• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
Organic Urbanism

Organic Urbanism

Douglas Newby, national award-winning realtor, author, urbanist’s fascinating look at way forward for aesthetics, economics, health of cities

  • Architecturally Significant Homes – DougNewby.com
  • Follow Blog – DouglasNewby.com
  • Contact
  • Organic Urbanism
Organic Urbanism

Organic Urbanism

Organic Urbanism Allows Cities to Thrive

Douglas Newby, national award-winning realtor, author, urbanists, looks at Organic Urbanism as a way forward for the aesthetics, economics, and health of cities. Cities thrive when people thrive.

Origin of Organic Urbanism

My background brought into focus the concept of Organic Urbanism. Raised in a village of brick-lined and tree-tunneled streets, with triangle parks and neighborhood lawns to play in, I am extremely fond of the idyllic passage of time just riding a bike looking at the architectural nuance of historic homes along the way. While excitement was generated by Fourth of July parades and the energy of neighborhood block parties, backyard softball games, badminton or croquet contests, there was a lack of vibrancy that comes from a diverse urban setting of people from different parts of the world, economic strata, languages and cultures. As a child reading Hardy Boy books, I thought I was really “gypped” because there was never any crime in Hinsdale that I thought I could solve.

Neighborhood Revitalization Is A Significant Component of Organic Urbanism

Moving to Old East Dallas, which the city had proclaimed the worst neighborhood in Dallas, including the most dangerous bar two blocks away, made me rethink wishing for a little crime in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, my studies at SMU in anthropology, psychology, comparative religion, with an additional emphasis in art, led me to Munger Place by the invitations of artists that owned homes there. I considered Munger Place a cultural nirvana of vibrancy. I find it interesting that a grade school neighbor, Sunny Bates, who lived just around the corner from me in Hinsdale and that I later became reacquainted with at TED (she is often considered a co-founder of the modern era of TED), had a similar reaction to our idyllic childhood life. Sunny majored in Middle Eastern studies in college and then bought a house in Harlem that became revitalized much like Old East Dallas.

Nature Embracing Neighborhoods Is An Underlying Goal of Organic Urbanism

I approach my favorite neighborhoods with this deep appreciation for the embrace of nature and aesthetically pleasing fabric of architecture. I still crave the vibrancy of culturally diverse chef-owned restaurants, theaters, museums, artist studios, and cultural events nearby. I continue to have a dual desire for nature and vibrancy.

Organic Urbanism Encourages Diverse Neighborhoods

Over four decades I have seen my Munger Place neighborhood evolve. It has been revitalized and gentrified, but is not bland. It actually has a deeper and fuller contrast. Additional trees have been planted and one-way couplets have been returned to two-way neighborhood streets. Restaurants with Vietnamese, Italian, Laotian, and Mexican roots have been in existence 40 to 50 years that continue, and new restaurants from second generation Americans are being honored as one of the top ten new restaurants in the country. Crime is way down but diverse economic strata is still visible. Rejuvenated neighborhoods added an impetus to the creation of an Arts District downtown. Parks have been expanded and improved, attracting people from across the city.

Organic Urbanism Nourishes Neighborhoods

With love and nourishment, neighborhoods can flourish. As a real estate broker that began my business to help revitalize the neighborhood, it has evolved and is selling some of the most expensive homes in the city. The common denominator of the disparate neighborhood home prices, is the impact the evolution of the neighborhood has on their respective areas. I have a keen interest and understanding of the evolution of these neighborhoods and the importance of good sites and good architecture that delivers value and helps my clients successfully make on of the most important economic decisions of their life when they buy or sell a home.

Organic Urbanism Satisfies the Intellectual and Academic Rigors of Diverse City Stakeholders

When I thought about the tenets of Organic Urbanism, I thought it should satisfy the rigorous requirements of three influential groups of people in my life.

Economists Embrace the Tenets of Organic Urbanism

The first group are economists like the late Gerald Scully, one of my thesis advisers at SMU. Dr. Gerald Scully was a libertarian economist who lived in Junius Heights in the early years of its resurgence. He was the first economist that I worked with who understood that single-family zoning was a property right. He recognized the economic advantages of taking away multifamily zoning privileges to gain an even greater economic property right, the privilege of single-family zoning. He approved my premise that single-family zoning brings economic advantages to all constituencies in a distressed neighborhood as I discussed in my thesis, “Economic Incentives to Reverse Migration in an Inner-City Neighborhood.” He also sent me many economic articles over a range of subjects and introduced me to economist John Goodman of the Goodman Institute, who has also had a profound impact on my thinking of public policy issues.

