Douglas Newby Insights - Page 6
Orbit of Jim Young
Jim Young, 40th employee of EDS, is presented first ever Texas Business Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award and given tribute by Morton Meyerson. In fact, Dallas icon Morton Meyerson, the 57th employee that became the EDS President and CEO, gave the finest and most important personal and historical tribute I have heard. Morton Meyerson said he had never told Jim Young this before, but when he arrived at EDS, which was only about two years old, it was a cold, stiff organization still trying to get established, where he felt out of place. Jim, with his elegant, warm, inclusive and supportive sense of humor, allowed him to survive and thrive at EDS. He credited Jim Young with creating a company-wide atmosphere of humanity and opportunity for the thousands of employees around the world. Pictured here are his wife, Carole Young, who has also made an incredible impact on Dallas and Texas, with even a Texas prison named after her; and Dale Petroskey, the President and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, who wrote a definitive LinkedIn post on Jim receiving this award. Dale is a good example of the incredibly successful people in Jim Young’s orbit that include Jim as a mentor, friend and inspiration, as I do. Jim Young has always placed his family (who have all been incredibly successful, including his daughter Kelly Stoetzel, who headed the TED conferences for several years and selected the TED speakers for 15 years, and his son Jim Young who received a Master’s Degree at University of Cambridge and started his own successful business) first, and treated those young and old around the world as if they were family – Jim was always incredibly interested, and generous with his thoughts, guidance and encouragement. The world is a better place because of Jim Young and everyone that knows Jim Young has benefitted. Thank you Jim! *Orbit of Jim Young
#JimYoung #CaroleYoung #DalePetroskey #OrbitOfJimYoung #Dallas #TexasBusinessHallOfFame #Mentor #Leader #Inspiration @TexasBusinessHallOfFame
History of a Highway
Crosstown Expressway connecting Interstate Highway 30 to Central Expressway was imminent. Its dedicated path included Munger Boulevard as it was supposed to cut through a dozen Old East Dallas historic neighborhoods. Before the Trinity Toll Road proposal, before the Klyde Warren deck park, and before any movement to reduce or eliminate roads, the homeowners in Old East Dallas did what seemed impossible – they stopped Crosstown Expressway. Crosstown Expressway was eliminated and Munger Boulevard actually had two lanes of traffic removed to enable a landscaped median to be installed reflecting the Munger Brothers original development. Further, Collett and Fitzhugh, that had been one-way couplets, were returned to two-way residential streets interspersed with stop signs. In a neighborhood where a highway had been planned, high speed through-traffic streets were returned to residential streets. The transportation travesty of Crosstown was transformed to a corridor of nature. Please note the 20 miles per hour school zone sign allowing children to walk to school. *History of a Highway
#MungerBoulevard #CrosstownExpressway #Fitzhugh #Collett #MungerPlace #OldEastDallas #HistoricNeighborhoods #DallasHistory #Dallas #DallasNeighborhoods
The Courtauld Update
Whenever I go to London I try to stop by The Courtauld Institute of Art. It was the first London museum I visited years ago on my initial visit to London. The Courtauld resonated with me for many reasons. I love the architecture. Sir William Chambers in 1775 designed the building that replaced the original 1552 home of the Duke of Somerset. The paintings were predominately lit by natural sunlight in a salon-like setting of dark wood floors, enormous ceilings and tall windows. In the first room on one wall was A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Edouard Manet. I had first seen this Manet painting when it was on loan at the Chicago Art Institute for a blockbuster exhibition. Ropes were placed eight feet away from the painting enclosed in glass. People were standing three deep. On my first visit to The Courtauld, when I approached an almost empty room, I asked the guard how close could I get to the painting. The guard replied, “Oh, about six inches.” How can you not love a museum that has a fabulous ceremonial staircase, a living room/salon setting for a lovely Manet that one can view at an unhurried pace from any distance. On my last visit right before the pandemic, The Courtauld was shut down for renovation. This trip was my first return. The building and approach is still magical. It brought back memories of seeing then Prince Charles just a few feet away getting into his Jaguar as he departed the museum. The interior of the renovated museum is now opened up with art lighting and light wood floors. Paintings share spaces with several other paintings on the extended walls. The renovation was necessary. It now has a much better event space for fundraisers, private dinners, events and parties. The galleries are better lit and feel more up to date. However, it reminds me of why homeowners go back to their original home and wonder why it has been changed. On this visit, Chinese nationals for their London university art class, asked me to write my feelings on a photocopy of the painting. I wrote “highlighted and hidden.” *The Courtauld Update
#TheCourthauld #SomersetHouse #London #ABarAtTheFolies-Bergere #ArtMuseum #Art #Architecture #History
Hierarchy of Stairs
Builders use staircases trying to reflect, in their traditional spec homes, the grandeur of great European houses. Bill McKenzie, an editorial board member for the Dallas Morning News in the 1990s, asked me, for an editorial he was writing, for examples of the difference in “Big Hair Houses,” starting to dominate Dallas streets, with architect designed homes. As always, Bill asks thoughtful questions that had me reviewing homes with this question in mind. I provided examples including: architects used real bookshelves in the library off the front door, while builders might use bookshelf wallpaper. Where builders would often stack 16 inches of ceiling molding, architects might design 8-inch moldings – more expensive to create but more elegant. However, what I most remember were these Big Hair houses in University Park in Dallas on standard size lots often had two staircases just as one might find in a European estate home. The difference was that the two staircases in Big Hair builder homes, only a room or two away from each other, were almost identical in size, rise and treads. While in architect designed estate homes, the primary staircase was much grander and the servant stairs were steep and narrow indicating a hierarchy of stairs. The best example of this in Dallas is the Crespi Estate, designed by architect Maurice Fatio in 1939. In London, I was reminded of this in the Somerset House now housing The Courtauld Institute of Art. The primary staircase is elegant and inviting, making it enjoyable to walk to the third-floor galleries. As you slide through the images, you will see the secondary stairs, steep, narrow and forbidding. Generic builders often build spec homes just for show; architects design homes for show and purpose. *Hierarchy of Stairs
#Stairs #TheCourtauld #Architect #ArchitectDesign #EstateHomes #BuilderHomes #HierarchyOfStairs #London #Historic #SomersetHouse
London Light
London light, uninterrupted by tall buildings, illuminates the architectural detail and relief of London’s significant historic buildings. Luminescence prevails even on damp days. A blue sky is a welcome change in the monotony of a grey London landscape. Bright lights and Christmas lights add ornamentation to architecturally significant buildings already heavily ornamented with stone carvings and architectural detail. I have decided London light is more profound because it is distributed in a judicial way, somehow only illuminating the best historically significant buildings, leaving the flat-faced generic ones cast in dull shadows. Even the glitz of New Bond Street has a patina of glimmer. *London Light
#Light #Shadow #Luminescence #London #ArchitecturallySignificant #HistoricallySignificant #NewBond #Historic #Architecture #Historic #LondonLandmarks
Tunnel of Color
Trees announce a neighborhood. One immediately recognizes Highland Park as the most expensive neighborhood in Dallas because of the abundant trees that grace the architecturally significant homes. One cannot see the good police and fire departments or good teachers, but one can immediately enjoy the trees lit by landscape lighting in the summer or Christmas lights in December. When Munger Place was at its nadir, the few artists and urban pioneer homeowners in the neighborhood planted parkway trees – the first sign of revitalization. New curbs, sidewalks, antique streetlights replacing telephone poles and lamps created additional confidence for new homeowners returning divided up renthouses back to single family homes. I grew up with tree-tunneled streets in Hinsdale and visualized the same for Munger Place. Now, every season I marvel when I ride my bike through this Munger Place tunnel of color – bright green buds in spring, deep dark greens in summer, and yellow, oranges and reds in the fall. *Tunnel of Color
#Tree #ParkwayTrees #MungerPlace #Revitalization #Dallas #DallasNeighborhood #HighlandPark #TreeTunnel #autumncolors
Architectural Focus
For 25 years, the Dallas Architecture Forum has focused on Dallas, regional, national, and international architects and their architectural influence on Dallas. The patron party and Talk on this Highland Park Residence created a brilliant focus on the current good architecture that is being created in Highland Park and Dallas. This was an event on architecture for architects, patrons, and aficionados of architecture. National award-winning architects, AlterStudio Architecture, based in Austin, Texas, designed this modern home. National award-winning landscape architect David Hocker designed the landscape. It was exhilarating to see this modern home as it revealed itself as one moved through the gardens and home. A generous Talk by the participants provoked additional insight. Equally exciting was seeing many of the very best Dallas architects admiring and enjoying the design of this modern residence. The reason Dallas has the best collection of 20th and 21st century architecturally significant homes is because of the cross-pollination of architectural ideas from Dallas, regional, and national architects. The Dallas Architecture Forum patron home showcased this collegiality and talent.
