. She said talk of becoming a conservation district has been around for decades, but back then residents didn’t know how to connect with the city. Now, she said, she supports the decision.
“Anything that we can do to protect the original culture of our community,” said Arnold. “These were custom-built homes, and just to keep the integrity of what the intent of those builders were is important to us.”
In the last few years, Glen Oaks began to see brick homes painted white or gray pop up that don’t match the mid-century feel.
“I think the big shock came when we really saw people painting over the bricks,” Arnold said. “And you saw either white or gray. We don’t have any deed restrictions or anything that prohibits a property owner from choosing that option. So it’s better to take action than just sitting back and complaining about it.”
Lewis said that the paint itself isn’t what he’s worried about.
“It’s not the white paint that bothers me,” he said. “It’s the quality. We see the paint and wood begin to chip over time.”
Aside from white and gray “cookie-cutter” style homes, short term rentals have been popping up as well, like a modern, container-style home on Green Castle Drive.
“Glen Oaks is unique, no two homes are alike,” said committee member Oliver Black. “It’s a beautiful neighborhood. It’s not a cookie-cutter design like you might see in other parts. We just want to preserve the beauty.”
Black, along with other members of the community, hopes that the conservation district designation would discourage development that changes identity. However, he supports other developments such as parks and Reimagine Redbird, a project that is revitalizing Redbird Mall. Committee member Paul Molina feels the same way: He wants development but wants to make sure that his neighborhood doesn’t lose its feel.
“The fear would be, you’ve got these really beautiful, older homes, and then you’ve got the houses that were just built and look nothing like the rest of the community,” Molina said. “It doesn’t really mesh with the identity that’s already here. So I felt like the conservation district process was something worth getting involved with.”