Organic Urbanism Appeals to Ph.D’s in the Humanities Who Have A Cultural Approach Urbanism

The second group that has influenced me is best represented by Dr. Gail Thomas, the founder of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, and the greatest force in changing the Trinity River that had been made into a channel flanked by toll roads to become a meandering river through hardwood forests, embracing and encouraging neighborhoods on both sides of the river. For over three decades, Dr. Gail Thomas held major conferences, symposiums, and small salons discussing the city. Gail understood, taught, and promoted the idea that there was a soul in places, neighborhoods, and the city. Gail led the way in thinking of how to heal damaged parts of the city, explore untapped resources in the city, and create new opportunities in the city. I have always thought places have energy and Gail Thomas, through her lectures, writing and guest speakers like Jane Jacobs, reinforced this belief.

Homeowners Who Choose To Live In A City Are Most Sensitive to Organic Urbanism

The third group that has influenced my thinking are my clients that I have worked with. I am maybe the most fortunate real estate broker in the country, because my clients have selected me because we have a shared passion for good architecture, the best neighborhoods, great sites, and for the city of Dallas. My clients understand the importance of architecture, the merits of a site or a neighborhood, and a home beyond its MLS specifics. I have represented my clients as they have purchased and sold many of the most architecturally significant homes in Dallas. Even more important and impactful, they have shared with me what they loved about their homes and what made them happy living in their homes for many years. The awards that their homes received might have been fun for them, and the academic applause for their home’s architecture satisfying, but the accolades is not what made them happy living in their home every day. My different clients kept repeating the same themes and mentioning the same characteristics of their home that made them happy. The themes were the same whether they lived in the largest estate home, a small historic cottage, or a modern townhome. Organic Urbanism recognizes what homeowners desire in a home, a site, a neighborhood, and a home that makes them happy.

Organic Urbanism Allows An Individual, A Neighborhood, and A City To Flourish

The themes of Organic Urbanism allow an individual to flourish, which allows a neighborhood to flourish, which allows a city to flourish. Organic Urbanism provides a rational economic platform and principles to reach its goals. It also embraces the concept of neighborhood and citizens having a collective soul that resonates or reverberates across the city. Organic Urbanism allows a city to be nurtured, not rigidly manipulated.

New Urbanism Is A Threat to Cities

Dallas has always been vulnerable to New Urbanism trying to copy the older industrial models of cities from the Midwest like Chicago or the East Coast like New York. Fortunately, Dallas has always had an underlying sense of independence, individuality, and personal expression that has allowed Dallas to resist some of the rigid calls for density and new development. Dallas has succumbed to New Urbanism in some ways but has avoided it in other ways. Just as one doesn’t need to outrun a tiger, only the person next to them, Dallas doesn’t need to outrun the tiger, just do better than the other failing cities across the country.

Organic Urbanism Is the Solution

An Organic Urbanism approach would actually let Dallas outrun the tiger. Organic Urbanism will allow Dallas to tap into its existing resources of people, places, structures, and energy and organically flourish.

Organic Urbanism Nurtures a City

Neighbors Celebrate Community in Greenway Parks

Organic Urbanism is a positive way forward for cities in peril. Organic Urbanism recognizes that people enjoy vibrancy but seek sunlight and low-density neighborhoods. Technology loosened the shackles of the industrial cities’ conventional time and space, and the pandemic is breaking the shackles. Organic Urbanism fully embraces nature and technology and their importance for a city to flourish. This is much different than the traditional New Urbanism that promotes industrial age techniques to streamline an industrial city, and then add a dollop of nature. Organic Urbanism recognizes that technology increasingly allows people to respond to their own daily rhythms including where they live and work.

Traditional Top-Down Central Planning of New Urbanism Adheres to Industrial Principles

Traditional New Urbanism’s top-down central planning for a 21st century city is still adhering to industrial principles which are currently killing cities—whistle-signaling fixed factory-like work shifts; fixed-rail trains getting people to work in concentrated fixed locations; dense housing zones and subsidized apartments on fixed rail lines; centralized education by zip codes; homeownership allowed for the rich and homeownership impeded for everyone else.

Organic Urbanism Allows a City to Evolve Like an Urban Garden

Organic Urbanism allows a city to evolve like an urban garden. There is a natural ebb and flow in cities. As housing ages, it becomes more affordable for different demographics. Lower-income homebuyers can now afford these homes, and higher-income homeowners can now afford to renovate these homes. Neither of these demographic groups should have to compete with government-subsidized developers to buy a home that the developers would tear down. If there are government subsidies for a neighborhood development, it should go to the neighborhood—new streets, curbs, sidewalks, streetlights, parkway trees, and better internet connectivity for the benefit of the entire neighborhood. The developers should not have their land acquisitions subsidized so they can build more apartments.

New Urbanists Want to Physically Integrate and Economically Segregate

Traditional New Urbanists want to physically integrate neighborhoods but maintain segregated economic strata of wealth by subsidizing low-income apartments. Organic Urbanism wants to integrate the economic strata of wealth with more homeownership.

