David Schechter of WFAA-TV first caught wind of this: a handful of neighbors near Aldredge House at 5500 Swiss Avenue are complaining the weddings there are simply too wild. It’s no longer “rose petals and rice”, they say, but rather sparklers, fireworks and LED balloons, with underwear (bras and thongs!) sometimes flung in their yards.
Well, weddings have certainly gotten more sophisticated!
The Aldredge House, which was built in 1917 and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, was donated to the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance & Foundation by the last owner, Rena Munger Aldredge. (Yes, as in Munger Place.) The home was designed by famed architect Henry B. “Hal” Thomson. It’s really a beautiful story: the original owners were a couple named William and Willie Lewis, who built the home with the help of his apprentice Marion Fooshee (1888-1956). Marion would later partner with James Cheek (1895-1970) and become the most eloquent design team of the early twentieth century. They are best known as the designers of Highland Park Village, the nation’s first self-contained shopping center, as well as countless Mediterranean-style homes in Highland Park. The duo’s Spanish style office was torn down to make room for the Dallas Museum of Art. Willie Lewis was a Dallas debutante and very young bride. Unlike brides a decade later, Willie felt the home, at 7000 square feet, was too large. The Lewises sold the home, and eventually the Aldredge family purchased it in 1921. Rena Aldredge lived in the home until 1975, when she donated it to the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance. It was her wish that her home always serve a philanthropic purpose. Aldredge House maintains its original turn-of-the-century interior, and is one of the finest and few remaining examples of the French Eclectic architectural style in Dallas. The Aldredge House is also the only residential landmark of its kind that is currently open to the public in Dallas.
For the past 40 years, the Aldredge House has peacefully co-existed with Swiss Avenue neighbors, making the house available, at no charge, for meetings and events of the Swiss Avenue Historic District and over 50 non-profit organizations throughout Dallas. It has also been on tour for the annual Mother’s Day home tours.
Rental income from special events is the primary source of funding for taxes, upkeep, and operations of the House.
This May, a few neighbors raised some concerns about operations at Aldredge House. Those concerns, says DCMSA leaders, were immediately addressed by changes in policies and procedures, including changes in parking, noise, deliveries, and… No More Sparklers!
But a few weeks ago, Alliance members were stunned to find a Board of Adjustment sign stuck in the front yard. It was notice, the ONLY notice, that the neighbors had filed an application with the City to revoke the “legal non-conforming use” status under which Aldredge House has operated within the Swiss Avenue Historic District Planned Development District for 40 plus years… since the day Rena Aldredge gave her beloved home to the foundation of her choice.
Full disclosure: I am a member of the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance & Foundation and have been a member since about 1985. Founded in 1917, The Dallas County Medical Society was the first medical auxiliary in the country. The organization served as a model for other medical auxiliaries throughout the United States that were founded in the early twentieth century. Members are physicians and physicians’ spouses.
I was a member when the group was called the Dallas County Medical Society Auxilliary, open to physician’s wives who were dedicated to promoting good health and health education in Dallas, raising money for nursing and other scholarships, socializing and physician support. The list of organizations supported by DCMSA is pretty vast. We have regular meetings at Aldredge House. As more women became physicians, their spouses joined the Alliance, thus the name was changed. One of the earliest memories I have of moving to Dallas is my first DCMSA meetings at Aldredge House, where I fell in love with the historic residence. I came from Chicago and the East Coast, and Aldredge House reminded me of home with its historic stateliness, it’s walnut panelling, and old fashioned plumbing. The Alliance used to host a huge health fair where physicians and hospitals offered free screenings, immunizations and other health care education, and still partners with other agencies to provide these services. My husband, for example, would donate a Saturday afternoon to performing free sonograms, and I would hand out brochures or stickers or bandages. (This doctor’s wife faints at the sight of blood.) It was a way that we gave back to the community that had given us so much.
Always, Aldredge House was the mother ship, the hub to which we retreated to organize, collate papers, or just grab a cup of coffee and rest.
We have been to one wedding at Aldredge House in 30 years. When my daughter-in-law wanted to have her wedding in Dallas, Aldredge House was one of the venues she perused. And I have always been happy to sponsor friends and my husband’s patients who wanted weddings at Aldredge House because it was not just a beautiful, warm setting for nuptials, I really wanted to share the warmth of a very special place that had come to mean so much to all of us. Since neither of us have family in town, we truly feel like it’s our “home” in Dallas.
So I was blindsided when I heard of David Schechter’s report. My heart broke when I saw the crude, hand-printed paper sign stuck in the grass and thick liriope.
We have been told by our advisors that, IF that application is granted…
Aldredge House will revert to single-family use, will have to be sold and will no longer be open to the public. We won’t even be able to use it for meetings.
the Foundation will lose its home, its property rights, and a 40 year investment in preservation of the Aldredge House
The neighborhood, community and non-profit organizations that utilize Aldredge House facilities at no charge will lose that venue
The City of Dallas will lose one of its very few historically and architecturally unique houses that is open to the public
A few weeks ago, the Bud Oglesby home on Strait Lane that was once owned by the Dedmans was scraped to the ground. That was the right of the new owners, of course, it was their home free and clear.
Mark my word: if Aldredge House is sold because a few neighbors cannot communicate with the DCMSA and work together for a solution, it could risk being changed despite the Landmark designation.
Isn’t there a less drastic solution than filing an application to revoke the non-conforming use that has worked for 40 years? What do we teach our children? “Use your words.”
This story also puts me in a bit of a journalist pickle: I have a bias. But our mission is to be fair and balanced here on daltxrealestate.com: we will certainly cover the other side of the story, thongs, garters, sparklers, bras and all. It will just be covered by someone else.
I am also very interested in public opinion — the comment lines are wide open. And should you want to digitally sign a petition to keep the Aldredge House open to the public, click right here.
You can also plan to attend the Board of Adjustment hearing on Oct. 21 at Dallas City Hall. Time will be announced, so stay tuned for more, lots more, on this story.