*Architectural Focus
@DallasArchForum @AlterStudio @HockerDesign#DallasArchitectureForum #AlterStudio #Dallas #HighlandPark #ModernHome #ModernArchitecture #Architecture #ArchitecturallySignificant #Architect #ArchitecturallySignificantHome #LandscapeArchitect
Show Precedes Studio
What a great idea for artist Julie England and artist Mary Vernon to show off their new studio space with an exhibition of their work along with that of three other artists. Five talented female artists in this delightful space at 135 Howell Street in the Design District invoked memories of my favorite gallery for years, the DW Gallery. Originally, the Dallas Women’s Co-op on McKinney and Hall Streets, this gallery had fabulous exhibitions introducing the work of many female artists, and also in group shows many of my favorite male artists, like the Tremont artists James Surls, David McManaway, and David Bates. Congratulations to Julie England, Mary Vernon, Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, Lin Medlin, Cassandra Black.
*Show Precedes Studio
@eskiedal @julieenglandart @nishikisugawarabeda.art #eskiedal #julieenglandart #art #artist #Dallas #ArtStudio #DallasDesignDistrict #ArtShow
My Favorite Tour
I have grown up with home tours. Since graduating from SMU, I have attended early Swiss Avenue home tours, the oldest Dallas home tour; had my home on the first Munger Place home tour; organized a tour of homes representing 14 neighborhoods; have been a sponsor of Highland Park and Preservation Park Cities home tours; and helped support numerous other home tours in a number of capacities. However, the only home tour I make a point of going to every year is the AIA Dallas Home Tour. My thought is that every home tour should have a greater emphasis on architecture and how it relates to the neighborhood. On the AIA Dallas Home Tour, one often has a chance to meet the Dallas architect, the homebuilder, the landscape architect, interior designer, and maybe even the owners of these recently built architecturally significant Dallas modern homes. The Dallas AIA Patron home is always an extra treat. This year one had the chance to say hello to the owner, Cricket Griffin, pictured with architect Paul Jankowski, in addition to the modern homebuilder Larry Hartman, who is also pictured. Thank you, Dallas AIA, for helping us learn more about architecture and the neighborhoods like where this home is located, one of my favorites, Turtle Creek Park. *My Favorite Tour
#AIADallasTourOfHomes #DallasAIA #AIADallas @HomeTourDallas #HomeTourDallas #DallasHomeTour #Architect #ModernHome #TurtleCreekPark #Dallas #Architecture #ArchitecturallySignificant #ArchitecturallySignificantHome #DallasNeighborhood #KatyTrailNeighborhood
Nasher Always Beckons
Former DMA Director Rick Brettell once said to me that it is the small museums that people generally mention as their favorite museum. I hear from so many people that love visiting the Nasher for a variety of reasons. I also find it appealing for many reasons. Often the Nasher has extraordinary exhibitions, dynamic lectures, and a variety of vibrant, casual, or serene experiences. One might see friends, acquaintances, or make new friends. However, what is remarkable is that even if the exhibit one finds rather dull, or the other visitors uninspiring, the space is supreme. The architecture, space, and setting in the Dallas Arts District in downtown Dallas makes every visit to the Nasher joyful.
*Nasher Always Beckons
#Nasher #Garden #SculptureGarden #Dallas @NasherSculptureCenter #DallasArtsDistrict