Organic Urbanism Celebrates Nature

The Northern Hills Neighborhood Represents Organic Urbanism

A trademark of industrial cities is concentrated wealth. Density allows a concentration of power and control. Organic Urbanism naturally allows people to spread out across a city gravitating to naturally beautiful areas even if their current neighborhoods are deteriorated. Organic Urbanism wants to provide the freedom of physical movement, with less lanes of traffic and super highways, and economic movement by empowering people of all incomes many of the same benefits that traditional New Urbanists reserve for the wealthy—good doctors, good schools, good food, good jobs, and single-family homes. Organic Urbanism understands that tele-medicine allows someone of any income to have the same quality doctor at a cheaper rate than an office visit, and the doctors’ offices are often closer to a wealthy population than a low-income population.

Autonomous Vehicles, Uber, Air-Taxis Eliminate Two-Hour, Three-Transit Stop Commutes

Autonomous vehicles, Uber and air-taxis will eliminate the time needed for three transit changes and two long walks to get to a good job. School choice including charter schools, ISD academies, magnet schools, tuition scholarships, and home-schooling networks allow families to live anywhere in the city. Schools other than traditional ISD schools attract people of all incomes to lower-income areas to be close to these innovative schools, which organically integrate the neighborhood.

Organic Urbanism Promotes Community Involvement in Neighborhoods

Organic Urbanism is opposed to the unholy alliance of police and teacher unions with urban politicians that give legislative protections for bad police conduct and inept teaching. In addition, Organic Urbanism is in favor of empowering communities of color by encouraging Rent-a-Cop grants to be made to neighborhood homeowners so they can hire off-duty police officers and police cars for periodic four-hour shifts in their neighborhoods.

Single Family Zoning And Homes Create Wealth For Minorities

Traditional New Urbanists think single-family homes and single-family zoning is morally bad. Organic Urbanism thinks single-family homes create wealth and empowerment for lower-income groups.

Organic Urbanism Will Allow A City To Flourish

The city that traditional New Urbanism has touted for over 50 years is over. Organic Urbanism is for allowing people, homeowners, neighborhoods, and the city to organically flourish.

Organic Urbanism is a cure for New Urbanism.

-Douglas Newby

Organic Urbanism Articles, Insights and Proposals

Organic Urbanism is a Cure for New Urbanism

Organic Urbanism is a Cure for New Urbanism

New Urbanism is like a virus. For 50 year it keeps coming back in mutated forms. It needs a cure. First, the only thing new in New Urbanism is the new construction that tears down the organic city. A form of New Urbanism has been around for 50 years. Like I said, it is a...

Continue Reading →

Organic Urbanism Encourages Community, Embraces Nature

Organic Urbanism Encourages Community, Embraces Nature

The pandemic has us focusing more on the criteria for choosing a city, a neighborhood and a home. It comes down to aesthetics, economics and future happiness — the foundation of organic urbanism. Aesthetics drive the economics of a neighborhood and a home. The health of a city and neighborhood contributes to the happiness and...

Continue Reading →

Patchwork Quilt of Backyards is Dallas’ Central Park

Patchwork Quilt of Backyards is Dallas’ Central Park

In 1990, when Dallas was going through its great economic depression, it actually had a chance to have more than just backyards and trees. It had a chance to have a version of New York’s Central Park. Southland Corporation had assembled 200 acres one small lot at a time. After the devastating economic downturn, this...

Continue Reading →

Inspired Architecture Benefits Shelter in Place

Inspired Architecture Benefits Shelter in Place

Shelter in place has us focused on the characteristics of a home that makes us happy. What makes us happy in a home has not changed, but since we are spending more time in a home than ever, we are focused on what makes us happy in a home. Neighborhoods become more important during shelter...

Continue Reading →

Home Sweet Home? How Shelter in Place Changes the Way We Think About a Home

Home Sweet Home? How Shelter in Place Changes the Way We Think About a Home

The recent challenges from the coronavirus force us to shelter at home and think of our home in whole new ways. Traditionally, when a buyer looks for a house to purchase, they are usually thinking about practical and financial criteria, like the square footage cost of the investment, how much house can they afford, are...

Continue Reading →

The Characteristics of Homes People Love

The Characteristics of Homes People Love

We have all been taught that owning a home is the American dream. We know that the purchase of a home is one of life’s most significant decisions and one’s most significant design decision. (Well, maybe you have just heard that from me.) We all know America and its culture are founded on the pursuit...

Continue Reading →

Inclusive Urban Growth: Dilute the Strong or Fortify the Weak Neighborhoods

Inclusive Urban Growth: Dilute the Strong or Fortify the Weak Neighborhoods

As cities increasingly become enclaves for the rich and reservations for the poor, the debate rages on how to create inclusive urban growth to make cities less economically segregated and more vibrant. In Dallas, the Trinity River gives a geographic definition to the high income and low-income neighborhoods, dividing the historically prosperous northern half of...

