Dallas Has Just Six of The Uber-Cool Streamline Moderne Homes Left
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A recent social media post on a Streamline Moderne home caught my attention. There was quite a bit of debate over it, so I thought I’d reach out to some of our expert voices and set the record straight on this unusual architectural niche.
Streamline moderne is often called Art Moderne, Art Deco, or International Style, but it has its own unique place in architecture. There are respected professional architects in California who will throw down over these delineations, so let’s just go with it.
What is Streamline Moderne?
The design of the luxury ocean liner S.S. Normandie, launched in 1932, kicked the look into high gear. Inspiration, in general, came from aerodynamic designs in industrial applications. The style was extremely popular in the 1930s and was used to design everything from buses and trains to telephones and radios. Think of it as a stripped-down version of Art Deco. Of course, it was not long before residential architects were inspired.
I can think of few people better able to break down what Streamline Moderne is than Preservation Park Cities Board member and architect Larry Good. Good, you may remember, was a founding principal and chairman with leading architectural firm Good Fulton and Farrell and the author of A House for Texas about the historic Elbert Williams House built in 1933 and designed by Dallas architect David R. Williams.
“A true Streamline Moderne is characterized by curved elements, corner steel casement windows, flat roofs, porthole windows, glass brick, and nautical overtones, like the pipe railings which you see on second-floor balconies,” Good said.
A Quirky Architectural Style Comes to Texas
This architectural style was introduced to Dallas during the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition when architects Dewitt & Washburn designed The Contemporary House. There were four homes built in total for the Exposition, and The Contemporary House was demolished in 1947. This model home was never moved.
A more traditional home known as the Southern Pine House was moved to 3003 Kinmore Street. The only remaining structure is The Portland Cement home by Harold (Bub)i Jesson and, restored by architect Norman Alston.
The Masonite House was designed by Architect Ralph Cameron from San Antonio. He won a Masonite Corporation competition to design it. This is the house that sources report was moved after the Greater Texas & Pan American Exposition to 6901 Gaston. It is NOT a Streamline Moderne. The Streamline Moderne, which most of us in East Dallas drive by regularly, sits a block away at 6851 Gaston and was designed by Reynolds Fisher. Many of you will remember this belonged to designer Todd Oldham for several years. There has been confusion about this one, so chime in if you have some proof or evidence to the contrary! So, as Larry Good has confirmed in the comments, no Streamline Moderne was ever moved from the Fair Park grounds, just the Masonite house.
Only a block away from the Gaston house is a gorgeous 1936 Streamline Moderne residence designed by Luther Sadler at 6843 Lorna Ln. Preservation Architect Nancy McCoy wrote a column for the Dallas AIA Springboard publication and noted that this house was built by the Mayflower Investment Company and is one of 14 modern-style houses in the area. This one, however, is the only Streamline Moderne and is painted brick.
Heading over to 4637 Mockingbird Ln, we find a Streamline Moderne designed by John Astin Perkins for Columbus Marion Joiner. With that moniker, it’s no wonder everyone called him by his nickname ‘Dad.’ Joiner drilled the discovery well of the East Texas Oil Field, the source of H.L. Hunt’s fortune. But that’s another story!
One of the most beautifully preserved Streamline Modernes, designed by Fisher and Reynolds, is on Beverly Drive. It recently underwent such an incredible update it was featured in Architectural Digest. The charming part of this home’s story is the owner’s daughter, Avery Cox updated it. William Curtis, of Curtis & Windham Architects in Houston, was the architect. This is a perfect example of taking a beautiful historic home and making it work for our lifestyles today.
The two remaining examples of Streamline Moderne are found in Cochran Heights at 5102 Pershing St. and in East Kessler at 1302 Cedar Hill Ave. Fortunately, CedarHill has been painted the correct color now, After a few years of being washed in a drab beige with turquoise accents, it’s white again.
So why are there only six of these unique homes left in our city? We recently lost one in at 4593 Belfort, but that does not make up for the fact there are so few.
“I think the reason most did not survive is; frankly, they were a quirky style and not to everybody’s taste,” Good said. “It was not that they could not be renovated. In fact, they were probably easier to renovate; Dallas was just very traditional. There are still a lot in California.”
In fact, if you are headed to Palo Alto, you can snap up a vintage Streamline Moderne at 450 N.California Ave or only $6.38 million. See? Saving a historic home can pay off!
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Thank you, Karen, for your highly informative article about Streamline Moderne homes in Dallas. (And Palo Alto!) This architectural style borrows substantially from its immediate predecessor, the International or Bauhaus style. Tel Aviv maintains over 4,000 buildings of this mode, and Miami retains several hundred. The Normandy (note spelling variant) Apartment Building on Riverside Drive in New York features exterior curvilinear corners, circular foyers, and demilune dining areas, as does the comparatively lilliputian Malloch Apartment Building, starring in “Dark Passage” along with Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, on Montgomery Street in San Francisco.
