Starting with Highland Park and Preston Hollow and many other of Dallas’ finest neighborhoods, Google street view maps have been added to the neighborhood section of Architecturally Significant Homes.
Identifying and discussing neighborhoods has been a life-long passion of mine. In 1986, to celebrate the Texas Sesquicentennial I wrote and produced the book A Guide to the Older Neighborhoods for the Historic Preservation League. Since then, hundreds of neighborhood associations have formed.
Developing the Dallas neighborhood section of Architecturally Significant Homes was my follow-up initiative. Now adding street view maps to the neighborhoods will bring even greater understanding and enjoyment to those discovering and or learning more about Dallas’ finest neighborhoods like Highland Park. One of the reasons I have had such an interest in neighborhoods is because all of the great homes are usually found in the great neighborhoods. A great home might be one found on Beverly Drive and Preston Road in Highland Park,
obviously a great neighborhood, or it might be a Hal Thomson designed home on Swiss Avenue, the city’s first great neighborhood,
or Mayflower Estates, a mostly unheard of neighborhood but one that includes Dallas’ most important home, the Crespi/Hicks estate.
When one understands a neighborhood it is much easier to understand and appreciate a home, its context, intent, and achievement.
Neighborhoods are like the rings of a tree, concentric circles of development indicating the pattern of grown of an emerging city.
The midcentury modern home designed by architect William Benson reflects a neighborhood being developed in the 1950s in Preston Hollow when Mockingbird Lane was the 1950s boundary of Dallas.
The midcentury modern home designed by Glenn Allen Galaway (above) was one of the latter homes built in University Park, but at 2,000 square Feet, it was a size popular with university professors, museum directors, and architects associated with a college community. Now you can go to Architecturally Significant Homes/Neighborhoods and pick which neighborhood you would like to use Google street view maps.
You can see the boundaries of the neighborhood and enjoy a 360° view of each street. So when you see a home you like you can see what is around it. For example, 4421 Beverly is an original 4,200 square foot 1920s Highland Park Mediterranean style estate home offered for sale. With street view you can see if this home is dwarfed on four sides by builder houses twice as large or if the neighboring homes are also original Beverly Drive estate homes. In this instance, you can see 4421 Beverly enjoys looking at original Highland Park homes shaded by tall trees.
Since we were the first real estate firm to identify and write about Dallas neighborhoods, we are pleased we are the first real estate firm to offer street view maps with a discussion of Dallas neighborhoods. I hope you enjoy using this neighborhood tool as you further explore Dallas’ finest neighborhoods. Why don’t you first visit Highland Park and try it out.
