Braden Power turns old to new
June 01, 2007
"We're gutting them," co-owner Craig Power said. "We're going as fast as we can."

Houses that survived the apartment-building craze of the 1950s and '60s, meanwhile, also have become objects of fixer-upper affection. The people sweating over them see all sorts of promise: beautiful old wood floors and fireplaces and beveled glass; possible tax breaks for major renovations, even if the property is not in a historic district; and soaring values in nearby Munger Place, where many similar homes have been restored.

"I used to have Neiman's number memorized," said Sharron Sadacca, who's making over a circa-1911 house on Gaston. "Now I have the Home Depot number memorized."

Next door, Rebecca Pefla is also taking it one room at a time. With the upstairs largely finished and sparkling, she can sit by a window and see the downtown skyline at night.

Much remains to be done, she acknowledged with a laugh: "My friend looked at it from the outside and said, 'It's Herman Munster's house.'"

This weekend's annual Swiss Avenue tour of homes will showcase the area's surging fortunes, featuring some smaller but still stellar residences outside the historic district.

"There is a house for every budget in Old East Dallas," said Virginia McAlester, who grew up on Swiss and helped found the district.

They also helped form other historic districts in areas as diverse as South Dallas, north Oak Cliff and downtown.

After blocking development of apartments on Swiss and getting the historic district -- Dallas' first --set up in 1973, the activists kept going. Among other things, they helped change other East Dallas zoning to protect single-family homes and opposed development of a crosstown expressway, which would have cut through several older neighborhoods.

Many in the new crop of urban pioneers pay tribute to Ms. McAlester and her cohorts, saying that their success in saving the mansions paved the way for most of the city's preservation successes since. "A lot has happened that started on Swiss Avenue," said Catherine Horsey, executive director of Preservation Dallas.

The nonprofit group, born in the Swiss district fight, runs a multimedia campaign to promote what it calls intown housing -- the 170 or so Dallas neighborhoods inside Loop 12.

Ms. McAlester has even taken to consulting on redevelopments that aren't exactly historic, such as the Gaston apartment projects. Her aim, she said, is to stabilize one of Dallas' oldest and most diverse regions.

"She was very important in helping us understand the neighborhood," said Mr. Egnatis, the developer. "It gave us a lot of confidence when people like her were willing to help."
About the Press Release
Power Properties -- which turned one of Gaston's worst eyesores into a showpiece, higher-rent complex -- has since finished three similar overhauls nearby. And it recently bought several more apartment buildings.


 
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