Continue Reading →

Architect Reinterprets Location

Architect Reinterprets Location

What Ron Wommack and his client realized was this rather dowdy spur of houses on very high ground adjacent to an abandoned railroad track would soon be a site overlooking the Santa Fe Trail, a running, walking, bicycling trail from White Rock Lake to Fair Park. What was a lesser street now became a very...

Continue Reading →

Backyard Rental House/Granny Flat Zoning Threatens Trees, Breezes, Birds and Neighborhoods

Backyard Rental House/Granny Flat Zoning Threatens Trees, Breezes, Birds and Neighborhoods

The Dallas city manager and housing director are proposing a devastating blanket zoning change: allowing ADUs (additional dwelling units), better known as granny flats, actually backyard rental houses, in single-family zoned neighborhoods. This change would allow a 44-foot wide by 30-foot tall rental house to be built on the back of a standard 50‑foot wide...

Continue Reading →

Adding Density Destroys Neighborhoods One House at a Time

Adding Density Destroys Neighborhoods One House at a Time

Density is the Holy Grail of New Urbanism, from creating new zoning for granny flats, rooming houses, townhouses, duplexes, fourplexes and backyard two-story rental houses in established neighborhoods to encouraging dense mixed use development on undeveloped or redeveloped land. The advantage of urban density and the idyllic effect of density has been the battle cry...

Continue Reading →

Strongest Property Rights Mayor Was Also Strongest Preservation Mayor

Strongest Property Rights Mayor Was Also Strongest Preservation Mayor

I fondly remember preservation/property rights mayor Robert Folsom, who died on January 24 at age 89. Mayor Folsom was also the strongest proponent of the neighborhood’s preservation request for single-family zoning and to become a historic district.

Continue Reading →

  • Architecturally Significant Homes – DougNewby.com
  • Follow Blog – DouglasNewby.com
  • Contact
  • Organic Urbanism

Footer

Douglas Newby – Thought Leader, Author, and Neighborhood Advocate

I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Organic Urbanism and how cities will thrive if they embrace freedom, beauty and opportunity. Cities that evolve in response to peoples natural rhythms of life while celebrating nature, vibrancy and safety, will flourish. If you have an interest in Organic Urbanism or finding a home that will make you happy in one of the finest neighborhoods, please give me a call me at 214.522.1000.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Phone
  • YouTube

The #1 Realtor For Architecturally Significant Homes

Douglas Newby is a national award-winning realtor, author and urbanist who provides a fascinating way forward for the aesthetics, economics and health of cities. He provides insights on how to nurture our cities. Douglas Newby recognizes that despite a city’s robust reputation, they are fragile.

His success in neighborhood revitalization, architectural preservation and rezoning have given him the knowledge in and experience of the fluid dynamics of a city, the surges and declines.

Douglas Newby’s work as a Real Estate Broker includes selling the least expensive home in Dallas and the most expensive home in Dallas, which deepens his sense of what homeowners and residents desire in a neighborhood and a city. His TEDx talk Homes That Make Us Happy forecast what people are now looking for in a home and a neighborhood. The navigation bar at the top of the page will take you to his Architecturally Significant Homes website.

Follow or Subscribe for Insights from Dallas Real Estate Broker Douglas Newby

Douglas Newby provides insights and interprets neighborhoods, real estate, architecture, and the market, when other agents provide ubiquitous statistics.

Follow on Instagram Follow Blog - DouglasNewby.com Architecturally Significant Homes - DougNewby.com