It’s nice to see so many of these homes still here in Dallas. Tulsa, Ok has a lot of these homes too and at least one that was probably one of the best in Tulsa that was unfortunately torn down and replaced with an oversized and never lived in French style mansion. Very sad, but still quite a few left in Tulsa. This is a cool design, thanks for sharing this article.
In my opinion, this style originated at the Bauhaus in Dessau, since pictures do exist from residences designed and built in the early twenties. Unfortunately, most of them did not survive the war.
Geo. Muche and Adolf Meyer in cooperation with Gropius’ Arch. studio designed and built a residence in Weimar in 1923
Farkas Molnar had designs for a Post Modern in 1923 did not get built.
The Gropius Haus did get built in 1925-26 in Dessau but was destroyed during the war.
The Bauhaus was a revolutionary institution where all arts and crafts interacted and created amazing works.
Thanks, Rabbi, Yes, it’s such a spectacular style, and you see quite a lot in other countries. I’m sad we have so few here and hope those that remain endure.
Thanks for your comment, Andre. Almost everything architectural in America is a derivative of European design. I mean, what have we come up with? The ranch-style home! Although that’s important, that’s about it. This is such a singular style and worthy of its place in architectural history, I think.
Thanks for being a reader and taking the time to comment Tim!
Thanks for sharing. We used to own 6851 Gaston and correct about the Oldham Family and Exposition.
Thanks Allyn! I double-checked with his brother :).
Great article, Karen! I’ve always been fascinated by this style of architecture. There may be one more hidden gem in Dallas that didn’t make your list, though. 717 N. Vernon Ave. is a home I’ve had my eye on for years. It has been well hidden behind fences and overgrown shrubs, it’s painted a hideous green and has had stone added to parts of the facade, but you can see the original gem hiding underneath. A gem I’ve always referred to as Art Deco, for lack of a more accurate moniker. It’s one of those homes that I always dreamed of snatching up, if and when the longtime owners decided to sell… even though I knew it would end up out of reach, as property values in Kessler Park began escalating. It seems it has now changed hands, and I can only hope the new owners recognize what they have, and plan on restoring what I can’t help but believe was once an absolute beauty, resting peacefully across from Kidd Springs Park.
On my way to school in the early 1950s, I’m wondering how I always knew and would say the house on Gaston was a streamline modern(e). It was my favorite among all the stately homes. In art class my teacher told me I had too many halls in my dream house floor plan, and I told her it was a streamline modern. Hmmm.
Well Joyce, you knew, because you are a smart cookie!
Nice article Karen. I forgot about two others in the Cochran Heights neighborhood. One at 5103 Pershing and another at 5203 Pershing.
Hi Ed! Thank you! Actually, 5103 is not remotely Streamline Moderne now. If it was, it’s been badly updated and looks like a white wooden box now. While 5203 may have an element, it cannot be classified as pure Streamline Moderne. Unless a home met all of the criteria, I did not inclued it.
Art deco next!!
Karen:
To keep the debate going…
I’m surprised you went with the incorrect information that the 6851 Gaston house was the one moved from the State Fair grounds. The Masonite House that was moved from the Centennial Exposition was not designed in a Streamline Moderne style, as the photos of it from that time show. It was a blocky flat-roofed house which now sits a block away from 6851 at the corner of Auburn and Gaston (6901 Gaston)…somewhat modified now with a hipped roof. I will come clean and admit that in our AIA Guidebook from 1999, Willis Winters and I attributed 6851 Gaston to DeWitt and Washburn and claimed it was moved from the Fairgrounds. But we were wrong. It was in fact designed by Reynolds Fisher…the same firm which designed 4401 Beverly…and was constructed in place on Gaston. I grew up three blocks away on Loving Avenue in the 60’s and 70’s and spent a lot of time in 6851 Gaston with my Murphy family classmates who lived there, Martha, Danny and Teresa. Good memories!
LOL! Dang! I’ll update it. Next time, I’m sending you the post to look at first ; ) Thanks for all your help,
Larry! Sorry, I misunderstood the Masonite story. The Auburn/Gaston house looks like nothing interesting now.
Paul, Your wish is my command! On to Art Deco!
I have wonderful memories in 6851 Gaston. My mother grew up there (Murphy’s) and I was a grandchild. It saddens me that we did not keep the house in the family. I sure do miss it! ❤️
Oh my gosh, Julie! What a cool family you must have!