National Register Listing

Dallas Fire Station No. 16

5501 Columbia Ave., Dallas, TX

Responding to dramatic growth in neighborhoods east of downtown during the early 20th century, the City of Dallas commissioned local architect H.A. Overbeck to design Dallas Fire Station No. 16 for a site at 5501 Columbia Avenue. Overbeck incorporated influences from the Prairie School and Mission Revival styles into this composition in a manner typical of contemporaneous institutional buildings in Texas. Completed in 1918, the red brick building continued to serve nearby East Dallas neighborhoods such as Munger Place (NR 1978), Peak's Suburban Addition (NR 1995) and Columbia Place into the post-World War II era. As a result, the property is nominated at the local level of significance under Criterion A in the area of Community Planning and Development and under Criterion C in the area of Architecture.

As with other Texas communities, the establishment of rail service in Dallas in 1872-73 spurred tremendous growth in the city. Activity around the intersection of the Houston and Texas Central and Texas and Pacific rail lines shifted development away from the Trinity River to an area incorporated as the City of East Dallas in 1882. In response landholders such as Junius Peak and William Gaston began subdividing their large holdings to accommodate the demand for housing in the area. Individual real estate promoters developed these subdivided tracts, concentrating their efforts along the street car network expanding during the period. Following the City of Dallas' annexation of East Dallas in 1889, lines in the East Dallas neighborhoods proliferated. Access to street car service dominated the city's pattern of evolution and growth throughout the next several decades.

The economic crash of 1893 brought an abrupt end to the suburban land boom in the area, however. Interest in developing the area would not rebound for another decade. Due in part to the lack of zoning regulations, this interruption of development patterns left East Dallas a hodgepodge of land uses. Raw agricultural land coexisted with small residential enclaves, while palatial Eastlake mansions jockeyed for position with institutional complexes. The streetcar lines spurred corridors of commercial development segregated from residential areas.

With a rebounding economy after the turn of the century, however, new ideals of neighborhood planning emerged. In 1905 R.S. Munger platted his Munger Place as a "strictly high-class residence district" bounded by Fitzhugh, Live Oak, Henderson and Columbia. Munger relied on deed restrictions to foster appropriate development and buffer property owners from unwanted intrusions into this new suburban enclave. Minimum investment requirements established the scale and materials of residences along his newly platted avenues. Discreetly placed utility services, modern paving and access to public services such as schools and churches added to the new neighborhood's appeal. Peripheral street car lines along Columbia and Bryan avenues provided access to the new suburb while keeping the associated noise and commercial development at a distance. Most residents, however, could afford private carriages or automobiles to link them with the downtown commercial district. This snob appeal contributed greatly to the success of the real estate enterprise, and Munger Place quickly developed streetscapes of handsome, expensive homes.

The success of this experiment spurred development beyond the posh environs of Munger Place. Streetcar service remained an essential component of the area's development pattern. As the Main Elm line extended out along Columbia Avenue, for example, commercial enterprises developed to service residents in new neighborhoods such as Junius Heights and Columbia Place. As a result, property owners began demanding better access to city services such as fire protection for their investments in commercial and residential property. The existing Fire Station No. 8 at Live Oak and Carroll streets housed outmoded horse-drawn equipment that was hard-pressed to serve the full reach of these new developments. Under the leadership of Chief H.F. Magee, the department was making its initial transition from horse-drawn apparatus to motorized equipment during this period. The destructive 1908 fire in the Oak Cliff area prompted new demands for a modernized firefighting system. The city purchased its first motorized fire engine in 1910, embarking on a capital expenditure campaign that spent $110,000 on modern equipment over the next decade. Horses were completely phased out of the Dallas system under the direction of Magee's successor, T.A. Meyers. This period also witnessed the addition of ten new fire stations to the system, including Fire Station No. 10 at the gates of the state fairgrounds, Fire Station No. 11 in Oak Lawn and Fire Station No. 15 in the MillerStemmons addition of Oak Lawn. Prompted by these conditions, the City of Dallas commissioned architect H.A. Overbeck to design a modern fire station for a site on Columbia Avenue just north of the Munger Place boundaries.

