How do I know?
I asked him.
How would you describe your level of participation in confirming styles on the inventory, and how many you may have confirmed in total – Julie Broberg to Willis Winters, email, August 30, 2023.
Summer looked to me primarily for assistance/guidance on Lakewood residences that were not easily classifiable as to their style–the “difficult” houses, in other words. As a former Lakewood resident, architect and historian, I was very familiar with the neighborhood and the architects that designed homes there. I provided her with attributions of the homes designed not only by Charles Dilbeck and C.D. Hutsell, but lesser-known architects such as George Marble, Luther Sadler, Howard Meyer, E.G. Hamilton and others.
– Willis Winters, email, August 30, 2023
I was thinking about the three houses I asked about in my earlier email. Your analysis was so revealing. Could I hire you to look at the other 273 houses other houses? I can hear you laughing at that but I am serious. You wouldn’t be expected to produce paragraphs of explanation for all 273 houses like in your letter. Just a list with a sentence or two where you find it necessary. Your guidance would be so appreciated. – Julie Broberg, September 20, 2023
So I Hired Him to Do the Inventory
Why? No one knows how the CD affects them until they know what kind of house they live in.
Hi Julie-
I would be very interested in doing this and I appreciate your offer to engage me as a consultant/architectural historian. I do have a consulting practice in Mineral Wells and have gotten quite busy – within the boundaries of “retirement.” So “hiring” me would be the only way I could justify investing the time, given my other clients and projects.
I would like to confirm the specific assignment with you and the final deliverables. I would also need to understand how you would use the information that I provide to you. Once I have this background from you and a full understanding of the scope of work, I can provide you with a very simple fee proposal, which will be based on an hourly rate of $95.00 per hour.
Perhaps we can schedule a call to discuss? I am open tomorrow and Friday.
Regards,
Willis
On August 30, 2023, I asked Willis Winters about three houses in particular:
I am writing because we live in the proposed CD-2 expansion boundaries, and I have a question for you. The attached inventory of homes was submitted to the City to initiate the conservation district expansion process last year. 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:
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.”
Related Topics
City Presents Manipulated Data From Survey
Did the Committee Manipulate the Inventory? YES.
Examples of Neighborhood Committee’s Manipulation of the Inventory