My husband and I are no strangers to restorations.  Vic is a 20+ year veteran custom home builder, restorer and general contractor with a bachelor?s degree in Construction Management from Colorado State University (1985).  As a teenager, he cut his teeth as a lowly helper restoring homes in Old East Dallas and Highland Park in the late 1970?s and even worked as an electrician?s assistant rewiring the downtown Neiman Marcus store in the 1970?s.
Vic and Sharon Wyly

In more recent years, Vic moved to Santa Fe where he did restorations, but concentrated on building new Santa Fe-style ranch homes that looked authentic. He was general contractor helping his sister Leslie Wyly Reeves and his brother-in-law, Tim Reeves, restore an early 19^th century adobe-style artist retreat they bought to turn into a popular bread-n-breakfast in Taos, New Mexico. (A daunting task, once a ranch house, then an artist retreat, then a guesthouse, it had been abandoned for decades. See www.oldtaos.com) for pictures if you?re interested.

 

I was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, the Grande Dame of the South, founded in 1733. In my youth, my family, as did most others in Savannah, lived in and restored various houses (1700?s to 1800?s) and even an old school house my Dad and his uncles converted for our large family (7 kids and my parents). We didn?t know to call them historic then.  They now live in a ?modern? 1950?s bungalow, the first ?new? house I ever lived in.

 

Vic?s parents moved to Richardson from Roswell, New Mexico for his dad?s job and to be nearer relatives (Vic, Sam and Charles Wyly are cousins), while I came to Dallas in 1981.  We never met until 2000, married in April 2002, blending my two sons, his two daughters (all roughly the same ages).

His sister and brother and my sisters and sons were all in the wedding party.  We were happy!  We honeymooned in Vic?s ancestral Wales, England and Scotland and couldn?t take our eyes off the lovely centuries-old homes, stores, hotels and castles.  Back in the states, I took him on his first trip to Savannah, bragging about our similar architecture. He was mesmerized; I was proud.

 

We?d often talked of living in an older home, preferably finding one to restore.  Late in December 2002, we started looking around for an old house we could make a signature home. That?s when we found 6015 Bryan Parkway.  At the time, we didn?t go in.  It looked sad and plain from the outside and was more money than we wanted to spend for the condition it seemed to be in.

 

Months went by and we drove past it now and then, while looking at other homes. A couple of times it was under contract and we thought no more of it.  In September, 2003 (nearly a year later), the price had dropped and the last contract had fallen through.  As a Realtor myself (and ironically, a Preservation Dallas Historic House Specialist ? although they?ve refused to renew my membership), I got on the horn to the listing agent. He gave me a rundown: 2 contracts had fallen through for lack of financing, one even on closing day.

 

I dragged Vic to the house to look around. We went inside for the first time. No stranger to rotting boards and foundation problems, we were undaunted.  Vic put on his engineer's cap and crawled around in the attic. I put on my brave face and gingerly side-stepped the rat, raccoon and snake carcasses and blocked out the smells of sewer gas and moldy walls. The huge tree that grew into the east side of the house worried him and the deplorable state of the one side of the interior gave us pause. That week we went back a few more times, as excitement built. In this condition, we figured we probably had the upper hand in making an offer. And we knew that the other two potential buyers weren?t contractors themselves; we were in a better position in that respect.

 

We made an offer and held pretty firm, tempting the sellers with a fast 2-week closing, no option period. Once the price and terms were agreed upon, we did our due diligence. That?s when we began discovering a few more unsavory things. We decided to not to roll in restoration, but instead get a separate loan for that later when we had a chance to get cold hard figures on repair cost. It would mean more closing costs, but we felt it better to know for sure how much to borrow, than to borrow too little. We knew from experience banks don?t like you ?missing your aim? and asking for more money before the original loan is retired.

 

After the closing, we sharpened our pencils and called a foundation company we?d been happy with on past projects. Turned out, they didn?t do wooden pier and beam structures, but recommended a company that specialized in that, plus historic homes.

