Why is historic preservation so difficult in our fair city? Why are historic homes demolished? Why doesn’t Dallas value our heritage more? These are some of the questions Ron Siebler and Mark Birnbaum hope to answer in their upcoming documentary, Why We Don’t: The Never-Ending Loss of Our Structural Heritage.
Siebler is the president of Siebler, Inc., a residential remodeling and historic preservation company and a dedicated preservationist. He received the ASID Dallas Design Community Designers’ Choice Award for Contractor/Remodeler twice. Preservation Dallas presented him with the Craftsman of the Year Award in 2016, and in May 2019, his work received the prestigious Gail Thoma Patterson Award. Since 2014, he has received nine Achievement Awards from Preservation Dallas and a special recognition award from Preservation Texas.
You may recognize Siebler’s name from his work with the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. He was instrumental in the preservation and recreation of the historic railroad boxcar used by the German Army during WW11. With those historic preservation credentials, naturally, Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society reached out to Siebler.
Siebler understands public education is vital in preservation work. The best way to educate the public about preservation is by telling a story, so he reached out to filmmaker Mark Birnbaum. Birnbaum recently completed a year-long documentary about the Hall of State in Fair Park.
“Ron actually put me on a new path as a documentary filmmaker,” Birnbaum said. “About five years ago, he asked me to come to Dallas Heritage Village to shoot a video while he was restoring the church. I was hooked. Documenting preservation efforts is important to me because there is something about the combination of history, art, and science that I find fascinating. It’s at the heart of preservation. It yields an interesting story, and I’m a story teller.”
While we usually hear about the straightforward success stories in preservation, the two hope to tell the flip side of the story.
“With the interviews that will be coming, we will have a wide variety of experience of opinion of why buildings are allowed to be destroyed,” Birnbaum said. “Other places have pretty good rules about preservation and why it’s essential. We don’t. Do people know about the history, and do they care?
“We don’t save these properties because of lack of awareness of the skill it took to make them, a lack of appreciation for a historic house,” Siebler said. “It’s a piece of art. We want to help people understand historic preservation. We want to make a film about why people do not preserve. It’s economical and sociological. We create historic districts, but then we create standards that people cannot reach, like Tenth Street. There are impediments to successful preservation, and then it’s down to simple economics. Two things are always an impediment: perspective, and economics. Preservation has to work economically.”
The star of this documentary is the Carey estate, which many of you knew as the Hill estate. We’ve written about it and shed many tears when it was demolished. Siebler is quick to point out that there is a success story that rises from its’ ashes despite this historic home’s demise. “The Hill family made an enormous effort to sell the house for a year.”
That’s something to ponder. Why is an entire year did no one step forward to preserve an important piece of Dallas history? How long can an owner be expected to wait for the perfect buyer? All food for thought.
When the family sold the house and learned the new owners would not keep the estate intact, they did what they considered the next best thing and reached out to Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society. They, in turn, called Birnbaum and photographer Fred Hight to document the home. They also encouraged the significant architectural elements to be harvested. So it’s a lot like organ donation. Many parts of this house will enhance other homes and buildings that have perhaps lost similar essential elements over time.
Birnbaum was allowed to film the removal of the structural elements and the demolition of the home. The trailer is purposefully dramatic because it must be. People must pay attention so we can continue the educational process and save what can be saved.
“We had two goals with the Hill estate. The first was to preserve the architectural elements, and the second was to document the house’s existence. We will use the film to take on a much broader storyline. Education is critical — understanding why it is important to preserve as well as the practical side. Preservation is practical, starting from the carbon footprint to the longevity of protecting the materials.
“I hope this can be a model to follow in the future when a house may not be able to be saved,” Siebler said.
It took about three weeks for Phoenix 1 to harvest materials ranging from wood floors, tiles, and marble to windows, decorative trim, and entire room panels. The dining room had inlaid mahogany panels that will be repurposed by artist Nancy Rebal in her home in Corsicana. Dale Sellers, the owner of Phoenix 1, bought all the windows and doors to use in future projects.
The proceeds of the sale of materials will fund a Historic Structures Report, a critical element as it serves as a record of the home’s past, historical significance, and condition. It’s a building block that leads to future successful preservation.
“It’s hearts and minds we have to change,” Siebler said. “We do that through education. We can write ordinances all day long, but when we make people aware of these works of art and their intrinsic value, that is when preservation will be successful.”
Watch the trailer for Why We Don’t: The Never-Ending Loss of Our Structural Heritage:
