The next step in the Fort Worth urban revolution, Fort Worthology promotes New Urbanism, traditional neighborhood design, smart growth, transit, and sustainability in Fort Worth, Texas.
As noted yesterday, over around Texas Wesleyan the TownSite Company has acquired most of downtown Polytechnic Heights and is in the process of restoring the buildings there. Here are some photos I took of the restoration progress over the weekend. Looks to be a cool project.
I’ve got photos coming up for tomorrow, but as a teaser - I recently took a trip down East Rosedale to the Polytechnic Heights old downtown area surrounding Texas Wesleyan, and was really amazed to see what’s going on. Local development company TownSite has acquired pretty much the entirety of the old downtown Poly area and is in the process of restoring the historic buildings there. There’s great progress going on in Poly and the restorations look to be fantastic. As I said, photos coming up tomorrow on this story.
XTO Energy continues their restoration of 714 Main to its original appearance - here, you see the building’s original facade, exposed after the removal of two modernizations.
Wagner Oil’s new Caceria Building is really looking like a gem. They’ve clearly spent a lot of time and money on the building’s beautiful detail work. The Caceria Building is a new mixed-use retail/office building.
Next door at 500 Commerce (also owned by Wagner Oil), the building’s ground floor renovations are nearly complete - a previously open bay has been enclosed to add more retail space.
The restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral continues, and is presumably leading up to the finishing touch of the project - the completion of the church’s twin steeples, planned but never built.
Developer Eddie Vanston is moving right along with his restoration and redevelopment of the former Sawyer Grocery Store buildings on South Main into ground-floor retail with apartments on the second floor. As seen above, the older building on the corner is nearing completion.
The slightly newer building next door is right behind it. The older building will open first. As you can see, both buildings look dramatically better compared to their pre-restoration states.
Vanston will be starting next on restoring and redeveloping the former Miller Manufacturing Building on Bryan near the Sawyer Buildings into loft apartments.
For more information on all of Vanston’s projects, check out his web site, oldbuilding.com.
As I noted in a previous post, one of the items up for review by the Downtown Design Review Board this month was a proposal to light the top of the Texas & Pacific station/lofts. The proposed design would have seen the four domes at the roof’s corners and the parapet walls between them lit. Now, I’m hearing from my peeps in the development community that the DDRB approved the dome lighting but denied the parapet lighting, though the denial was a “denial without prejudice,” meaning that the T&P could come back with a revamped parapet lighting scheme for consideration at a later date.
Not sure why the DDRB didn’t like the proposed parapet lighting, but at least the dome lighting’s a go. It’s going to be great to see the gorgeous T&P lit up at night.
I’ve reported before on the sad state of Heritage Park, and the lack of any real information from the city on just what is going on with this neglected little bit of space on the Trinity Bluff. After a recent walk back to the park, I’m sad to say that nothing much has changed. Heritage Park still sits fenced off, decaying, and shut down, all the water features drained and silent.
Of course, it’s not too fenced off; the fencing is fairly comically ineffective, and in fact when I arrived I found one section of fence completely upended against a wall. So, naturally, I headed in to get some more photos of the insulting neglect the city is subjecting Lawrence Halprin’s intimate little park to.
In this case, “preserve” doesn’t seem to be too big on the city’s mind.
I’ve got to say, it’s very disheartening to see how silent the city is being on the future prospects of Heritage Park. This could be a fantastic little space if properly maintained and cared for. It’s unfortunate that its nearest neighbor is an ugly county parking garage, but as the TRV moves ahead Heritage Park would be in the middle of a lot of new activity.
If you can’t read it, the graffiti reads “Insulted and Humiliated.” While I couldn’t tell exactly what the sprayer’s actual reason was for his work, I think the phrase sums up the city’s treatment of Heritage Park pretty well.
We ought to be preserving this park, not letting it sit vacant with the possibility of demolition looming over its head. Fully restored, it would be a great counterpoint to the Water Gardens - in contrast to Phillip Johnson’s sturm und drang, Lawrence Halprin created a more calming, meditative space. A lot of Halprin’s work has been demolished over time, though some is still loved and well cared-for; check out the Ira Keller Fountain in downtown Portland for an example of a Halprin space that’s been fully restored and is loved.
If you’re as interested as I am in seeing Heritage Park restored to its original condition, I encourage you to let District 9 Councilman Joel Burns know. I figure Joel’s the best bet in getting our voices heard. You can e-mail Joel at district9@fortworthgov.org.
Vintage photo scan by Pete Charlton, provided by Andy Nold
In late 1927, the North Texas Traction Company took delivery of ten of what you see in the vintage photo above - new 1928 Birney Safety Cars. Over the last 80 years, one of these streetcars has led quite the life - and now, thanks to the efforts of North Texas Historic Transportation, it’s come home to the Panther City at long last.