douglasnewby

Jim Young, 40th employee of EDS, is presented firs Jim Young, 40th employee of EDS, is presented first ever Texas Business Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award and given tribute by Morton Meyerson. In fact, Dallas icon Morton Meyerson, the 57th employee that became the EDS President and CEO, gave the finest and most important personal and historical tribute I have heard. Morton Meyerson said he had never told Jim Young this before, but when he arrived at EDS, which was only about two years old, it was a cold, stiff organization still trying to get established, where he felt out of place. Jim, with his elegant, warm, inclusive and supportive sense of humor, allowed him to survive and thrive at EDS. He credited Jim Young with creating a company-wide atmosphere of humanity and opportunity for the thousands of employees around the world. Pictured here are his wife, Carole Young, who has also made an incredible impact on Dallas and Texas, with even a Texas prison named after her; and Dale Petroskey, the President and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, who wrote a definitive LinkedIn post on Jim receiving this award. Dale is a good example of the incredibly successful people in Jim Young’s orbit that include Jim as a mentor, friend and inspiration, as I do. Jim Young has always placed his family (who have all been incredibly successful, including his daughter Kelly Stoetzel, who headed the TED conferences for several years and selected the TED speakers for 15 years, and his son Jim Young who received a Master’s Degree at University of Cambridge and started his own successful business) first, and treated those young and old around the world as if they were family – Jim was always incredibly interested, and generous with his thoughts, guidance and encouragement. The world is a better place because of Jim Young and everyone that knows Jim Young has benefitted. Thank you Jim! *Orbit of Jim Young
#JimYoung #CaroleYoung #DalePetroskey #OrbitOfJimYoung #Dallas #TexasBusinessHallOfFame #Mentor #Leader #Inspiration @TexasBusinessHallOfFame
Crosstown Expressway connecting Interstate Highway Crosstown Expressway connecting Interstate Highway 30 to Central Expressway was imminent. Its dedicated path included Munger Boulevard as it was supposed to cut through a dozen Old East Dallas historic neighborhoods. Before the Trinity Toll Road proposal, before the Klyde Warren deck park, and before any movement to reduce or eliminate roads, the homeowners in Old East Dallas did what seemed impossible – they stopped Crosstown Expressway. Crosstown Expressway was eliminated and Munger Boulevard actually had two lanes of traffic removed to enable a landscaped median to be installed reflecting the Munger Brothers original development. Further, Collett and Fitzhugh, that had been one-way couplets, were returned to two-way residential streets interspersed with stop signs. In a neighborhood where a highway had been planned, high speed through-traffic streets were returned to residential streets. The transportation travesty of Crosstown was transformed to a corridor of nature. Please note the 20 miles per hour school zone sign allowing children to walk to school. *History of a Highway
#MungerBoulevard #CrosstownExpressway #Fitzhugh #Collett #MungerPlace #OldEastDallas #HistoricNeighborhoods #DallasHistory #Dallas #DallasNeighborhoods
Whenever I go to London I try to stop by The Court Whenever I go to London I try to stop by The Courtauld Institute of Art. It was the first London museum I visited years ago on my initial visit to London. The Courtauld resonated with me for many reasons. I love the architecture. Sir William Chambers in 1775 designed the building that replaced the original 1552 home of the Duke of Somerset. The paintings were predominately lit by natural sunlight in a salon-like setting of dark wood floors, enormous ceilings and tall windows. In the first room on one wall was A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Edouard Manet. I had first seen this Manet painting when it was on loan at the Chicago Art Institute for a blockbuster exhibition. Ropes were placed eight feet away from the painting enclosed in glass. People were standing three deep. On my first visit to The Courtauld, when I approached an almost empty room, I asked the guard how close could I get to the painting. The guard replied, “Oh, about six inches.” How can you not love a museum that has a fabulous ceremonial staircase, a living room/salon setting for a lovely Manet that one can view at an unhurried pace from any distance. On my last visit right before the pandemic, The Courtauld was shut down for renovation. This trip was my first return. The building and approach is still magical. It brought back memories of seeing then Prince Charles just a few feet away getting into his Jaguar as he departed the museum. The interior of the renovated museum is now opened up with art lighting and light wood floors. Paintings share spaces with several other paintings on the extended walls. The renovation was necessary. It now has a much better event space for fundraisers, private dinners, events and parties. The galleries are better lit and feel more up to date. However, it reminds me of why homeowners go back to their original home and wonder why it has been changed. On this visit, Chinese nationals for their London university art class, asked me to write my feelings on a photocopy of the painting. I wrote “highlighted and hidden.” *The Courtauld Update
#TheCourthauld #SomersetHouse #London #ABarAtTheFolies-Bergere #ArtMuseum #Art #Architecture #History
Builders use staircases trying to reflect, in thei Builders use staircases trying to reflect, in their traditional spec homes, the grandeur of great European houses. Bill McKenzie, an editorial board member for the Dallas Morning News in the 1990s, asked me, for an editorial he was writing, for examples of the difference in “Big Hair Houses,” starting to dominate Dallas streets, with architect designed homes. As always, Bill asks thoughtful questions that had me reviewing homes with this question in mind. I provided examples including: architects used real bookshelves in the library off the front door, while builders might use bookshelf wallpaper. Where builders would often stack 16 inches of ceiling molding, architects might design 8-inch moldings - more expensive to create but more elegant. However, what I most remember were these Big Hair houses in University Park in Dallas on standard size lots often had two staircases just as one might find in a European estate home. The difference was that the two staircases in Big Hair builder homes, only a room or two away from each other, were almost identical in size, rise and treads. While in architect designed estate homes, the primary staircase was much grander and the servant stairs were steep and narrow indicating a hierarchy of stairs. The best example of this in Dallas is the Crespi Estate, designed by architect Maurice Fatio in 1939. In London, I was reminded of this in the Somerset House now housing The Courtauld Institute of Art. The primary staircase is elegant and inviting, making it enjoyable to walk to the third-floor galleries. As you slide through the images, you will see the secondary stairs, steep, narrow and forbidding. Generic builders often build spec homes just for show; architects design homes for show and purpose. *Hierarchy of Stairs
#Stairs #TheCourtauld #Architect #ArchitectDesign #EstateHomes #BuilderHomes #HierarchyOfStairs #London #Historic #SomersetHouse
London light, uninterrupted by tall buildings, ill London light, uninterrupted by tall buildings, illuminates the architectural detail and relief of London’s significant historic buildings. Luminescence prevails even on damp days. A blue sky is a welcome change in the monotony of a grey London landscape. Bright lights and Christmas lights add ornamentation to architecturally significant buildings already heavily ornamented with stone carvings and architectural detail. I have decided London light is more profound because it is distributed in a judicial way, somehow only illuminating the best historically significant buildings, leaving the flat-faced generic ones cast in dull shadows. Even the glitz of New Bond Street has a patina of glimmer. *London Light
#Light #Shadow #Luminescence #London #ArchitecturallySignificant #HistoricallySignificant #NewBond #Historic #Architecture #Historic #LondonLandmarks
