Preserving Dallas

Treasured Dallas buildings earn prestigious awards for preservation

It's the time of year every nicely restored building waits for: The winners have been announced for the 2016 Preservation Achievement Awards, the Oscars of the preservation world.

These awards recognize efforts to preserve historic places in Dallas, including the people and organizations who have contributed to their preservation.

The awards are sponsored by Preservation Dallas, the nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the city’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, and places. The group solicits nominations from the public, which are evaluated by a jury of three that includes a historian, a developer, and an architect.

"It's about rewarding the hard work that these people have put into restoring the building," says Preservation Dallas director David Preziosi. Submissions come from developers, architectural firms, and public organizations.

"The Dallas Park and Recreation Department is a frequent winner, but they do a lot of good work in the parks around the city," Preziosi says.

The department made the list again this year, one of 15 winners, all of whom will be recognized at an awards reception on May 3, from 6-8:30 pm at Lee Park. Tickets are $50 for members, $85 for non-members.

These are the winners of the 2016 Preservation Achievement Awards:

Cannon’s English Village, 1314 Davis St.
Opposed by residential neighbors when it was built in 1922, the English Village (adopting Cannons' for the five cent and dollar store) continued declining the last several decades. Working through the Landmark Commission with the Winnetka Heights Historic District, the project breathes new life as residential over retail and the owners now live above their restoration.

Caruth Homeplace Curing Shed, 5500 Caruth Haven Ln.
The center point of one of the oldest and largest farmsteads in Dallas, the Caruth Homeplace and its curing shed were an integral part of daily operations. With its salt-cured "fuzzy wood" interior and meat storage racks, the history of this significant out building can be felt.

Continental Avenue Bridge Park, 109 Continental Ave.
Obsolete for automobile traffic purposes against the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Continental Avenue is the first bridge in Dallas to adopt international re-purposing as a park. Travelers on the bridge now leave their cars behind to take advantage of the park’s many amenities, including its front-row seats for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.

Dallas Fire Station No. 3 (Dallas Firefighters Museum), 3801 Parry Ave.
Beginning as Fire Station No. 3 (and later No. 5) in 1907, the oldest hook and ladder company station in Dallas housed the veterinarian clinic and stalls for the fire department’s carriage horses. New life as the Firefighters Museum was the catalyst for a complete façade restoration, taking the building back to its turn-of-the-century beauty.

Lone Star Gas Lofts, 301 South Harwood St.
The Lofts incorporate four re-adapted buildings, with the crown jewel being the 1931 art deco building and its 1924 sister, both designed by Lang & Witchell. The reactivation of this entire downtown city block helps create a foot traffic connector to several ancillary downtown areas, furthering our urban core’s growth.

LTV Tower, 155 Elm St.
Constructed in 1964 as the Ling-Temco-Vought headquarters, with a 28-floor tower perched upon a wider five-floor base, this midcentury icon’s design was perfectly adaptable for contemporary residences and hotel rooms. The fifth-floor and 33rd-floor rooftop pools offer breathtaking views in the heart of the city.

McFarlin Auditorium at SMU
Decades of insensitive updates, renovations, and paint jobs left the 1926 auditorium nearly unrecognizable. Peeling away layers of paint and the recreation of key elements, in addition to special task lighting, has brought the auditorium back to its original opulence.

MKT Depot and Flatcar at Dallas Heritage Village, 1515 South Harwood St.
The depot, originally built as the Fate, Texas, depot and the MKT railroad flatcar landed at Dallas Heritage Village to become one of the organization’s many period vignettes. The careful restoration of both items helps create a realistic picture of the days when trains moved passengers, mail, and freight around Texas and the nation.

Renner Methodist Church Bell (Farmers Branch Historical Park), 2540 Farmers Branch Ln.
Church bells brought communities together, and this one from 1898 continues to do so. It was restored and united with its original church building in a historical park. For whom the bell tolls is determined by those lucky parkgoers around to hear the graceful tones once again emitted from this cast steel giant.

211 North Ervay (Alto 211)
The restoration of this once-endangered aqua blue downtown icon has reinvigorated a key intersection and continues its story as the largest base for startup companies in the city. Discovery of the original aqua tile band circling the building only added to the whimsical reuse, demonstrating history does repeat itself.

Liberty Bank Building, 600 South Harwood St.
Completely relocated from a roadway expansion, this bank was disassembled and rebuilt to help breathe new life into the exploding Farmers Market. Now, safely set among historic peers, the building continues into its second century of bringing community together under a new guise.