Vic met with the structural engineer who inspected at length.  He says it was rather like a doctor ?tsk-tsking?.  We braced ourselves for how much the foundation repair would cost.  I crossed my fingers and hoped, "Dear Lord, please no more than $20,000 or so".  The engineer called and said we weren?t going to like what he had to say.  He said the good news was that the foundation repair wasn?t going to cost us anything; then he said the reason was, he would not recommend that on his report.

The written report was even more damning.  It went on to say, he feared that the structure was so weak, it would collapse on lifting, that the foundation had disintegrated and failed and the long years of the house itself sitting in the mud had eaten away at it. And even if the lifting effort worked, the entire process would be financially prohibitive.

 

It was a badly assembled ?kit? house that was also pulling apart at the seams, the fireplace had collapse in on itself as evidence by the bricks that came tumbling into the parlor when we crowbarred the plywood off the hearth.

 

We were stunned into silence. Vic and I knew a house has to be stabilized from the ground up. Without the foundation, we couldn?t restore the house.

Devastated, we pondered our options.  We owned the property, so the next logical rescue was to demolish it and build anew.  

We contacted Dallas Development and got an appointment to meet with Jim Anderson and Leif Sandberg.  Leif?s response was, ?demolition is a bad word in these areas, but if ever a house needed to be demolished, it?s this one?.  To our surprise, he then retrieved a file on the house with the previous owners' past applications for Certificates of Appropriateness.  Various things like removing an enclosed room from the rear of the house that had collapsed, removing the entire front porch roof and columns (which had also collapsed), repairing the roof whose joists were undersized and had collapsed the roof where the tree grew into it.

We were even told that the house had been ?red tagged? and marked for demolition by the City of Dallas, and had untold numbers of code violations called in on it over the years. Mind you, none of this was disclosed on the state required Sellers Disclosure during negotiations, but we opted not to harp on that.

 

Leif and Jim gave us more up-to-date copies of the Swiss Avenue Historic District Ordinance and the City Development ordinance that hadn?t been available online when we purchased the house weeks before.  They advised us to apply for the Certificate of Demolition on the grounds of ?imminent threat to public health and safety?, which fit the situation to a ?T?.  

Although it wasn?t required, they also advised that it might help smooth the way to spend the time and money to have plans for the new house drawn and apply for the Certificate of Appropriateness simultaneously.  That way, they argued, everyone could see our intentions and not worry that a vacant lot would sit for years or that an unsuitable home would be built.

 

We had our work cut out for us in gathering the data, facts and figures to present to the Landmark Commission. Jim and Leif had told us that this wasn?t without precedence (a new house had been built in the next block in the late 1990?s, albeit on a vacant lot; and a new house had replaced one destroyed by fire on Swiss Avenue itself in the late 1980?s.)

 

We swallowed hard and opted to have plans drawn.  At about that same time, we came to the conclusion that we wouldn?t be able to live in the house when it was finished.  Done properly, we?d have to sell it to break even and move on.

 

Still strangely, it became exciting again.  After all, Vic had in recent years specialized in building new homes that looked like authentic old homes.  

We haunted the Borders Bookstore and Half-Price Books, spending a small fortune there and online at Amazon. I pulled out my autographed copy (from Preservation Dallas) of Virginia McAlester?s book and combed the pages. Vic and I spent several wholes days in Preservation Dallas? library and talked to Dwayne Jones, while his staff trotted out books and records for us to review.

We even came across Vic?s great, great grand uncle Colonel C.C. Slaughter many times.  Uncle C.C. had been a prominent cattleman and banker at the turn of the century. His American Bank was the predecessor to what is now Bank of America. The famous Slaughter Ranch still exists on a smaller scale. Ironically, Uncle C.C. had owned and donated the land that Swiss Avenue Historic District now sits on, as well as the land for Baylor Hospital.  

