Information about Dallas’ historic neighborhood is available at the push of a computer button at the new Preservation Center, located in the Wilson House at 2922 Swiss.
The center, run by Preservation Dallas (formerly the Historic Preservation League), opens this month to provide home buyers and real estate agents with a resource to research Intown neighborhoods within Loop 12.
“So many people have never been Intown before,” says Catherine Horsey, executive director of Preservation Dallas.
“We hope to bring a lot of people Intown who otherwise wouldn’t know what is here. We hope they will spend time here and invest in Intown by buying property here.”
The new center includes two segments: Intown Marketing and Preservation Resources.
Intown Marketing has information about housing options within Loop 12 to help home buyers make informed decisions. It is designed for Intown visitors and individuals considering relocating. It will feature many East Dallas neighborhoods, such as Lakewood, Greenland Hills and Swiss Avenue.
This part of the Preservation Center features touch-screen computers that pull up neighborhood information when requested. A bicyclist, for example, can ask the computer about the best paths to ride within Loop 12 by pushing a button for recreation, Horsey says. The computer also contains information about health care, shopping, religion, and a variety of other things.
The computer asks questions, as well.
“Based on how a person answers the questions, the computer will give a list of about five neighborhoods he or she should check out,” Horsey says. “This is going to be so interesting, it’s going to become a tourist attraction even for people who don’t care about buying a house.”
The second feature of the center, Preservation Resources, is a multi-media library designed to help current neighborhood homeowners and groups interested in historic preservation. A computerized catalog can identify books, videotapes and audiotapes at the center about subjects such as architecture or the rehabilitation of old buildings.
Member homeowners associations also have access to desktop publishing equipment in the library to print out newsletters or other organization information. To become a member of Preservation Dallas, associations pay $50 a year.
The Preservation Center was made possible by donations from several groups, including the Dallas County Land Title Association; Texas Commerce Bank, TU Electric; Enserch, the parent company for Loan star Gas; Bank One; and Southwestern Bell.
Ebby Halliday of Ebby Halliday Realtors donated $35,000 to help start the center. The Meadows Foundation also made a large donation.
When the center was in its planning stages, Horsey says Preservation Dallas worried that Loop 12 was too small an area for such a big project. That fear faded quickly.
“In doing our research, we found there are 173 neighborhoods just inside Loop 12,” Horsey says. “We were blown away.”
The center’s grand opening will be March 29 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., during which there will be tours of the facility.
