For the first time in years, Swiss Avenue won’t be playing host to its popular home tour this spring.
Instead, the Swiss Avenue Historical Society and the Historic Preservation League have put together a Mother’s Day celebration that offers a look into Dallas’ past and a tour of a landmark home featured in an upcoming ABC movie.
“Picnic In The Park On Swiss Avenue” will be held from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 9, at Triangle Park, Swiss Avenue and Parkmont.
Box lunches prepared from recipes in the Swiss Avenue Historical District’s “Holiday Tradition Cookbook” will be sold for $8.95 at the park’s gazebo; the price includes a beverage and admission to the home tour. The tour-only ticket price is $3.
The two groups have planned an elaborate rose bush display and sale in the park, where a photographer will be available for an additional fee to take pictures.
Shuttle buses will run from the park to both estates open for tour, the Aldredge House at 5500 Swiss and the Wilson House at 2922 Swiss.
“We have scaled down this year’s spring tour,” says chair Suzanne Palmlund, “with plans for a larger home tour during the holidays in December.”
The Aldredge House, characterized by 16th century influences, was built in 1916 by a rancher in his mid-40s who had fallen in love with a 17-year-old girl, as legend has it.
“He built the house in order to prove his honorable intentions,” says Virginia McAlester, president of the Historic Preservation League. “After a few years, the bride felt the house was too big, so they moved to a smaller place on Gaston.”
The Aldredge House was the setting for the pilot of the television series “Dallas” and will be featured May 3-4 in the ABC-TV movie “Starkweather: Murder in the Heartland”, starring Brian Dennehy and Randy Quaid. The fact-based murder mystery is set in the 1950s.
The Wilson House, now the home of the Historic Preservation League, was built in 1898 by Frederick and Henrietta Wilson, one of the first families to move to Dallas from Switzerland.
“The Wilsons bought the whole block around their house and another six rental properties close by,” McAlester says, “in order to have the luxury of choosing their own neighbors.”
“Picnic in the Park” will help the HPL raise funds for a planned marketing center for inner-city neighborhoods. The center will include a publishing office where local associations can print newsletters and other materials, and a library of videos and catalogs with architectural information about Swiss Avenue-area homes.
For reservations or more information about “Picnic In The Park On Swiss Avenue,” call 220-9627.
