Historic Swiss Avenue dot com

It’s nearly impossible to drive along Swiss Avenue without wondering about the history of the stately homes that line one of Dallas’ most famous streets. Lucky for us, the Swiss Avenue Women’s Guild has constructed a website, historicswissavenue.com, dedicated to just such musings. Click on the photo of any house, and you’ll find the year it was built, its architect, the original owners and other fascinating tidbits. For example, did you know that 4946 Swiss was built as a home and office for Bishop Joseph Patrick Lynch of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas and North Texas? At one time, the second floor was divided into sleeping quarters for visiting clergy. Or that 5303 Swiss was the first home built on the street? It cost $10,000 to build in 1907, and now, a century later, the Dallas County Appraisal District values the home at more than $1 million. An audio tour of each home’s history is also available on the website; just click on “tour” to hear the history of each of the 41 homes stretching from Fitzhugh to La Vista. And if you missed last year’s Mother’s Day home tour, click on “video library” to see informative (albeit amateur) videos of the owners’ descriptions of their homes as well as some outdoor footage.