Highly-respected Dallas architect Phillip W. Shepherd Sr. died Thursday, July 11, 2019, a longtime family friend confirmed to Daltxrealestate. He was 77.
Reared in Graham, Shepherd graduated with a degree in architecture from Texas Tech University in the 1960s. He began his firm, PWS Architects, in 1963.
When you look at the current landscape of Uptown Dallas, you’d be hard pressed to find a place Shepherd didn’t influence as an architect. His portfolio is long and varied, and includes such Dallas mainstays as The Crescent Hotel and the Mansion on Turtle Creek.
In Dallas, he collaborated with other architects and builders to craft buildings that would honor Texas history, but also put a distinctly contemporary stamp on places the city (and its visitors) would come to work and play.
“We wanted something that was not a glass box, that ended up having some connotations of Texas history … that still had heritage, but still had a contemporary feeling,” Shepherd said of the Crescent in an interview with Dr. Gary McCaleb of Abilene Christian University in the early-1980s.
Interview with Phillip Shepherd on The Portal to Texas History.
In that same interview, he spoke with enthusiasm about the Uptown and burgeoning Arts District area, which at that time was still eagerly awaiting DART to come to fruition, and the completion of the Dallas Museum of Art building.
Shepherd’s work has been published in the New York Times, Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Dallas Morning News, and the Dallas Business Journal, and he has received numerous awards for design excellence.
Shepherd is survived by his children: Phillip Jr., Stephanie, Francesca, and Barrett; and a brother, Steve Shepherd, and brother-in-law, Oliver Roberts.
More, including reaction from the real estate community, to come.
