The Aldredge House: Photo from Facebook
The Aldredge House, which has been operating as an event venue by the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance (DCMSA) for years, has recently come under fire from some neighbors in the Swiss Avenue Historic District.
When you go to the Aldredge House’s website, one of the first things you’ll see is a slideshow of happy couples on their wedding day and a tab to “book an appointment” in the top, right corner. In case you had any doubts about its use, the words “The Historic Event Venue of Dallas” shouts from the center of the page in bold, swirling letters.
And it’s that very use that some neighbors have grown to hate.
On August 23, nearby neighbor Barbara McDaniel filed an application with the City of Dallas Board of Adjustments in hopes of terminating the Aldredge House’s nonconforming use, which allows it to operate as an event venue in a residential neighborhood. In the application, she states:
“The Aldredge House, 5500 Swiss, is being operated as a for-profit special events wedding and party venue, which has an adverse effect on my property and my daily life. The Aldredge House is hosting over 60 weddings and parties a year, with up to 200 guests and ending as late as 11:45 p.m. with loud outdoor send offs. This creates noise problems, parking problems and other disturbances that are not approved on this historic residential street.”
Along with the application, at least a dozen neighbors — the neighbors in immediate proximity who are “most aware of the issues surrounding its operations and are among the most affected” — signed an informational letter, which they sent out to the Swiss Avenue Historic District.
In the letter they stated the application should “come as no surprise to the DCMSA, as we have been meeting and communication with its representatives and contractors for some time about these issues. Through these discussions it became evident that the organization has abdicated control to their property to a third-party contractor — and that the organization no motivation to alter the current uses of the Aldredge House.”
On the DCMSA’s website, the organization responded with a “call to action,” saying the house is “under attack from a handful of immediate neighbors,” and asking neighbors to attend a meeting on Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. at The Aldredge House to go over the details. The DCMSA claims they “implemented a number of operations changes to address those issues,” but the neighbors still created a campaign to “shut down the Aldredge House.”
The neighbors, however, believe this action is “necessary, appropriate and the only option available,” according to the letter, and they also insist the intent is not to shut down the Aldredge House, which the letter states, will still “be available to the DCMSA and the SAHD for all the purposes originally intended.”
That won’t be enough, however, the DCMSA claims: “If we lose at the (Board of Adjustments), the zoning on Aldredge House will revert back to single-family use. We will be forced to sell the house; we will lose our home; Dallas loses one of its few historic homes that is open to the public; and the neighborhood and charities we support will lose their meeting venue.”
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