National Register Listing

Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District

a.k.a. See Also:Grace Methodist Episcopal Church;Viola Courts Apart

Roughly bounded by Sycamore, Peak, Worth and Fitzhugh, Dallas, TX

Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District is an eclectic collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century domestic buildings that reflect the explosive suburban expansion of Dallas from its postbellum railroad boom to its subsequent emergence as the preeminent commercial and transportation center of North Texas. The district, which lies in the northeastern quadrant of the old city of East Dallas, is nominated under Criterion C in the area of Architecture because it contains the most intact grouping of historic domestic buildings, most popular, revival-styled and vernacular forms, that are representative of the neighborhood's architectural evolution over the period of significance. Although East Dallas contains some of the oldest and best examples of domestic architecture in Dallas, its historic development should be considered a contributing factor to its significance as a district. All of the Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District lies within the boundaries of the old city of East Dallas, a separate municipality incorporated between 1882 and 1889, that sprang up around the railroad depot approximately two miles east of the Dallas County Courthouse. Most of the land between Haskell and Carroll streets was part of the plantation settled by Mexican War veteran Jefferson Peak who became a pioneer in Dallas real estate development. The subdivision and development of East Dallas were concomitant with the promotion and development of the Dallas street railway system and is associated with the historic context, The Development of East and South Dallas: 1872-1945.

East Dallas is particularly remarkable for its successive development and redevelopment in response to the rapidly evolving character of Dallas during its transition from a bucolic trading center to a bustling metropolis. The cooperative ventures of streetcar owners and real estate promoters hastened the area's development and continued as the one consistent theme throughout more than five decades of development. The ongoing nature of East Dallas' growth resulted in a diversity of architectural styles and building types not found in any other area of Dallas over a similarly extended period of development. Today, Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District (see figure 1) is a microcosm of Dallas' residential architecture ranging in date from the 1890s through the 1930s. Architectural styles displayed in the district include examples of the late Queen Anne, Prairie School-influenced, Mission Revival, Tudor Revival, Classical Revival, and Craftsman-influenced bungalows. The district also includes a number of apartment buildings such as the Viola Courts Apartments (NR 1984), and a commercial building originally known as Elrod's Pharmacy No. 2. The district also contains several community churches including East Dallas Christian Church and the Carroll Avenue Baptist Church, now Iglesia Bautista. Contextually, virtually all the Contributing buildings in the district related to the streetcar suburbanization of Dallas.

East Dallas grew into a thriving commercial and residential hub following the intersection of the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) and the Texas and Pacific (T&P) railroads, approximately two miles east of Dallas in 1872. Subsequently, East Dallas become home to many of the area's wealthiest families who carved elaborate estates out of the plantations of pioneer entrepreneurs like Jefferson Peak, C.C. Slaughter, and William H. Gaston. At the same time, many of Dallas' most prestigious educational institutions were established in East Dallas further stimulating growth and enhancing its reputation as the silk-stocking neighborhood of the city. In anticipation of suburban expansion into the far eastern sector of East Dallas, Jefferson Peak's and his son, Junius subdivided the family plantation into 16 blocks, portions of which were sold as Peak's Suburban Addition beginning in 1879. Junius Peak's own house, built just before the turn of the century, is still standing at 4409 Worth Street, within the boundaries of the historic district whose streets still bear the names of the Peak children: Worth, Carroll, Junius, Victor and Flora. Peak's son-in-law, Thomas Field, owned a large estate in the middle of the Peak homestead and he promoted the addition through his firm, Field and Field Real Estate and Financial Agents. The field was responsible for the promotion of Swiss and Gaston Avenues as the most prestigious addresses in the district in the 1890s. Fine houses and schools characterized the area well into the 20th century, but as Dallas' population burgeoned, many of the larger estates were broken up for redevelopment. Few of the old estate houses remain in East Dallas and none have been identified in Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District.

While a few of the extant houses predate the turn of the century, the majority of the district's remaining significant residences were built between 1903 and 1930. The Dallas street railway companies spurred widespread development throughout the city by the 1890s, but economic depressions in the mid-and late-1890s caused a building moratorium until about 1902. It was then, during a renewed building boom, that the gridded additions in East Dallas began to fill in and others east of Carroll Avenue, such as Avenue Heights (1902), were platted for the first time. The Mirajah Brooks House (4303 Swiss Avenue), an elaborate Classical Revival mansion, and the Victorian-era Ullman-Barry House (1007 Moreland - turned from its original Swiss Avenue site in 1918), both built about 1905, are examples of the type of residential architecture that replaced many former estates in East Dallas just after the turn of the century. The streetcar lines which had done so much to promote East Dallas helped stabilize the area by providing reliable transportation to those who worked in the city but lived in its suburbs. They also prompted the growth of commercial nodes along main routes and at their intersections such as those at Peak Avenue and Bryan Street, beyond the western edge of the district (see Bryan- Peak Commercial Historic District). Commercial encroachment into the district led to other changes in the character of East Dallas, and during the 1910s and 1920s a number of 3-story apartment buildings began to appear throughout the neighborhood, again along major streetcar routes and at their intersections. The Viola Courts Apartments (4845 Swiss Avenue) was constructed about 1924 and is representative of the modern apartment complex that became popular in large metropolitan centers at that time.