(So grateful was the hospital that it offered to name itself in owner of its benefactor. Uncle C.C. remarked, ?even I wouldn?t go to a hospital called Slaughter!?)

 

We spent a cold, rainy Sunday in the archives floor of the Dallas Public Library going to microfiche, Sandberg Fire Insurance Records, and the delicate handwritten building permit records.

 

We found that the house had been a prefabricated 1920-21 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog house, model # 227, inexpensive and that it was supposed to have been assembled on a concrete foundation.  No building permit was filed (as wasn?t legally required then) until repairs needed to be made to a room on the rear of the house that had collapsed in 1923 (sound familiar?).   Sears vehemently advised against hiring a carpenter (that?s who assembled the houses in those days) as the point of purchasing this kit house was to give the working man an inexpensive way to homeownership.  Hence, like was so common, the librarian told us, it?s probable that the owner and his friends and relatives gathered to ?insert tab A into slot B?, assuming they followed the meager 44-page assembly instruction booklet that came with the house parts.

 

It was interesting, enlightening and a bit icky all at the same time, particularly the numerous references to building permits for ?nigger shacks? which have become the prided servants quarters, pool houses and detached garages in Swiss Avenue Historic District.

 

We were sad for the incorrect way the prefab house was constructed, but fantasized the original owner must have been as happy as we to know he was going to get a new house. Hope sprung anew.

 

Armed with our research, we prodded our architect to draw plans. We then wrote a letter to every home in the entire SAHD and mailed it to arrive on a Saturday with a color photograph of the interior destruction and a copy of the engineer?s report. We informed them that we would be applying to the Landmark Commission to demolish the house and build a like-kind one. We gave them the details of the dates the Task Force and official notification from the City would reach them. We promised to build a true turn-of-the-century Craftsman that would do the neighborhood proud.

Vic and I always said, we wanted strangers to drive down the block, point to our house and say, ?gee, that old house has sure been kept up!?

 

Immediately, we got phone calls and emails praising us for taking on the task. The outpouring of frustration was amazing.  While checking the house again, some neighbors asked us to give a tour and discuss our plans (among them was Traci Orr who also confirm out findings that it was a ?kit house?).

Chip Orr asked us for advise on how to add a garage to his home two doors down and bemoaned the fact that our previous owner, Stephen Mabry, a former Landmark Commission who also helped to write the Swiss Avenue Historic District? had chastised him about his non-conforming circular driveway.

 

We held the meeting on the front lawn a few nights later and gave a tour to all comers through the house. They were appalled and relieved that we?d come to the rescue. We treated them to the preliminary blueprints and drawings for the house. There were lots of suggestions and we took them all in stride, making notes and marking up the drawings. All of the neighbors who later joined with Preservation Dallas were present.

 

We sent the notes and drawings back to the architect, and had the plans redrawn. This happened a few times. Once it was time for the task force meeting, we arrived with the latest plans and quite a few neighbors turned out as well. The architects and electrician in the task force paid particular attention during the tour.  We stood aside and answered their questions when asked. One gentleman objected on principle that this would start a bad precedence, and he voted not to recommend demolition. The next day, we learned the Task Force vote was 3-1.

 

The morning of the Landmark Tour arrived and the Commissioners toured the house with City Staff conducting the tour. Vic and I were told not to speak to the commissioners unless spoken to, so we stood aside and only answered questions. Since we weren?t familiar with the process we didn?t know who was allowed to be present. I recognized Virginia McAlester and Dwayne Jones and assumed it was part of the process for them to be there. This is when we first began to hear disparaging comments from some of the commissioners that our facts and figures on the estimates and procedures to restore the home versus replacing it were erroneous. This startled us, but not knowing what to make of it, we kept quiet.

 

During the Landmark hearing later that day, we were allowed to present our case at the podium, along with anyone speaking in favor. Then, anyone speaking against was allowed to speak.  There were time limits, which I don?t recall off hand. After we spoke and also one or two in favor, those opposing spoke.

