Dunn Haven Apartments, 1228 Adams – photo from Fairmount Southside Historic District

We’ve gotten several questions and comments about the old apartment building at Magnolia & Adams:

Any idea what is going on with the 6-plex apts. on the corner of Magnolia and S. Adams across the street from Junsuree? I lived there 2 years ago and as I last heard, it is now vacant. Is it being sold, refurbed, gutted? Anyone?

@Justin & @FortWorthology: if anybody can get info on that 6plex, please let us know.

I’m curious about that 6-plex as well. It’s a beautiful building.

For what it’s worth, the builder at Texana told me several months ago that the nearby 6-plex was supposed to be renovated. Of course, he could have just been blowing smoke to get me to buy one of his town homes.

We’ve not heard anything about the old apartment building (seen above) in some time. At one point, there was work being done – the interior was being emptied, and in fact if you look over the fence to the north of the building you might be able to see some of the old tubs and such. One of the folks at Fort Worth South, Inc. mentioned that they believed somebody bought the building and had plans to convert it to ground-floor office space and upper-floor apartments, rather than the all-residential layout it’s had since it was built, but we never heard anything beyond that. Whatever the case, we have not seen anything happening at the building in quite some time – it appears that whatever was going on there is either dead or on hold.

For the curious, the building is located at 1228 S. Adams. It is more properly known as the Dunn Haven Apartments. The building was built in 1914, making it one of the oldest structures on Magnolia. It shows elements of various styles, including the Prairie School. It is of a configuration not common in this area, with its three stories and full porches at each level. A similar structure can be found in Fairmount, the currently also-vacant Bomar Apartments of 1907 at 1507 Alston:

Bomar Apartments, 1507 Alston – photo from Fairmount Southside Historic District

The Dunn Haven Apartments is one of only a handful of structures on the north side of Magnolia that are part of the Fairmount Southside Historic District, and as such it is a fully protected historic building carrying the city’s “Historic and Cultural Landmark” designation. As a result, it is protected from demolition or significant alteration. In addition, being part of Fairmount means any development there will have to conform to the Fairmount Design Standards, as well as the Near Southside Design Standards. The building was re-zoned as part of the Near Southside Design Standards and re-zoning effort, and now carries the NS-T4 zoning – in longer form, that means “Near Southside – General Urban.”

We hope that somebody will acquire the Dunn Haven Apartments and give it the full, complete restoration that such a building deserves, and re-open them as a well-run and nicely cared-for apartment, condo, or mixed-use development. It would be a shame to see the building continue to sit for an extended period or re-open as an un/half-restored trashier development.