PPC’s commitment to preservation indeed enhances the aesthetic value of the area. But it also ensures that the stories embodied in these structures are not lost to time. Proceeds from the annual home tour, and the Distinguished Speaker Luncheon and Classic and Antique Car Shows (held in the fall), support PPC’s mission. They help PPC preserve and maintain the Park Cities House at Dallas Heritage Village. Proceeds also support the new PPC archives at the University Park Library and fund its landmarking initiatives. And additionally, the events allow PPC to award scholarships to Highland Park High School graduating seniors planning to study architecture or history and fund the Distinguished Chair for History at Highland Park High School.
The 2025 PPC Historic Home Tour offered an exquisite look into some of the most beautiful residential architecture, interior design and landscapes in the Park Cities. The three homes on the 2025 tour each showcase different architectural styles with rich history and wonderful examples of how architecturally significant homes can be renovated to fit the needs of today. (Photos by Dan Piassick).
Membership in PPC is open to the community. For more information visit www.preservationparkcities.org
Historical Plaques Celebrate Significant Places
PPC has also been busy placing large permanent plaques celebrating the history and significance of certain locations around the Park Cities. As of today, five of the plaques are placed. Locations include: City Hall – 3800 University Blvd.; Churches at Pardoe Park – 3821 University Blvd.; Volk Estates at Byrd Park – 6700 Turtle Creek Blvd; Caruth Park – 7801 Hillcrest Avenue; and Moody Family YMCA -6000 Preston Road. The remaining three plaques (Snider Plaza, SMU Dallas Hall and Highland Park High School) will be placed later this year. A ninth plaque located at Centennial Park (formerly Goar Park) at Vassar and Turtle Creek Blvd. (3806 University Boulevard) was presented to the City of University Park as part of the City of University Park’s 100th Anniversary Centennial Celebrations Closing Ceremony in December 2024.
100-Year-Old Park Cities Homes Deserve to be Commemorated!
As you drive around the Park Cities, you will soon notice commemorative signs placed in the yards of some 100-year-old homes. This effort headed by Joan Clark and Kathy Myers, Preservation Park Cities board members. It recognizes historic homes listed in PPC’s The Houses of the Park Cities: An Architectural Guide to the Historic Houses of Highland Park and University Park Texas. The book by R. Lawrence “Larry” Good is available for purchase on Amazon.com and at Interabang Books in Dallas.
“The quality of the residential architecture from the first three-fourths of the twentieth century that is found in the Park Cities has few peers across the entire United States,” says Good. His book details the period of Highland Park’s development, as well as the early years of University Park. The timing coincided with the peak of the Garden Suburb movement in the US. Contemporary planned communities such as Beverly Hills, River Oaks (Houston), Lake Forest (Chicago), Roland Park (Baltimore) and Shaker Heights (Cleveland) boast many examples of fine residential architecture. But none surpass, on the whole, that of the Park Cities, says Good.
The work of the Park Cities’ leading architects, (Hal Thomson, Anton Korn, Fooshee & Cheek, and Charles Dilbeck) might be considered equal to that of the most revered country house architects practicing nationally at that time.(Harrie T. Lindeberg, Bertram Goodhue, Charles Platt and Carrere & Hastings).
As appeared in the Summer Issue of The Savvy Life
