The annual Lakewood Home Tour is legendary. After 47 years, it runs like a well-oiled machine. This year, on the weekend of Nov.11 – 12, the 2023 tour offers a peek into six stunning homes ranging in style from the beloved Tudors Lakewood is known for to Georgian, traditional, and modern. A seventh home is featured only on the candlelight tour.
This English Tudor at 6930 Lakewood Blvd. is one of the historic homes on The Lakewood Home Tour this year. This stunning home was built in 1925 by Dines & Kraft and designed by architect Bertram Hill, a British architect who immigrated to the United States to practice in Dallas.
Hill designed residences in Lakewood, Swiss Avenue, and Highland Park. He also designed and oversaw the construction of the original Dallas and Lakewood Country Club buildings and is credited with work on the Adolphus Hotel, the Melrose Hotel, and the original Dallas City Hall building.
Lakewood Home Tour Features Stewards of History
This English Tudor is also an excellent example of the stewardship that makes Lakewood so special.
“It feels like every person who has lived here has loved this house well,” current owner Shelby Teaster said.
She and her husband, Michael, have owned their English Tudor for six years but have been Lakewood residents for 30. They raised their family on Lakeshore for 17 years, always keeping an eye out for the perfect historic home.
“We love the eclectic architecture and established beauty of the neighborhood,” Shelby said. “It was always a dream of ours to live in an older home with architectural significance and history.”
Of course, it helped to have Realtor David Bush in their corner. They were patient and happy to wait for the perfect house.
“All of a sudden, David texted me that an English Tudor was about to go on the market,” Shelly said. “I was hoping it was the one I walked by all the time and had watched being remodeled for over a year.”
She leashed up the dog and sprinted down the street and around the corner to find her dream of owning an English Tudor was about to become a reality.
“This house was a godsend for us,” Shelby said. “It was everything we wanted, lovingly restored and updated but with a healthy respect for the original bones and architecture. Although we went from five bedrooms to three, it was perfect for us because three of our four children were grown and gone. Each room has its own special light depending on the time of day, so it’s easy to move from room to room and really use each space thoroughly. While this house is not overly large, it lives really well! There is a wonderful flow to the living spaces downstairs that lends itself to weekly family dinners and entertaining with friends.”
The previous owners took up residence in the 1,000-square-foot backhouse above the three-car garage while working with Mark Johnson Custom Homes to bring the home back to more of its historic origins, adding arches back where they’d been removed, working with stained glass designers to replicate original windows and bringing the kitchen, bathrooms, plumbing, and electrical up to date.
Even though the garage and backhouse were constructed in the 1980s, that structure has an interesting history as well.
“The owners had a military tank they used to drive in the Lakewood Fourth of July Parade,” Shelby said. “So when they built the garage, they made the ceilings tall enough to fit the tank!”
The 47th annual Lakewood Home Tour will run from 1 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 and 12. Tickets to the event are $25 each before the tour date. If you’d like to attend the Candlelight tour at 7 p.m. on Nov. 11, you can purchase a ticket for $40. Tickets are digital this year and available here.