Trees announce a neighborhood. One immediately rec Trees announce a neighborhood. One immediately recognizes Highland Park as the most expensive neighborhood in Dallas because of the abundant trees that grace the architecturally significant homes. One cannot see the good police and fire departments or good teachers, but one can immediately enjoy the trees lit by landscape lighting in the summer or Christmas lights in December. When Munger Place was at its nadir, the few artists and urban pioneer homeowners in the neighborhood planted parkway trees – the first sign of revitalization.  New curbs, sidewalks, antique streetlights replacing telephone poles and lamps created additional confidence for new homeowners returning divided up renthouses back to single family homes. I grew up with tree-tunneled streets in Hinsdale and visualized the same for Munger Place. Now, every season I marvel when I ride my bike through this Munger Place tunnel of color – bright green buds in spring, deep dark greens in summer, and yellow, oranges and reds in the fall. *Tunnel of Color
#Tree #ParkwayTrees #MungerPlace #Revitalization #Dallas #DallasNeighborhood #HighlandPark #TreeTunnel #autumncolors
For 25 years, the Dallas Architecture Forum has fo For 25 years, the Dallas Architecture Forum has focused on Dallas, regional, national, and international architects and their architectural influence on Dallas. The patron party and talk at this Highland Park Residence created a brilliant focus on the current good architecture that is being created in Highland Park and Dallas. Here was an event on architecture for architects, patrons, and aficionados of architecture. National award-winning architects, AlterStudio Architecture, based in Austin, Texas, designed this modern home. National award-winning landscape architect David Hocker designed the landscape. It was exhilarating to see this modern home as it revealed itself as one moved through the gardens and home. A generous Talk by the participants provoked additional insight. Equally exciting was seeing many of the very best Dallas architects admiring and enjoying the design of this modern residence. The reason Dallas has the best collection of 20th and 21st century architecturally significant homes is because of the cross-pollination of architectural ideas from Dallas, regional, and national architects. The Dallas Architecture Forum patron home showcased this collegiality and talent.
*Architectural Focus
@DallasArchForum @AlterStudio @HockerDesign #DallasArchitectureForum #AlterStudio #Dallas @hockerdesign #HighlandPark #ModernHome #ModernArchitecture #Architecture #ArchitecturallySignificant #Architect #ArchitecturallySignificantHome #LandscapeArchitect
What a great idea for artist Julie England and art What a great idea for artist Julie England and artist Mary Vernon to show off their new studio space with an exhibition of their work along with that of three other artists. Five talented female artists in this delightful space at 135 Howell Street in the Design District invoked memories of my favorite gallery for years, the DW Gallery.  Originally, the Dallas Women’s Co-op on McKinney and Hall Streets, this gallery had fabulous exhibitions introducing the work of many female artists, and also in group shows many of my favorite male artists, like the Tremont artists James Surls, David McManaway, and David Bates. Congratulations to Julie England, Mary Vernon, Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, Lin Medlin, Cassandra Black.
*Show Precedes Studio
@eskiedal @julieenglandart @nishikisugawarabeda.art #eskiedal #julieenglandart #art #artist #Dallas #ArtStudio #DallasDesignDistrict #ArtShow
I have grown up with home tours. Since graduating I have grown up with home tours. Since graduating from SMU, I have attended early Swiss Avenue home tours, the oldest Dallas home tour; had my home on the first Munger Place home tour; organized a tour of homes representing 14 neighborhoods; have been a sponsor of Highland Park and Preservation Park Cities home tours; and helped support numerous other home tours in a number of capacities.  However, the only home tour I make a point of going to every year is the AIA Dallas Home Tour. My thought is that every home tour should have a greater emphasis on architecture and how it relates to the neighborhood. On the AIA Dallas Home Tour, one often has a chance to meet the Dallas architect, the homebuilder, the landscape architect, interior designer, and maybe even the owners of these recently built architecturally significant Dallas modern homes. The Dallas AIA Patron home is always an extra treat. This year one had the chance to say hello to the owner, Cricket Griffin, pictured with architect Paul Jankowski, in addition to the modern homebuilder Larry Hartman, who is also pictured. Thank you, Dallas AIA, for helping us learn more about architecture and the neighborhoods like where this home is located, one of my favorites, Turtle Creek Park. *My Favorite Tour
#AIADallasTourOfHomes #DallasAIA #AIADallas @HomeTourDallas #HomeTourDallas #DallasHomeTour #Architect #ModernHome #TurtleCreekPark #Dallas #Architecture #ArchitecturallySignificant #ArchitecturallySignificantHome #DallasNeighborhood #KatyTrailNeighborhood
Former DMA Director Rick Brettell once said to me Former DMA Director Rick Brettell once said to me that it is the small museums that people generally mention as their favorite museum. I hear from so many people that love visiting the Nasher for a variety of reasons. I also find it appealing for many reasons. Often the Nasher has extraordinary exhibitions, dynamic lectures, and a variety of vibrant, casual, or serene experiences. One might see friends, acquaintances, or make new friends. However, what is remarkable is that even if the exhibit one finds rather dull, or the other visitors uninspiring, the space is supreme. The architecture, space, and setting in the Dallas Arts District in downtown Dallas makes every visit to the Nasher joyful. 
*Nasher Always Beckons
#Nasher #Garden #SculptureGarden #Dallas @NasherSculptureCenter #DallasArtsDistrict
Early this fall, I visited Chicago and New York on Early this fall, I visited Chicago and New York on short trips. Regardless of the reason for the visit, I always go to the museums in these great cities. This year, on my return travel to Dallas, I immediately went to the retrospective opening of Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances. Normally, seeing art when traveling out of town rejuvenates me. This time my travel back to Dallas and seeing this exhibition refreshed me. The paintings were visually appealing, maybe it was the hint of fauvist influences that I liked. Learning about the artist was interesting, and seeing Dallas art patrons is always intoxicating. We are lucky to have the Dallas Museum of Art and so many collectors and patrons in Dallas.
*Dallas Travels
#DMA #DallasMuseumOfArt @DallasMuseumArt #MatthewWong #Art #Dallas
I don’t think of myself as a sucker for a parade I don’t think of myself as a sucker for a parade until I hear the sounds of marching bands, enthusiastic crowds, and then I begin anticipating the always joyful surprises of a parade. This Columbus Day Parade (Indigenous Peoples’ Day) included the Cadillac Club’s decades of vintage Cadillacs, including one with the horn from The Godfather film. The dog riding on the back of the motorcycle reminded me of my Texas State Fair Midway bulldog that I adorned with the World War II helmet I acquired as a four-year-old.  And where but in New York in an Italian parade would one see a cement mixer rolling by? 
*Love A Parade
#ColumbusDayParade #NYC #NewYorkCity #Parade #IndigenousPeoplesDay
New York seemed to be longing for a return of a sa New York seemed to be longing for a return of a safer New York City. The New York City Police Chief  was walking  in the Columbus Day Parade, populated by many first responders. The vintage police cars reminded me of a TCM noir film review.  New York City sure feels safe on a sunny day watching a parade along Central Park and the architecturally significant homes on the Upper East Side.
*NYC Retro Safety
#ColumbusDayParade #NYC #NewYorkCity #Parade #vintagepolicecar
Historic homes have a certain grace that is missin Historic homes have a certain grace that is missing from new developments. Architecturally significant homes create an aesthetic elegance in a neighborhood. Brick-paved streets root the neighborhood in another era that seems almost unimaginable. As a young boy, the streets paved in brick meant more than a bumpy bicycle ride. These brick-paved streets created weight and substance to the homes I was riding by. This 7600 square foot Richardson-Romanesque style home at 306 E. 1st St. in Hinsdale’s Robbins Park Historic District was built in 1898. Its size and impressive architectural style expresses its prominence, as does the Richardson-Romanesque style Old Red Courthouse built in Dallas in 1892. This is another example of how, through similar architectural design and materials, early Dallas and Hinsdale expressed their aesthetic achievement and substance. When I see vestiges of streetcar rails in the Munger Place Historic District, it is almost like running across an arrowhead at a creek’s edge.  Growing up around brick-paved streets provided an even slower pace to a village that already had a peaceful gait. *Brick-Paved Street
 
