Douglas Newby Insights
Neighborhoods, Architects, Architecture, Design, Dallas, and Organic Urbanism
Charming Gate
Garden gates have always been one of my favorite elements of a home. This Highland Park home has a hierarchy of doors — a carved stone portico, a massive wood and glass front door, wood-patterned motor court gates, and a guest quarters’ wall door. And yet, this charming gate to the pool house captures my imagination.
When one thinks of architecture, one generally thinks of the composition of the main house. And when one thinks of landscape architecture, it’s often the overall impact of the hardscape and landscape design of the larger spaces. And yet, it’s these nuanced spaces like this that show off the brilliance of architect Larry Boerder and landscape architect Harold Leidner.
The hand-troweled stucco of the wall, with its tapered ends, insets, and flat tile caps, frames a scrolled gate with a bowed top inset with stained planks, punctuated by a rotated square window. Harold Leidner’s landscape design adds to the magic: the landscape on both sides of the walk leading up to the front door looks simple and tailored, but a closer look reveals layers of different colors, sizes, densities, and heights of plantings. A backdrop of Armstrong Parkway adds to the Highland Park allure of nature.
#4400BelfortPlace #HaroldLeidner #LarryBoerder #HighlandPark #GardenGate #ArmstrongParkway #LandscapeDesign #Architecture #blantyrehomes @haroldleidner @blantyrehomes #architecturallysignificant
Dallas Influence
Seeing the art of Dallas artists is still the best reason to go to Fort Worth. Life in Dallas often includes a quick trip to Fort Worth to see Dallas artists exhibited in Fort Worth museums. The Amon Carter Museum exhibition, “Richard Avedon at the Carter – In the American West” prompted just such a visit. This photographic exhibition was first mounted in 1985. Richard Avedon was the star photographer. Laura Wilson was his assistant who worked closely with him on this project. Now she is a star with much international recognition for her photographs, exhibitions and books that have been published of her work. Now, when one thinks of Richard Avedon, one immediately thinks of Laura Wilson. Between photographic journeys, Laura Wilson has lived in Preston Hollow for virtually all of her adult life and is a beloved member of the community.
#AmonCarter #LauraWilson #RichardAvedon #AmericanWest #PortraitPhotography #PrestonHollow
Looking Over Art
Every child should be able to look at art every day. The children’s bedrooms at 4400 Belfort Place have deep balconies that look over the art created by landscape architect Harold Leidner. He uses the rear garden as his canvas for a parterre, pool and lawn. In the last post, I wrote about looking up to see architectural detail and intent. In this post, you can see that looking down can further identify the architectural style of the home by its detail. The parterre with a pattern of eight-pointed stars continue the 15th century inspired style that is seen in the architecture and interior design on the inside of the home.
I have always noticed that children who grow up looking at art love art as adults. I have also noticed that children who grow up in an architect-designed home often commission an architect‑designed home for themselves. Isn’t it wonderful that children, from their bedroom balconies, will be inspired by the art and architecture of landscape architect Harold Leidner and architect Larry Boerder. One will see the subtle continuity of this Spanish Revival motif in the patterned wood beams, the marble and the tile which give continuity to the rooms inside the home. This motif also provides surfaces of the home that convey a sense of art even before more formal art is installed.
#LandscapeArchitect #HaroldLeidner #4400BelfortPlace #SpanishRevival #ArchitecturallySignificant #HighlandPark #Design #LandscapeDesign #EstateHome @haroldleidner
Skyscape
Spanish Revival style homes come in many forms – some with anemic design and others that exude authenticity and place. We see red tile roofs, wrought iron, stucco and arches, and we know the intent. The success and significance of a Spanish Revival style home come from the way the details are articulated. I love this image of chimneys and chimney caps against the sky because they look like they accentuate a fabulous home, whether it is in Santa Barbara, Mexico, Spain or Highland Park. While many look at the front door of a home first, I always quickly look to the roof to see how the style of the home is interpreted and the care that was taken with the detail. At 4400 Belfort Place, the carved stone portico is exquisite but allow your eyes to move up, and you can continue to see great detail and design.