Well-known for his architectural work in Dallas and surrounding communities, H.A. Overbeck was born in Cincinnati in 1861. Following technical training at the Ohio Architectural and Mechanical Institute, Overbeck worked for his father's contracting firm for several years before opening his own office in Omaha, Nebraska. Overbeck's successful design for the State Fair Building there evidently led to a commission from the Texas State Fair Association and his relocation to Dallas in 1895. His long and productive practice included many commercial, public and residential commissions throughout the community. Amongst his first large commissions, the fireproof Linz Building (1898; demolished 1963) in the downtown commercial district led to subsequent Chicago School-style buildings for the MK&T Railway Co., the John Deere Plow Company and the Pierce Oil Corporation. Residential commissions included the Prairie School style I.G. Bromberg House in the South Boulevard/Park Row Historic District, as well as East Dallas examples such as the Parter Farrell House in Munger Place and an apartment house for T.H. Rush at the intersection of Gaston and Haskell streets. He also achieved widespread recognition for his institutional designs, most notably the Romanesque Revival style St. Paul's Hospital (1898; demolished 1968), the Collegiate Gothic style Dallas University building (1906; demolished 1963) and the 1913 Dallas County Criminal Court and Jail. The latter achieved national attention for its humane planning for the treatment of prisoners, with shower facilities, ice water supply, ventilated airflow and adequate sanitation quarters incorporated into the design. The attention fostered by these projects led to further commissions for public projects such as schools and fire stations throughout the region in communities such as Italy, Mesquite, and Waxahachie. Overbeck's professional activities during this period also included membership in the Dallas Society of Architects, the State Association of Architects, and the American Institute of Architects Texas Chapter, for which he served a term as president.

Overbeck's design married a fire station form standard for the time with progressive architectural ornamentation reflective of the surrounding neighborhood. Changes in the administration of fire protection in the late 19th century prompted the creation of the fire station's familiar 2-story form. Burgeoning technological innovations and the establishment of paid forces led to the segregation of equipment and horses on the ground floor from the upper-story living quarters for the firemen. Innovations such as the sliding pole were installed during this period in an effort to accelerate the team's response time. While civic designers looked to commercial prototypes in constructing small urban fire stations, suburban development prompted demands for an adaptation of this standard form to the architectural character of these residential enclaves. As a result, fire stations of the early 20th century typically reflected the design idioms of surrounding houses. This trend accelerated as the introduction of mechanized equipment eliminated the need for stable horses. In the aftermath of World War I, fire stations increasingly assumed single-story proportions more in keeping with the bungalow neighborhoods proliferating in the nation's suburbs. Dallas' Fire Station No. 16, therefore, reflects the brief interlude in which the 19th-century fire station form assumed the character of suburban residential architecture rather than its commercial and institutional predecessors.

Soon after Overbeck completed his design, Dallas firemen walked off the job in protest over wages and working conditions. Paid 11.75 cents an hour at the time, local firefighters worked six 24-hour shifts each week. Captain E.O. Wetsel of Fire Station No. 10 led an effort to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor to secure higher wages and a double platoon system ensuring 12-hour shifts. During negotiations between the striking firefighters and the mayor and city council, the fire department trained volunteers from East Dallas in the handling of fire fighting equipment. With a resolution of the 4day strike on 14 January, 1918 came promises of continued employment for these volunteers at the new station on Columbia Avenue. On 18 January the city awarded G.G. Johnson the contract to build the new station at a cost of $19,000, with an additional $1,684 paying for the concrete floor, sidewalks, and parking lot.

Completed by July 1918, the station remained unopened while the city council weighed the costs of motorizing the old station at Live Oak and Carroll streets and equipping the new station. Underwriting of the new equipment for the Columbia Avenue station by East Dallas residents W.P. Martin, T.W. Woodcock and G.Q. Youngblood resolved this impasse, and the station was ceremonially opened for business.

Dallas Fire Station No. 16 continued to serve the East Dallas community until changes in the East Dallas community following World War II prompted its closure. In 1975, the Redeemer's Fellowship group rented the station to establish a community center for the neighborhood. The former fire station housed church services in Spanish and English, wedding and memorial services, election day polls, school fundraisers, recreational programs, and neighborhood coalition meetings. The resurgent interest in the neighborhood led to the designation of the fire station as a City of Dallas landmark in 1988. In the early 1990s, Firehouse Gallery purchased the deteriorating, but essentially unchanged, building to convert it into a multi-purpose arts center and office facility. Working closely with the Dallas Landmark Commission, this non-profit group restored the building's exterior and created interior spaces suitable for public art exhibitions, performances and educational activities. In 1993 the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized their rehabilitation effort for reinvigorating the building's long-standing history of service to the community.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1997.