The advent of commercial zones and multi-family dwellings in East Dallas during the 1920s signaled a change from the area's traditional focus as a suburban, single-family neighborhood to a more intensely populated urban hub. At the same time, planned communities like nearby Munger Place and Highland Park became attractive for their deed restrictions and prohibitions against commercial development. As a result, East Dallas lost the aura of exclusivity it once held, and status-seeking homeowners sought addresses in the newer subdivisions. Still, many fine dwellings were built in the late 1910s and through the 1920s. The modern styles popular in prestigious Munger Place, at the eastern boundary of East Dallas, found their way into Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District during this period. It is not uncommon to find 2-story Prairie School-influenced and Mission Revival houses next to Craftsman-inspired bungalows and Classical Revival mansions which date from an earlier period. The result is a rich tapestry of popular residential architectural styles spanning the last decade of the 19th century and the first four decades of the 20th century throughout the district.
Dallas architects Lang & Witchell, who designed stately houses in the Munger Place (NR 1978) and South Boulevard/Park Row (NR 1979) historic districts, are reputed to have built houses in East Dallas but the majority were builder-designed from standard, popular plans. The 1905 City Directory listed a number of builders and contractors living and working in the district. Resident W. A. Carl advertised that he could build "anything from a cottage to a mansion" and Miller and Bishop encouraged potential homeowners too, "Ask us for plans and specifications for your cottage." Religious and institutional buildings were an exception. C. W. Bulger and Son, noted for their Baptist religious buildings, designed the Gaston Avenue Baptist Church in 1902 at the southwest corner of Haskell and Gaston, just outside the district boundaries, and Davy Crockett School, Dallas' oldest extant public school building, the following year (see Alcalde Street-Crockett School Historic District). W.A. Caan designed another noteworthy building, Grace Methodist Episcopal Church (NR 1982), at the northeast corner of Haskell and Junius Streets in the historic district, in 1903.

Despite the popularity of Munger Place and Highland Park, a number of prosperous physicians and businessmen chose to build their homes in Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District in the early 1920s. These houses are among the contributing residences in the historic district and include Dr. F.J. Dickey's Craftsman bungalow (4408 Junius), F.V. Faulkner's Georgian-influenced house (4843 Junius) and Genoa Reichenstein's elaborate Art Deco-inspired stucco mansion (4515 Swiss Avenue). As the decade progressed, the last of the large estates were demolished and replaced with commercial buildings and multi-family apartment complexes, several of which contribute to the historic district such as those at 4302 and 4400 Gaston Avenue. Fewer single-family homes were constructed in the district as prosperous businessmen and professionals were drawn to newer subdivisions with greater uniformity of construction and protection from intrusion. The predominately single-family houses that comprise the bulk of Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District are representative of East Dallas' period of suburban development that bridged the era of the grand country estates and the years of intense urbanization.

Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District is remarkable today for the diversity of its late 19th- and early 20th-century residential architecture, encompassing a broad spectrum of Dallas' developmental history. The district is comprised of the most intact historic residential architecture to be found within the corporate boundaries of old East Dallas, ranging from the 1890s through the 1930s. The district includes outstanding examples of the late Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Tudor Revival, Mission Revival, and Prairie School-influenced architecture as well as Craftsman-inspired bungalows and Art Deco-styled commercial and apartment buildings. The different architectural styles represent the changing face of Dallas as it prospered and grew from a small trading center to a metropolitan commercial giant. In addition to its architecture, Peak's Suburban Addition Historic District is significant as the plantation site of one of its most visionary citizens. Jefferson Peak, followed by his sons and sons-in-law, subdivided their lands and successfully used the network of streetcar lines to promote their developments. Their real estate ventures served to promote East Dallas to others who subsequently opened additions of their own nearby. Their efforts drew the population of Dallas away from its Trinity River origins toward the east, the result of which is found in the richness and variety of the residential architecture of East Dallas.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1995.