#4400BelfortPlace #SpanishRevival #Chimney #ChimneyCaps #HighlandPark #Architecture #Design #Skyscape #ArchitecturallySignificant #BlairPogue #Blantyrehomes
Nasher Knows
Nasher knows great sculpture that has been collected internationally for over a century and profound work created by Dallas artists. David McManaway’s assemblage sculpture shown in the exhibit “Generations: 150 Years of Sculpture” from the Nasher permanent collection is a perfect example of the good eye of the Nasher. The exhibition includes assembled figures from artist Paul Gauguin to artist David McManaway of Dallas. David McManaway’s assemblage pieces stand up with any in the world. He is best known for his Jomo Boards that look like modern art from a distance and keep revealing layers of assembled detail as one gets closer and closer. I think of David McManaway as a Tremont Artist, as so many museums have collected artists who lived on or spent time on Tremont, like James Surls, David Bates, Dan Rizzie, John Alexander and Roy Fridge. Artist Frances Bagley also has a sculpture in this exhibition, and while her home and studio was not on Tremont, she only lived one block away in Munger Place. Another thing I love to do when I go to an exhibition is to see who donated a specific piece. In this case, David McManaway’s work titled “Ahab” was donated by Betty Blake. Betty Blake, a great patron of the arts, who was president of the Dallas Modern Museum when she negotiated with Margaret McDermott, the president of the Dallas Fine Arts Museum, for a merger of these two museums. David’s wife, Norma McManaway, was a longtime bookkeeper for Betty Blake. Betty Blake was a longtime patron and an admirer of David McManaway’s talent, as were so many artists and Dallas art collectors.
#DavidMcManaway #NormaMcManaway #Ahab #Dallas #Nasher #TremontArtist #DallasArtist #BettyBlake #FrancesBagley #DallasArtsDistrict #Generations
Highland Park Hamburger
For me, summer peaks at the 4th of July as we celebrate our nation, our family, friends and neighbors. The day evokes parades, 16” softball games, badminton, croquet, bouncing from one block party or backyard party to another. Silky grass, bare feet, and hamburgers and hot dogs on the grills come to mind. How can one not enjoy the simplest of foods on the grandest of occasions?
Maybe it is in anticipation of the 4th of July that I begin having a hankering for hamburgers, even in the most sophisticated environments. Here is a bar presentation of my favorite Dallas hamburger, provided for a late afternoon meal. The quiet elegance of the bar was also enjoyed by patrons at both of the two bar tables filled by a few of Highland Park’s and Dallas’ most notable neighbors. Hamburgers are fabulous when served on paper plates in a backyard or on a linen tablecloth. They are even better when they are consumed by friends and neighbors in either setting.
#HighlandPark #Neighbors #Friends #Hamburger #Dallas #HighlandParkHamburger #DallasHamburger #4thofJuly #DallasNeighborhoods
WSJ Feature
There are almost two million homes in MLS and the Wall Street Journal selected 4400 Belfort Place to feature in its Mansion Section. Why did the WSJ editors select this home? First, the editors, art editors and journalists at the Wall Street Journal are top in their field and have a great eye for homes, design and a great ear for a good story. They also have insight about homes and how they relate to a community and to the real estate market. The home at 4400 Belfort Place, I think, resonated with them for many reasons. The developer, Blair Pogue, broke new ground with this Spanish Revival style home. While some homeowners might spend $50 million to $100 million on a home for themselves, Blair Pogue had a vision to take a bespoke approach to build a home that would contribute to the architectural landscape of Dallas and allow a buyer to purchase a new architecturally significant home and not have to wait four or five years to build their own home. To do this he selected architect Larry Boerder, landscape architect Harold Leidner and interior designer Margaret Chambers. In addition, Highland Park is a draw and one of the nicest townships in the country. There are other neighborhoods across the country that are as expensive as Highland Park, but how many of those are only a couple of miles from a major downtown and as lovely as this safe and bucolic neighborhood?
The Spanish Revival style selected by Blair Pogue for this new home evokes the best of Highland Park. One hundred years ago, it was a style that attracted the avant-garde and affluent and it still does today. It is programmatically more modern than other traditional styles and even some modern homes. The Spanish Revival style is sympathetic to our Texas environment and, while 100 years ago this style was relatively rare, its appeal remains. Blair Pogue is to be commended for developing a home that attracts not only buyers but prestigious publications like the Wall Street Journal to feature a Highland Park home.
@BlairPogue #HighlandParkHome #SpanishRevival #ArchitecturallySignificant #HighlandPark #DallasArchitecture @HaroldLeidner @MargaretChambers @LarryBoerder
Moderating Contractor Panel
The joy of moderating a panel comes from how much the moderator learns about the topic at hand, the panelists, and the interest and knowledge of the audience. The ICAA panel of contractors -John Sebastian, Rusty Goff, Corey Ford, and John Jarrett – which was organized by ICAA Texas Coordinator Mary Peyton Burgher, and hosted by Sebastian which was coordinated by Whitney Pastore and Jonathan Carrera, was a phenomenal experience. Anything associated with Sebastian is thought out in minute detail. The contractors of the panel were thoughtful, insightful and open. The audience was incredibly smart and engaged. The discussion ranged from the contractors’ interaction with architects who have given them as few as ten pages of plans and as many as 800 pages of plans. The discussion further ranged from the future challenges of finding artisans and craftsmen as third generation construction workers are attracted to new kinds of work, to the challenge of a new generation of inspectors that don’t have a good feel of the building code and bog down projects. It also came up that over 90% of construction workers might not have complete U.S. documentation, meaning that a dramatic change in government policy could shut the home building industry down. Real estate brokers help find and secure the perfect site. Architects draw plans to reflect the site and desires of the homeowner. However, an architecturally significant home is still only as good as the contractor that builds it. Thank you ICAA.