#BrickPavedStreets #HistoricHomes #ArchitecturallySignificantHomes #HistoricDistrict #MungerPlace #RobbinsParkHistoricDistrict #Hinsdale #RichardsonRomanesque #OldRedCourthouse #Dallas #Architecture
I have often attributed my inspiration and interes I have often attributed my inspiration and interest in architecture, neighborhoods and community to my hometown. The architectural and aesthetic backdrop, when I was delivering newspapers in grade school, or while walking or riding my bike through the neighborhoods of Hinsdale, made an incredible impression on me. Growing up on two ends of Park Avenue, the homes I passed were often a bit older than those in the Munger Place Historic District, but many were of the same age and reflected much of the same style. An architectural cadence was set in my mind and an aesthetic example of a lovely neighborhood has influenced me ever since. Here are a few of the homes I walked or rode my bike by every day. *Architectural Cadence
 
#ArchitecturalCadence #HistoricHomes #Neighborhoods #Inspiration #Hometown #RobbinsParkHistoricDistrict  #Hinsdale
#MungerPlace #HistoricDistrict #Architecture
What could make one more self-conscious than sitti What could make one more self-conscious than sitting on the back of a convertible on a parade route? Actually, it turned out to be a blast. Here at the loading docks of the parade, I take position. I found comfort in verbiage – being able to have a running conversation with those lining the streets in the school colors was great fun. Coming upon almost 100 of my high school classmates grouped together in the center of the village having enthusiastic fun was a thrill. Many there also attended SMU, making it even better.
 
