When I lived in Junius Heights, I would drive past a beautiful old brick mansion on Live Oak when I would head to Jimmy’s Food Store for my weekly calorie splurge. The cannoli I brought home was always sweet and perfect, but the drive back through the neighborhood took me past that beautiful old house again, which was just as sweet and perfect.
It was all of the beautiful homes — even the ones that were in different states of disrepair — that made me fall in love with Junius Heights and Old East Dallas.
Sure, the home was getting a little worn around the edges. For a long time it looked like there were several areas that needed urgent shoring up on the porch. The roof had seen better days, too. But a building so grand and historic, I thought that surely it would get the attention it required. Surely the next owner would handle it. Surely the building would be there for a while.
I moved to Casa View in 2007. There were no more weekly cannoli runs once we moved to the “other side” of White Rock Lake. And it didn’t take long for me to push the old red brick house to the back of my mind to collect cobwebs along with that jingle about chewing gum. So, when I heard that the home at 4901 Live Oak was to become a chic wedding venue, I was elated. Finally, someone was going to give that old mansion the attention it deserved.
“We’re new at this and this seems like it’s a big headache and a really political situation that we didn’t want to get involved in,” said Adam Rico, the owner of 4901 Live Oak. “We’re not going to appeal. We’ll probably just sell the property to whoever wants and it will probably be a developer who will probably tear it down.”
And that’s pretty much what happened. With the owners’ dreams dashed, they sold the property to an investor that left the property open and accessible to squatters, some of which took up residence in the home and left the lot strewn with trash. It wasn’t too long before word spread that the owner would be able to use the existing MF-2 zoning and completely raze the home.
Now, in the place of that grand old mansion stands townhomes that look pretty much like all the other townhomes that have been built in the past decade. The history and character of that home are lost forever.
That was in 2015, which just happened to be the year that Preservation Dallas launched its Most Endangered Historic Places list. Obviously, it’s a tragedy that we would need a list that draws attention to historic and architecturally significant buildings that are at risk of demolition, but it’s also an opportunity for advocacy and awareness. The red-brick mansion at 4901 Live Oak was worthy of saving, but how can we preserve a building if we don’t know it’s at risk?
Do you know of a property that could meet the same fate as that grand dame of a brick mansion on Live Oak? Today is your last shot to nominate it for the Preservation Dallas Most Endangered Historic Places list for 2021. To see previous years’ lists, click here.
To nominate a property, click here.