*Moderating Contractor Panel
@sebastianconstructiongroup #sebastianconstructiongroup #johnsebastian #rustygoffcustomhomes #tommyfordconstruction @jarett_construction @marypeytonb #whitneypastore #jonathancarrera #icaa @ICAATexas #DallasArchitecture #DallasContractors
Coffee Inspiration
Prior to the pandemic, I began many days at the crack of dawn at a coffee shop where I wrote about homes I had listed for sale, about the most interesting neighborhoods in Dallas, blog articles, and the occasional Op-Ed. Over time, randomly sitting next to me at the high library tables were remarkable people, often writers, creatives and business owners, getting their day started before they officially went to work. One of these talented people was Jon Jaimes who is co-owner of Inspire, an advertising agency, which has a major portion of the Kia account among others. Jon, I discovered, has an incredible eye for design, an incredible culinary acuity, and a fabulous ear for narration. When Facebook still automatically pushed content to every subscriber of a Facebook business page, I had the largest real estate and architecture Facebook business page in the world with 500,000 subscribing “fans” – more than all of the other real estate companies combined. When Facebook began charging to push content to subscribers, I retreated from Facebook. Over a few quick snippets of time, Jon Jaimes suggested I post on Instagram. I like long-form narratives and Instagram was designed for images and short or no captions. Then, when Jon suggested I might post a handwritten musing over an image, I became interested. As far as I could tell, this had not been done before and was a good way to introduce narratives that might come to mind. Jon showed me how to create this type of post with a handwritten musing, and now I have created 475 posts and have over 2,600 followers. Recently, we met for lunch at the Michelin Bib Gourmand award-winning restaurant, Ngon. While Jon is an espresso aficionado I have never seen mix milk with coffee, he indulged me by trying a favorite treat of mine – Vietnamese coffee. Meeting Jon Jaimes over time at a coffee shop and getting glimpses of his genius reminds me why living in a city and randomly meeting talented people and hearing their ideas is so meaningful. The name of Jon Jaimes business “Inspire” is perfect as that is what he did for me.
*Coffee Inspiration
@jon_jaimes #Vietnamesecoffee #Ngon @NgongVietKitchen #Dallas #DallasNeighborhood
Mayor View Point
In 1978, the office of the Dallas Mayor gained a new view point. The view changed from inside architect C.D. Hill’s Beaux Arts style City Hall to I.M. Pei’s brutalist style City Hall. These two buildings are architecturally polar opposites. C.D. Hill designed a classically ornate municipal building while I.M. Pei designed a municipal building as a 34° angled inverted pyramid. However, the vision of our current Mayor Eric Johnson is built on the vision of the first Mayor Erik Jonsson and the subsequent mayors, making Dallas the most successful city in the country. Recently, when visiting the mayor’s office where the mayor was still hard at work after hours, I was impressed with the view from the only balcony on the building, the mayor’s balcony off of his fifth floor office, the floor customarily reserved for the mayor in large cities. Mayor Eric Johnson might be the only mayor who has routinely used the balcony. Before his inauguration, both ends of the balcony were open, presumably to preserve the clean lines of the building. However, this was incredibly dangerous for anyone who might have a misstep at the edge of balcony as they would plummet five stories. Upon the mayor’s request, the city manager quickly installed glass walls at both ends of the balcony, making it safe for the mayor, his children when they come to the office, and for visitors of the mayor. Hopefully, this alteration will not impede a historic landmark designation that has been called for by the Dallas Morning News architecture critic and others. I can’t help but think that the vision of the mayor is enhanced by this view of the city. Seen are skyscrapers inhabited by both Dallas and international companies. The mayor has made Dallas the most successful city in the nation, emphasizing what other cities have long ago abandoned – public safety, lower taxes, desirable neighborhoods and a positive trend for homeowners and businesses. Dallas has the best collection of 20th and 21st century architecture and it is wonderful we can enjoy views of classical and modern buildings.
*Mayor View Point
#DallasCityHall #DallasMayor #ArchitectIMPei #DowntownDallas #BrutalistArchitecture #Architecture