#HomecomingParade #SchoolColors #HighSchool #hinsdale
There is something about a hometown honor that all There is something about a hometown honor that allows one to also honor one’s classmates, friends and hometown.  Convening on the football field brought back high school memories of serving as pep rally chairman, announcing the Homecoming Queen, organizing festivities for the weekend, and escorting one of the young women across the field at the Homecoming game. Returning, I enjoyed a fun weekend with incredibly successful, talented and generous people. *Hometown Honor
 
#Homecoming #Honor #hinsdale #hinsdale
I loved growing up in a village, where the Georgi I loved growing up in a village,  where the Georgian revival style Village Hall, designed by architect Edwin H Clark in 1927 as a memorial for those killed in World War I , had a bell that marked the passage of time with the number of rings, that drifted across the neighborhood, equaling the hour of the day. Every half-hour was identified by a single ring coming from the Village Hall bell tower.  My early childhood home was walking distance to the library which was located within Village Hall and was across the street from the shops and stores of this tree-lined village. Village Hall was also where they crowned  Miss Hinsdale, who went on to be Miss Illinois and runner up to Miss America. This environment created my first sense of vibrancy and nature – the essential attributes of my favorite places. *Village Hall
 
#VillageHall #BellTower #Neighborhood #Home #architect #Edwin H Clark #memorial building #Hinsdale
I have taken hundreds of architecture photographs I have taken hundreds of architecture photographs of the splendid Art Deco buildings at the State Fair of Texas, but only when I took a photograph of architect Cliff Welch, FAIA, at the fair on opening day, did the backdrop of 1936 Art Deco buildings and fair goers look like an architect-generated computer rendering of a park and people. I think Apple iphones have become so smart, that with face recognition the camera reads that the shot is of an architect and immediately goes into an architectural rendering mode. It was fun to see Cliff and know that since his office is across the street from Fair Park, he can treat the State Fair as his personal neighborhood cafeteria, like on opening day when he is picking up a corny dog for his wife. *Architect at Opening
 
#Architect #Architecture #ArtDeco #StateFairOfTexas #ArchitecturalRendering #Dallas #CornyDog #Neighborhood
Since attending SMU, along with the livestock comp Since attending SMU, along with the livestock competition, the midway of the State Fair of Texas has always been a fun excursion. My favorite was the classic midway game that required knocking over three large fuzzy-faced cats mounted on  popsicle stick targets requiring all three throws being successful. Some hinges were sticky and a direct hit would not knock over a cat. The carnies’ perfectly timed distracting shouts added to the adrenaline. Players would wind up like Nolan Ryan. I used a soft quick dart style throw, lining up directly in front of my targets rather than making cross-throws. Years of playing allowed me to become so proficient that to show off I would throw balls simultaneously with my left and right hand, knocking over two cats at a time. Alas, a few years before the pandemic, the game was removed that had been played at fairs across the country for a century. Still the plate throw remained where two plates placed close together provided a tempting target, but the bull’s eye to break the two required plates was the size of a quarter. Negotiating with carnies was part of the fun. I love rules and always verified them ahead of time so none of my successful throws would be disqualified, and better yet, some of my unsuccessful throws might be counted as a winner. My favorite rule was a chipped or cracked plate counted as a broken plate. Carnies often will turn a chipped plate upside down and treat it as an unbroken plate. On a close throw I would always ask the carny to pull the plate out to see if I chipped it, resulting in me being a winner. After several years, this game also disappeared from the midway. For the first time in many years I returned to the the midway on opening day and saw a new plate throw that required four broken plates on four throws. There is nothing more nostalgic than a carny barking out EVERYONE IS A WINNER as he hands you a stuffed animal. *Everyone is a Winner
 
#StateFairOfTexas #Midway #EveryoneIsAWinner @statefairoftx
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Architecturally Significant Homes® and Significant Homes® and Architecturally Significant® are registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Text, Images, Photography - Copyright © 1994–2023 Douglas Newby. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Douglas Newby. Douglas Newby & Associates | 25 Highland Park Village #100-592, Dallas, TX 75205 | (214) 522-1000. Text, Images, Photography - Copyright © 1994–2023 Douglas Newby. All Rights Reserved. Website design by webplant.media