Winnetka Heights Historic District announces 25th annual Holiday Home Tour

Residents of the Winnetka Heights Historic District will open their doors to the community as part of the 25th Winnetka Heights Holiday Home Tour on Saturday, December 3, from noon to 6 p.m.

This year, Winnetka Heights is celebrating its 30th year as a designated historic district and its 25th Holiday Home Tour. In 1981 the City of Dallas recognized Winnetka Heights as the city’s sixth historic district. The neighborhood was the first such area in Oak Cliff to be designated. Two years later, the National Register of Historic of Historic Places also recognized the district, citing its significant contribution to the city’s architecture, community planning and development.
This year’s tour which features six homes (Prairie School four-squares and Craftsman bungalows) and begins at the historic Turner House at 401 N. Rosemont.

Among the homes on this year’s tour is one of the largest and oldest homes in the district. At over 5,000 square feet, the T.S. Miller (partner to Leslie Stemmons, J.P. Blake, R.S. Waldron, Winnetka Heights’ founders) home on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Montclair is a monument to the original developers’ intentions to build the ‘ideal suburb.’ Also on the tour this year is one of the district’s unique airplane bungalows. The Airplane Bungalow is characterized by a “pop up” second floor, usually of one or two rooms. Preservation Dallas award recipient, Rob Romano recently completed the historically accurate remodeling of another bungalow that will be featured. The Winnetka Heights’ Home Tour is unique in the region not only because of the stately homes but because of the beautiful holiday decorations that adorn each home.

Lee Ruiz, President of the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association, said “Our urban pioneers helped organize the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League and set the stage for the redevelopment of Oak Cliff. While we all enjoy the new urban atmosphere of the Bishop Arts District, Fort Worth Avenue, and the Tyler Davis area, among other areas experiencing a renaissance, we need to remember the young families that moved to North Oak Cliff in the 70’s and 80’s to revitalize areas that had been neglected and acknowledge the contribution of the families that have been here all along. The Holiday Home Tour allows us to recognize our history while we work to secure our future. We look forward to welcoming the community to our neighborhood again this year.”

Tickets for the tour are available in advance for $12 on this site or in the Bishop Arts District at Espumoso Caffe, Hunky’s and Shambala. Tickets on the day of the tour will be $15 and may be purchased at Turner House, 401 N. Rosemont Avenue. At Turner House, visitors will also be able to participate in a silent auction, enjoy samples from Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters and Kessler Cookies, hear carollers and meet with representatives of a dog rescue group to perhaps find a new member of the family. The event begins at Noon, December 3rd and continues until 6 PM. Proceeds of the tour help the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association (a 501 (C) (3) organization) with their goals of fostering a safer, more attractive and better place to live.