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Thursday, May 8, 2014

More Dallas demolition

FD Luxe recently ran an article entitled "Paradise lost: The most exciting home in Dallas is gone. A preservationist and a photographer have questions." It was about the demolition of the extraordinary Kelley House, designed in 1956 by Jim Wiley of the Oglesby Group Architects and built by Dorothea and Bartram Kelley.

According to the article, at the time the house was built, it "reflected Bartram’s interest in new and innovative materials of the time; he was a pioneer in helicopter design and chief engineer for Bell Helicopter. Dorothea was an accomplished violist and for 54 years the artistic director of the Dallas Chamber Music Society."

Telephone poles painted white were the support columns, and builder-grade sliding doors stacked two deep formed the 16-foot glass walls that provided a beautiful view of a creek and natural spring-fed pond. The living room could hold more than 100 guests for performances of some of the most accomplished musicians in the world.

Dorothea died in 2009 at the age of 103, and the house fell into disrepair. In spite of receiving a Texas Society of Architects award in 1963 and a 25 Year Award from the Dallas Chapter of the AIA in 1998, the house was demolished after being on the market for two years. The photographs in the article were taken just months before the house was destroyed.

To read the opinions of preservationist Mark Doty about the lack of value placed on mid-century architecture in Dallas and photographer Nan Coulter's ideas about how the house could have been saved, read the full article in FD Luxe.

From fdluxe.com















10 comments:

  1. Strange...about a month's worth of comments just disappeared. Has that every happened to any of you?

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    1. Make that 'ever." I can't just ignore typos. I'm obsessive that way. :)

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  2. No, but I did leave a comment for this post earlier today.

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    1. I know...I had responded to your comment and two others. When I saw they were gone, I looked at all my comments, and about a month's worth had disappeared into thin air. Another cyber mystery.

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  3. Look like it was an amazing home!

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    1. Considering its rich history in the Dallas music community, it seems there would have been some sort of move for it to be preserved as a small performance venue or a teaching facility.

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  4. Great house and I loved the Jacksonville house you posted last week. I have a friend who lives in Jville and sent her the link but I don't think it was her style of house at all...she has no taste! Also I wanted to tell you that I've taken a bunch of Coursera classes as well. I just love them. I just finished one myself.

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    1. That Jacksonville house looked like a great bargain, but if you don't "get" MCM, you just don't, I guess. Aren't the Coursera courses great? We may have been in some classes together. What have you taken? I've completed The Camera Never Lies, 9/11 and Its Aftermath, Social Psychology, History of Rock - Parts 1 and 2, The Kennedy Half Century, Moralities of Everyday Life and Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction, and I'm halfway through the Warhol course now. I've registered to take 4 or 5 more over the next few months.

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  5. What a loss! It could have been such a stunning and spectacular space again... If only, if only.

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    1. So true...and it could have been used to promote the arts, as the original owner intended.

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