Unwanted development is now at-risk architecture

After the Old Oak Cliff Conservation league presented its 2012 top 10 list of at-risk architecture, editor Rachel Stone noted the irony that neighbors originally didn’t want a few of the buildings they are now fighting to preserve.

No. 1 on the list is the former Humble Oil Service Station at Zang and Beckley. That building faces almost certain demise at the hands of a developer who wants to replace it with a discount beer and wine store.

In 1928 neighbors fought against the Humble station’s development. The league researched the property, and this is what they found:

Plans to turn Beckley into State Hwy. 4 to Lancaster made the spot desirable for such an enterprise, but residents residing within 300 feet of the corner were not having it. Dallas Mayor R.E. Burt vetoed the Humble application on Sept. 28, 1928. Humble filed an injunction and Judge Claude McCallum of the 101st District Court ordered a building permit issued on March 29, 1929. The judge remarked, ‘I did it because it was the law and I could not help myself.’ ”

Cannon’s Village is No. 3 on the list because its main tenant, West Davis Dental, moved to the Bishop Arts District a few years ago. It was built at Davis and Edgefield in 1923, when Winnetka Heights was a purely residential neighborhood, and neighbors did not want commercial encroachment of any kind.

The city denied builder C.S. Mitchell’s development plan, and he filed suit. “The case was largely seen as a test case for Dallas’s building ordinance that restricted the establishment of business buildings in residen- tial districts,” according to the league. Mitchell eventually won, but he designed and built the shopping center to look as much like a house as possible, and it had only one sign to announce businesses.

“With Cannon’s Village’s lovely English Tudor design, I keep imagining (hoping!) that some Harry Potter entrepreneur will turn it into Hogwarts/ Diagon Alley with a first-rate magic shop complete with classes and shows, costumes store, restaurant, etc.” —Les

“As a kid growing up in OC in the ’60s, I remember my brother Randy and I riding our bikes to Cannon’s hardware store to buy from their large selection of penny candy. The store was one of the old-fashioned hardware stores with supplies from floor to ceiling. Mr. Cannon always kept a close eye on us! Next door was Schindler’s Bakery — full of wonderful delights! Hope the English Village will always remain a part of North Oak Cliff. It really is a cool old building.” —Tina

M.

Find Stone’s full write-up, including the league’s list of at-risk architecture, at oakcliff.advocatemag.com.

Gayla Brooks Kokel writes about the former Schindler’s Bakery in Cannon’s Village in her column this month; read it on page 35.

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