Claremont Apartments

The Claremont Apartments Building at 4636 Ross Avenue is a Mission Revival-style, multi-family, domestic building that was constructed about 1924. Exceptionally intact and well-maintained, it is representative of the numerous flats and apartment complexes that developed in East Dallas in the 1920s. A number of apartment buildings on Gaston and Swiss avenues are included in the accompanying East and South Dallas Multiple Property nomination, and one, Viola Courts (4845 Swiss Avenue), has already been listed in the National Register (1984). Perhaps none so exemplifies the Mission Revival style as the Claremont Apartments Building, which is also nominated to the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level. The Claremont Apartments Building is associated with the historic context, The Development of East and South Dallas: 1872-1945.

Ross Avenue, in East Dallas, was still a prestigious thoroughfare of large Classical Revival-style residences built shortly after the turn of the century when 2- and 3-story apartment buildings began to make their appearance on this and other principal streetcar lines in the late 1910s and 1920s. In 1922, there were only five residences in the 4600 block of Ross Avenue, but a number of large houses between Peak and Fitzhugh avenues listed several occupants per house in the city directory. The division of large older houses for rooming or boarding arrangements was not only the beginning of a trend away from single-family occupancy in East Dallas, but also the precursor of modern apartment buildings. As families moved further into the suburbs, close-in neighborhoods, like those in East Dallas, became havens for re-development for multi-family use. Apartment buildings were popular for small families and single residents who used the network of streetcar lines that crisscrossed the region to commute to work in downtown offices. Modern apartment buildings also appealed to businessmen and wage earners who did not have the time or inclination to maintain a house and yard and who preferred the convenience and efficiency of apartment life. Apartment dwellers also had easy access to shops, theaters, restaurants, and other activities afforded by their proximity to the city. Residents of the Claremont Apartments, for instance, were located directly on one commuter streetcar that fed into the major crosstown lines on Bryan and Peak avenues. At the nearby Bryan-Peak commercial node which developed along with the apartment buildings in the 1920s, area residents could enjoy a movie, dine at various restaurants, or go to the Shadowland dance hall. The overall perception of apartment living, at that time, was one of sophistication, an image reinforced by motion pictures of the era, and the Claremont Apartments, on prestigious Ross Avenue, were particularly stylish and modern.

By 1925, there were two major apartment buildings in the 4600 block of Ross Avenue, including the 16-unit Casa Grande and the 4-unit Claremont Apartments Building. Single-family residency on the street was waning with several houses vacant or occupied by multiple tenants. Those who resided in Claremont during its first decade were most likely to be married and employed as business managers. For example, in 1925, the first year the Claremont was listed in the city directory, tenants included the proprietor of the Rainbow Pharmacy and the manager of The Little Theater, both at the Bryan-Peak intersection, the manager of a beauty parlor and the manager of the local Studebaker Corporation headquarters. Tenants in 1931, at the beginning of the Great Depression, included the president of Swan Furniture Company, the resident manager of the Claremont Apartments, an agent for Tilton and Keeler Manufacturers and the wholesale manager of the Studebaker Corporation. Clearly, the Claremont Apartments housed a well-to-do clientele.

Today, the Mission Revival-style Claremont Apartments Building retains its original design and architectural features to a remarkable degree. The building is in good condition and functions as an office for the Texas Youth Council. The Claremont Apartments Building is one of the most outstanding local examples of Mission-influenced apartment design and is worthy of preservation and recognition. Although many of East Dallas' older and more important thoroughfares have comparably sized multi-family domestic buildings, the Claremont Apartments Building is particularly noteworthy because of its high degree of craftsmanship, detailing, and historic integrity. Moreover, the Mission Revival style is an architectural expression that is somewhat rare in this section of Dallas, and the Claremont Apartments Building is one of the few multi-family domestic buildings to display this type of ornamentation