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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4416.Mockingbird Lane.cNeighborhood Gets New Face These Are the Houses That John Rebuilt By JEANNE BARNES Home Editor of The News Neighborhoods don't die; they just fade crumble, change faces. Lucky ones are rehabilitated and go right on as favored places to live for generations. Such a one—and rather unlikely, too —is the 4400 block of Mockingbird, the North Parkway between Lomo Alto and the T'ol'l Road. An area of fairly affluent but quite modest homes by today's standards, its homes were built in the 1920s when it still was Dallas County, out in the country. fMe neighborhood early in the 1960s was a rapidly deteriorating area of undis- tinguished houses, often obscured by over- grown shrubbery. The first owners long since had moved off to larger, fancier, further out places. THEN ALONG CAME John Gresham, a talented, progressive young designer a graduate of University of Cincinnati — who was looking for a place to settle in Dallas. He had gone through one rehab house in Richmond, Va., that one of 1890 vintage. Familiar with the townhouse concept end geeing it as a, good possibility for this area, he pioneered by purchasing one of the more unlikely candidates, the very first house :built- in the area, known as Loma Linda. The Loma Linda home started life as a red -tiled, white stucco edifice in that era's pseudo -Spanish fad. It had fairly good au- thentic details. A later owner had defaced it and put on a Bauhaus -style 1930s cube front with louvered paneling, cork floors painted over. Gresham, knowing what he was doing, purchased it, stripped off the front and remodeled it into a ,neo-classic gem, painted soft yellow with cream trim. His interior :remodeling was extensive: handsome brown and white cane fretwork paper on the walls and black and white vinyl tile on the now -wide entry, along with glass doors on the east side. THE BOXY LIVING room also was opened up with French doors on either side of the firep'laice. Fluted columns sep- arate an upper level and white carpeted hall is lightened with a skylight. The room is glowing with raspberry color, taken from an antique Savonnorie rug that shows off under a big round glass cocktail table. White and raspberry silk covered chairs group around it with crystal and chrome gleaming accessories. Across the hall, Gresham did a study, with chocolate brown walls, white rug, WOMT . fil V Radio Television Monday, June 7, 1971 bleached wood secretary for storage (the one big lack in old houses Gresham notes), another glass table, white sofa, yellow ae- cents with a red, white and black print fabric for curtains and a chair. Behind is a small card -conference: room, with. white painted ceiling, bda and white floor and storage cabin { flanking a, window. And then there's the elegant dining room on the west with raspberry shiny painted walls, heavy matching draperies, formal fruitwood table and marble wall* hung server. THE KITCHEN, which took in an 014 porch, is long, narrow and very countri. with cream stained oak cabinets and ba red molding and lots of iron racks hold ing utensils. There is a porch, still, added on first as a deck, now screened in. It overlook a lovely kidney -shaped deep pool, pav all around. The old garage behind now is a st dio-cabana, in azure blue and chrome y low and white. It is divided by a whi wall with open, green -painted shelves one side, and skylighted drawing boa opposite. Gresham points out that though on narrow lot, every room has exterior e sure now, a bit of green of its own. His work was duly noted, and whe. other people moved into the convenie neighborhood, they asked him to r their homes. THE FIRST REQUEST came from two doors down, the Jimmie Herefords, a41 4428 Mockingbird, who moved bac$ to 44 street where their daughter, Ann, had first gone to school, up at Bradfield. They had moved out to Bluffview to a larger, wooded acreage sprawling house with pool. It was quite a contrast to come into the 1 -bedroom house, a non-descript Dallas version of the English cottage. Gresham transformed it by removing the gables and replaced them with a standing seam metal mansard roof. Brick was painted a nice putty, with white trim. Windows were recessed, as was the front door (now a double chocolate one), in shadow 'box framing. A triple circular step entry was added, along with a circu- lar drive. Inside, the ceiling joists were removed in the foyer and living room so there is a soaring 15 -foot high vaulted ceiling now (that did take away some of the attic space). Two side bedrooms were combined to make a den plus a guest bath, leaving just one bedroom for the Herefords. Since then, they have had another bedroom and half -bath added, along with the pool and cabana in back enclosed by a 74bot fence which also shields the side yard, provides a patio. THEN THE WILLIAM I. Hendersons arrived, a young couple moving out of an apartment into their first home. Their purchase, between Gresham and the Hereford's, at 4424, was an even more non-descript cdtCage with a pair of win- dows flanking the front door. Gresham gave this house a French country look, from Bordeaux Province. The pink brick walls were given a frosted look by spraying on a thinned white la- tex, also matching old and new. The front door was recessed in a hand- some brick frame. A pair of stone pineap- ple finials were put up on the columns on either end, and an entire new foyer creat- ed. The back bedroom was doubled in size and made into a den, with French doors opening to the back garden. A powder A house with personality and lots of livabil- ity, including a p o 01, is the transformation achieved for the Jimmie Here- fords at 4428 Mockingbird. The first house in the Loma Linda neigh- borhood to un- dergo a reha- bilitation is John Gresham's ,own home. The 1925 original, Spanish at 4420 Mocking- bird, has gone through three stages. mom was constructed in front from two closets, and the master bath was doubled by taking in a side drive porch. The upstairs is the domain of young Arthur, 1 year old. And it has lots of storage, even under the eaves. The Hendersons cedar shingled the old garage and turned it into a workroom. It is glimpsed beyond the handsome green iron gate cutting off the old drive. IT'S NOW A HAPPY, new neighbor- hood, with more and more houses being rehabilitated, many in -the mansard roof style. Many age levels mingle congenial- ly; everyone feels he has both space and. privacy. A .brick wall cuts off street traffic from the 4400 block of houses, which is the southern limit of University Park. And Gresham isn't through yet. He plans to add a motor court, .behind another wall and go up a story on the still -flat roofed east side of his house, for both es- thetic and space reasons. And a P.S. note for those contemplat- ing such a project: All the houses had complete new kitchens and baths and cen- tral heat and air-conditioning added. Gresham had the work done by putting out contracts, for competitive bid, the least expensive way, he says.