First, a bit of background. The Birney Safety Car was developed in 1915, a result of the desire to streamline streetcar operations (and contrary to what you might read elsewhere, the cars were in fact called streetcars in Fort Worth, not trolleys). Prior to the Birney’s creation, riders didn’t trust using a streetcar that wasn’t manned by both a conductor and a motorman. Thanks to the Birney’s advanced safety systems, such as a door interlock system that prevented the streetcar from moving if the door was open or a passenger was stuck, riders felt comfortable using the system without a conductor. Small and nimble, the Birneys were efficient and durable streetcars. When North Texas Traction ordered their shiny new 1928 Birneys, they were getting the absolute cutting edge of streetcar technology. The ’28s featured all the latest advancements and were outfitted in the Art Deco style, with lovely trim and beautiful Deco light fixtures.
The ten cars ran on Fort Worth’s streetcar network until 1934, when the bulk of the system was shut down following antitrust actions against North Texas Traction’s parent company Stone & Webster of Boston. Four of the cars were sold to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada for their streetcar system, while the other six - including the one that’s the subject of this post - were sold to Dallas.
The car we’re talking about today was renumbered as Number 123 and went to work in support of the 1936 Centennial at Fair Park. Here’s a vintage photo of it serving on the Dallas system:
Vintage photo courtesy of the John J. Myers Collection
Number 123 lasted in Dallas service until 1953, when the system was phased out. Dallas passed a law forbidding the use of old streetcar bodies in the city limits, so the old car couldn’t hang around That Other City To The East. A buyer did come around for the car, though, and off it went…to Laguna Park in Bosque County, where, it is said, it became home to the construction office for the dam being built as part of the creation of Lake Whitney. This isn’t all that far-fetched, as the streetcar bodies were popular for other uses. “The streetcar bodies made excellent fishing cabins,” observes Andy Nold of North Texas Historic Transportation.
Sometime afterwards, in the early ’60s, a two-story addition was built around - and over - the streetcar. Virtually invisible, it sat there until this year, when that house was demolished. The contractor got in touch with Andy at NTHT through the Museum of American Railroads, and after a bit of fundraising the streetcar was recovered.
Photo provided by Andy Nold
The streetcar will rest at its new temporary home in the Trinity Bluff neighborhood until it can be moved to restoration facilities. Currently, NTHT is working on restoring an older 1920-vintage Birney car, and restoration of this ‘28 model will commence after work is completed on the older car. According to Andy, the ‘28 is a prime find - “the best I’ve seen,” he says, of those known to still exist. A few items are gone, obviously - because the streetcar was only days away from being bulldozed, somebody made off with the original Art Deco light fixtures.
Photo provided by Andy Nold
What’s the future hold for this piece of Fort Worth’s transit history? “We are negotiating with a railroad right now to buy some right-of-way where we could establish a museum and some demonstration track,” Andy says. When I, being me, asked if NTHT would be interested in running the restored streetcars on the city’s in-planning modern streetcar system, perhaps on weekend or special event runs, Andy replied in the affirmative. “We are very supportive of the city’s efforts to build a streetcar circulator and hope that our restored cars could be used on the route for special occasions and charters.”
Photo provided by Andy Nold
Thanks to the dedicated work of people like Andy, North Texas Historic Transportation is slowly but surely preserving the roots of Fort Worth transit. About the only thing that would make me happier than seeing Fort Worth build the proposed modern streetcar system would be to see NTHT’s beautifully restored vintage hardware rolling down that new system on a sunny Saturday between runs of the modern cars. It’s similar to how things work in Portland - their system also runs on modern cars, but the vintage equipment is still brought out on occasion for the fun of it.
I’d like to wish NTHT the very best of luck as they proceed with their restorations. For more information on the group, make sure to visit their web site, www.northtexastransport.org. A big thanks to Andy Nold for his help during the preparation of this post.
Built in 1889, the Reilly-Lehane House on Samuels Avenue on the Trinity Bluffs is a modestly-scaled Victorian that has a remarkable level of original trim and finish. The subject of years-long restoration work by its owners, the home is now up for sale - and developers are knocking at the door.
This Victorian-era house in one of Fort Worth’s oldest neighborhoods is in desperate need of tender loving care. Samuels Avenue is now experiencing the same level of change and destruction of historic houses that took place on Summit Avenue and Penn Street decades ago.
If a caring preservationist cannot be found to save the Reilly-Lehane House, current owners will be forced to sell it to developers who plan to demolish it.
As many of you know, I am a fan of both new infill development as well as historic preservation, and I’ve got to come down on the side of historic preservation this time. Only one of the historic homes on Samuels is protected - the Garvey-Veihl house just down the street from the Reilly-Lehane. Preserving more examples of the historic former character of Samuels would provide context and texture to the newly emerging Trinity Bluff neigborhood, and it would be a shame to lose the Reilly-Lehane house.
The home is livable as-is, but obviously still in need of restoration work. The home’s sale price is $350,000, so this would obviously be a labor of love for a dedicated preservationist. For more information, and for contact information if you’re interested or know an interested party, visit Historic Fort Worth’s web site about the Reilly-Lehane house.
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