Woolworth Building, 1520 Elm St.
A 62-foot balcony was the cleverest expansion on one of the oldest “high-rises” in Dallas’ urban core, activating a human space that did not previously exist. Nightlife has always followed since its 1882 inception as “Drinker’s Street” and now Stone Street has a new meaning, which is great to watch from the balcony.

Perry House, 307 North Winnetka
This lean-to 1913 Craftsman bungalow would most likely have been a tear-down in most parts of the city, but in the Winnetka Heights Historic District, things are done with appreciation for Dallas’ built history. Under the very watchful eye of neighbors, exterior elements were restored or replicated, which helped bring the home’s romanticism back.

315 North Montclair
New construction in an historic district receives layers of scrutiny until the structure is deemed appropriate for the context in which it will sit. This two-story Craftsman emulates the perfect combination required for modern conveniences in a house destined to stand the test of time with its century-old house siblings.

Wyatt House, 6001 Swiss Ave.
The restoration of this 1927 home made it a gem once again, set among the most recognizable estate houses in Dallas. Contributing to the Historic District, the home’s restoration continues the streetscape we have all come to know and love.

The restored MKT Depot and Flatcar currently resides at Dallas Heritage Village.

Photo courtesy of Preservation Dallas

The restored MKT Depot and Flatcar currently resides at Dallas Heritage Village.

urban-renewal preservation

pet protection

How to protect Texas pets against the dangerous New World screwworm fly

MPhoto by Tran Mau Tri Tam ✪ on Unsplash

Make sure these guys are up on their flea and tick meds.

Two New World screwworm cases in dogs are among more than 30 confirmed instances in Texas and New Mexico, prompting warnings Wednesday, July 8 from veterinarians and humane societies that pet owners need to remain vigilant to protect their animals.

The parasite reappeared in cattle in the U.S. in June, more than 50 years after it had been largely eradicated from the country. The pest is actually the larvae of the New World screwworm fly. It eats live flesh and fluids rather than dead material, as the larvae of most fly species do.

Here is what to know about the parasite, the threat it poses to pets and how to protect them:

Screwworm fly larvae can infest any mammal
The fly's migration north from Panama starting in 2024, and through Mexico in 2025, has agriculture officials warning that it poses a threat to the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry, but the larvae can hatch and breed in any mammal, including wildlife, dogs, cats and occasionally humans.

The problem develops when a female fly lays its eggs in open wounds and mucus. After the eggs hatch, the larvae feed for about a week before maturing, dropping to the ground and continuing to develop into an adult fly.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says newborn animals and animals with open wounds or who have undergone surgery or other medical procedures recently are especially vulnerable. Even a tick bite can host an infestation, Aaron Grady, executive director of the Houston Humane Society shelter, said during a webinar on the screwworm.

Screwworm fly close-up The goal is to stop these flies from successfully breeding. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife

Infestation signs include restlessness and bad smell
Animal health experts say pet owners in areas where the screwworm is present — southern and southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico so far — should watch their animals closely and examine them for wounds, cuts and bites regularly.

Pet owners should look for any maggots or movement in a wound. Other signs include a foul smell and restlessness or anxiety in an animal, or an animal “hyper-fixating on looking or chewing in a certain area of the body," said Melissa Stansell, a veterinarian at the shelter Austin Pets Alive!

Any one of those is reason enough to go to a veterinarian. The affected animal is likely in a great deal of pain, and that can cause death from shock. The larvae also can cause death if they move into vital organs or by causing infections that turn deadly.

Flea, tick medications can stop an infestation
Humane society officials and veterinarians said shelters across Texas are trying to prevent infestations in animals by giving them prescription flea and tick medications. They recommend that pet owners do the same.

“It will kill the larvae as they ingest the blood and tissue,” Stansell said. “The chemical compositions of those products are what kill the actual larval stages of these flies.”

Veterinarians also can treat infestations and animals can recover if pet owners contact them quickly. Stansell said the treatment could include antibiotics.

“It is only fatal if left untreated,” she said.

An effort to eradicate the fly again is underway
The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species and decades ago would disappear each year when colder weather arrived with the fall or winter.

But state and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials aren't waiting for the weather to turn. They've returned to an eradication method that worked decades ago, breeding sterile male flies and releasing them into the wild. The female New World screwworm fly mates once in her monthslong life, and if her partner is sterile, her eggs won't hatch — causing the population in an area to drop and then disappear.

For years, the only factory breeding sterile flies in the Western Hemisphere was in Panama, but the USDA invested $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico from breeding fruit flies to recently start breeding screwworm flies. The agency also plans to spend $750 million on a new fly factory in Texas, set to open next year.

screwworm fly pets