Ms. McAlester presented a slide presentation showing several houses both in Swiss Avenue and elsewhere in Dallas that she said had been in similar condition to ours that had been rehabilitated instead.  She spoke of a revolving trust that was available to help in this type situation. It was difficult to see what she meant as the slides were darkly lit.  But, we were aware that those houses had been rehabbed some 20 years prior and that no such revolving trust existed anymore.  Frances, one of the commissioners also pointed this out.

 

In short order, our request was denied and as Vic and I left, disoriented and wondering at the sudden turn of events, the Chair called out that we had the right to appeal within 30 days.

 

Our first thought was to put the house back on the market.  We were in a tailspin and facing uncertain finances should we be forced to privately fund restoration.  As we?d testified, we?re well versed in lending procedures and lenders will not loan more for a house than it?s worth. The rest would have to come from our savings. We approached Dwayne Jones for help. He said he?d ask an architect and engineer that Preservation Dallas often worked with to meet with us and look at the house. Meanwhile, Vic tried to get other foundation bids. Few wanted to go against the engineer?s recommendation. We had to finally resort to the yellow pages.

 

Dwayne Jones, Vic and the 2 experts Mr. Jones had organized met at the house. Their remarks weren?t encouraging and the engineer noted that he?d already inspected this house with a previous potential buyer; he already had copious notes, facts and figures, that there was possibly a radical technique to lift the house and install a foundation, but that he?d never seen it done and it would require removing and therefore destroying the entire first story of the house.

 

We listed the house as being in a lovely, friendly neighborhood, but that the structures had extensive repair issues. Our sellers disclosure was informative and extensive; we wanted to leave it to the buyer to decide.  Weeks went by and with about 18 showings and no offers, plus comments from buyers and agents like ?looks like a loss to me?.

We reviewed our options.  Appeal to the City Plan Commission.  It hadn?t really occurred to us even though the option was printed in boldface on our denied Certificate for Demolition. We pulled out the ordinance and contacted city staff again to verify the procedure for appealing. We were told to make the request in writing. We did and began the process.

During our meeting in December with Leif Sandberg about appealing,  Commissioner Neil Emmons stuck his head in the door to speak to Leif.  Leif told him why we were there and Mr. Emmons made a quick exit remarking that in that case he shouldn?t hear what was being said.

 

We gathered our documents, wrote our briefs following the guidelines of previous appeals on record provided to us by city staff.

 

January came and we met the CPC tour at the house. Again, we were told not to speak to the commissioners. We did as we were told.

 

They didn?t get to our case until well into the afternoon.  Landmark Commission?s representing attorney requested our place in the docket be postponed as he had a witness that could not arrive until later. We agreed.

 

It was a several hours long hearing, starting with Chair Bruce Wilke reading into the record the ordinance giving the CPC authority to hear the appeal, make various decisions and who could speak. Witnesses both for and against us, who did not testify at the Landmark Commission hearing were not allowed to speak. Chair Wilke was quite firm and thorough in maintaining control and reigning in both our and the opposing side's enthusiasm. I felt thwarted, but he did it to us both, so it was fair.

 

The vote went 10-3 in our favor. Again we were reeling, but we relief this time.  It was so late and we were so strained that I can?t recall much that happened after that.  The next day, we followed up with city staff to obtain the signed copy of the certificate. We have little control of when we can get on the docket with a demolition company, so we forwarded them papers right away.

 

The demolition company called to say that they had the city permit and would do the work Saturday morning. Vic and I asked them to wait until about 9-ish so as to let the neighbors sleep in.

 

That was our mistake and that?s when it started.

Sharon Marsh-Wyly

Ward politics is the Devil's key to the soul of the city council.  It is how some council members got themselves in trouble in the past.  It is the bait that will get others in trouble in the future. 4/6/8