Does the City lack the expertise to recognize French Norman?

Number of French Normans in the Expansion Area: 20

The City and Neighborhood have mislabeled French Norman houses as Tudor or French Eclectic because they do not have the expertise to recognize a French Norman house, but this is not okay. The City needs to hire someone who does if they do not have the expertise like Willis Winters, the architect and architectural historian cited in meetings. Mr. Wintes is an expert on Charles Dilbeck who specialized in French Norman houses, and, in fact, is writing a book on Charles Dilbeck. Please check out the Dilbeck Conservancy for more information on his upcoming book.

Oh Wait, The Neighborhood Committee Did Say Willis Winters Went Over the Entire Inventory

“When Willis Winters went over the Inventory, which he did …” – Summer Loveland, Head of the Neighborhood Committee, Neighborhood Meeting 10.

Did Willis Winters Go Over the Entire Inventory?

No.

How do I know Willis Winters did not go over the Entire Inventory?

I asked him.

My Time with Willis Winters

I spent some time with Willis Winters. We created the Venn Diagram below.

Mr. Winters and I also cataloged every house in the Expansion area. I took photos and he identified every house with the expertise this project deserved from the beginning. He then created a Report on Residences for the Lakewood CD2 Expansion Area. This report cost $2,990, which is a cost the Neighborhood Committee or City should bear.

Is French Norman Contributing?

No. The City never gave us the choice of French Revival or French Norman during the 15 Neighborhood Meetings. We were only given French Eclectic as a choice because it matches the current CD2.

This is pure laziness because French Norman falls outside of French Eclectic and is therefore Non-Contributing, and the owners of French Norman houses should find this a problem.

But the houses are mislabeled in some other Contributing Style, so what’s the big deal?

It is a big deal to be mislabeled. Two styles will always differ in their details. Over the time, the essential elements of French Tudor style will erode as the City insists that a house become more Tudor, for instance. Roof construction, roof pitch, window placement, gable construction, half-timbering and field stone that make French Norman houses so charming will disappear as the City uses its Permit process to bully these homes into a different lane.

Losing French Norman elements is the OPPOSITE of conservation.

How Could This Problem Have Been Avoided?

  • The Application (Determination of Eligibility) should require an Inventory of houses that is correct and fact-checked by a qualified expert.
  • The City should never approve an application in an area that is only 50% contributing, like ours is. The average percentage of contributing houses in the other Dallas CDs is 91%. T
  • The City staff should be prohibited from presenting unverified information in Neighborhood Meetings so neighbors can make informed decisions. I requested corrections to the Inventory multiple times, yet the Chief Planner presented the erroneous information in Meetings 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

How does French Norman differ from Tudor?

French Norman houses resemble Tudor houses, but you can identify a French Norman house if you see:

  • A mansard roof.
  • The front gable is not steeply pitched.
  • Windows that interrupt the roofline.
  • A roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope.
  • Compared to Tudors, French Normans display a:
    • More prevalent use of fieldstone than Tudors, and a,
    • More prevalent use of alf-timbering than Tudors.

Houses Identified as French Norman by Willis Winters.

6800 Lakewood. Mansard roof, fieldstone, half-timbering, front gable not steeply pitched. Not a Dilbeck as on the City’s inventory. This 1934 house is attributed to George Marble. During our conversations, Willis Winters noted that this house is the premier example of French Norman Style in the city of Dallas.

6802 Avalon: Mansard roof, front gable not steeply pitched, fieldstone, half-timbering.

6820 Avalon, architect Charles Dilbeck, 1939.

6834 Lakeshore: Front gable not steeply pitched.

6926 Lakeshore: The roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope. windows that interrupt the roofline, fieldstone, and half-timbering.

6956 Lakeshore: Mansard roof, front gable not steeply pitched, fieldstone, half-timbering.

7000 Lakeshore: Mansard roof, the roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope, fieldstone, half-timbering.

7012 Lakeshore: Mansard roof, the roof over front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope, front gable is not steeply pitched, fieldstone,

7028 Lakeshore: The roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope.

7034 Lakeshore: This is an old picture, but this house is hard to capture. The front gable is not steeply pitched, a roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope.

6906 Lakewood: Mansard roof, you can see that windows interrupt the roofline very clearly on this house and roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope, the front gable is not steeply pitched, half-timbering.

6909 Lakewood: Field Stone, the front gable is not steeply pitched.

6920 Lakewood: Mansard roof, windows that interrupt the roofline.

6952 Lakewood: Mansard roof, front gable is not steeply pitched, fieldstone, half-timbering.

6855 Tokalon: Dead give-away that this is French Norman: the roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope. This homeowner asked what style his house was, and the Head of the Neighborhood Committee responded, “Tudor,” which the City didn’t correct. This demonstrates an underlying ignorance of the French Norman style.

6918 Tokalon: The front gable is not steeply pitched, half-timbering.

6964 Tokalon: The front gable is not steeply pitched, the roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope.

7040 Tokalon: Windows interrupting the roofline, front gable not steeply pitched.

7044 Tokalon: Windows that interrupt the roofline, roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope, half-timbering.

7048 Tokalon: the roof over the front porch is an attached shed or extension of the slope, half-timbering.

Related Content

Home

CD2 vs. Expansion Details

Look Up Effects of CD2 on My Home

Architectural Styles in the Draft Ordinance