Did the Neighborhood Committee Manipulate the Inventory? Yes.

Did the Neighborhood Committee Manipulate the Inventory?

YES.

How do I know?

By asking Willis Winters.

Email from Julie Broberg to Willis Winters, August 30 to Willis Winters about three houses labeled Spanish Eclectic by the Neighborhood Committee:

During Neighborhood Meetings, we were told that you verified the listed style designations for all of the 275 homes on the inventory before submission to the City. It turns out that the City is correcting the inventory on a number of the style designations, so we thought your participation in verifying any styles was likely more limited. I am certain you wouldn’t have confirmed the below homes as Spanish Eclectic, for example:

Willis Winters answered:

“Summer did ask me to analyze the three houses with photos contained in your email. These houses feature continuous second-floor balconies without support columns, and should be classified as the Monterey Style, which originated in California and is often referred to as the Monterey Colonial Style–a definite subset of the Spanish Colonial Style. However, as Monterey Colonial moved eastward across the United States away from California, the style morphed and transitioned to accommodate itself in different cultures and architectural traditions. The three houses you sent me are good examples of how builders and architects in Dallas adopted the Monterey Colonial and made it more “Texan.” One could argue that these houses can be traced back to the Monterey Colonial and are therefore descended from Spanish Colonial, but that does not make them Spanish Eclectic from a stylistic perspective. There is nothing Spanish about them–except, perhaps for the arch above a window that is outlined in dentillated brick. That is the only stylistic remnant of Spanish influence I can see, and it is not enough to classify the entire house as Spanish. Dentillated brick used like this would never be found on a Spanish house. So, if you need a stylistic modifier to “Monterey” I would offer “”Monterey Ranch” on the first and third houses, and for lack of a better description simple “Monterey” on the second house (the one with dentillated brick). These three houses are not “Spanish Eclectic.”