Wilson Block

The Wilson Block, located near Dallas Central Business District, consists of six houses and their associated outbuildings at the turn of the century. These Victorian period homes range in style from small, four-room frame structures to a large Queen Anne-style mansion complete with carriage house and barn. The houses stand in an area where many of Dallas' oldest residents, the La Reunion colonists, resettled after their utopian society collapsed.

La Reunion was the name given to a Fourierest colony of French, Swiss, and Belgian immigrants who settled along the banks of the Trinity River, just west of Dallas, in what is now Oak Cliff or Southwest Dallas. Arriving in the Spring of 1855, these idealistic immigrants, under the leadership of Victor Considerant, founded a colony based upon communistic principles, sharing everything within their social work, food, and chores. Most were highly skilled artisans and professional people, yet they were ill-suited and unprepared for the rigorous conditions and hardships of frontier life. Settling in an area of poor farming land, they were plagued by unusually bad weather conditions and crop failures and soon discovered the practical application of their ideals differed from the original intentions. La Reunion never flourished as an organized society, and by 1857 the colony dissolved forcing the colonists to resettle in other areas.
Many of the La Reunionists and their descendants resettled in East Dallas. This part of the city began to grow when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad (later the Southern Pacific) came through the area in 1872. East Dallas was established as a town in 1882 and consisted of 1,429 acres. Three years later, it had grown into a fairly substantial city. The railroad station was located a mile from the business district near the courthouse square. The railroad encouraged people to move away from the Trinty River area and into the eastern suburb. In 1890, East Dallas merged with the city of Dallas as a single municipality. During this period of rapid growth, many fine residences were built by the La Reunion colonists and their descendants. The Bolls, Frichots, and Nussbaumers were a few of the colonists who chose to live in this flourishing area. This was also the area where Fred Wilson decided to build his elegant Queen Anne-style home in 1899.

Frederick P. Wilson, originally from Ontario, Canada, came to Texas in the late 1800s, and joined his wealthy brother, John B. Wilson, in the cattle business. Fred was a leader in Dallas' civic affairs as a member of the Park Board and a charter member of the Citizen's Association. In the early 1900s, he was manager of the Wilson Building which was constructed in downtown Dallas by his brother in 1904. On June 6, 1894, Fred married Henrietta Frichot, the daughter of C.D. and Susanna Frichot. Henrietta's parents were both members of the La Reunion colony. Her mother, Susanna Boll, was a native of Zurich, Switzerland. She came to Texas in 1856 with her parents and sister, Dorethea, to join her brother Henry in the La Reunion commune. On October 16, 1858, Susanna married Christopher Desire Frichot who had come to La Reunion with his brother and nephew in 1855. Christopher, a native Parisian, was a well-educated man who had mastered astronomy in the best schools and observatories in Europe. He and his brother, Pierre, left the La Reunion colony after its failure and established one of the first brick manufacturing plants in Dallas in the 1860s.

In 1898, Henrietta Frichot Wilson acquired the land where she and her husband, Fred, built their home. This tract of land had been owned by her aunt, Dorethea Boll Nussbaumer. Dorethea and Jacob Nussbaumer are believed to have built one of the first houses on Swiss Avenue. Henry Boll, the brother of Susanna Frichot and Dorethea Nussbaumer, also built his home in this area.

In keeping with this family tradition, the Wilsons built their home at 2922 Swiss Avenue and three adjacent houses at 2902, 2906, and 2910 Swiss Avenue. The Wilson homestead is a large one-and-a-half story house situated on a two-and-a-half acre lot. The house contains many fine Victorian architectural details such as patterned windows, jigsaw ornamentation, bullseye and flower moldings, and spacious porches. The foyer ceiling is painted with scenes depicting the four seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The music room also contains beautiful ceiling paintings.

The three adjacent houses on Swiss Avenue were built to be used as rent houses with the idea of the Wilsons being able to choose their own neighbors. Each of these homes is located on a 65 x 100-foot lot, and is not as large, nor as grand as the Wilson homestead. However, they do display fine craftsmanship and are good examples of smaller houses built during the Victorian period. Located behind the Swiss Avenue homes are two smaller, four-room houses, 2901 and 2907 Floyd Street, which were probably used as servants' quarters.

The Wilson Block homes remained in the Wilson family even after Fred Wilson's death in 1923. His son Laurence sold the property in 1977, and it is now owned by Dave Fox, a Dallas homebuilder. The property is included in a development plan for new inner city residences. The se houses represent some of the finest examples of Victorian architecture left in Dallas and symbolize a period of Dallas' architectural history which has almost totally been lost to modern building trends.