This year marks the 50th anniversary of Heritage Oak Cliff’s premiere event
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
Built on a heavily wooded two-acre lot in southern Oak Cliff, the house owned by David Cooper and Allen Haskell is one of the 10 featured in this year’s Heritage Oak Cliff tour of homes, happening Oct. 26-27. Two commercial properties are also included on this year’s tour, as well as a bonus home built on the edge of the cliff overlooking downtown.
Cooper and Haskell said they were excited to be included in this year’s tour, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the event (due to the pandemic, however, this is only the 47th tour). Their home is in the Brettonwoods neighborhood, just south of the better-known and heavily gay Kiestwood neighborhood. Until the ranches that existed on the land south of Kiest Boulevard were sold off and subdivided in the 1960s, horses and cattle were raised in this area of Oak Cliff.
The ranch-style house on Gladiolus Lane off Hampton Road was built in 1969 and transformed into a modern chalet in 2009 before the couple bought the property. Originally three bedrooms with two baths, the house is now two bedrooms with two-and-a-half baths.
The roof line was re-oriented and the ceiling raised to 15 feet. Dark hallways were eliminated to add living space to this 2,000-square-foot home. An island kitchen sits center in the home with sitting, dining, television, bar and fireplace spaces radiating off of it.
The master bedroom has a walk-in closet, huge windows that look out on the wooded backyard and access to the main desk. The suite includes a huge bathroom with walk-in shower and spa bath.
The second bedroom has views of the lush front yard.
While the house had already been renovated when the couple bought the property, the landscaping is all theirs. This area of Oak Cliff is hilly, and the sloping yard is tiered to multiple levels with large, natural limestone outcroppings adding to the dramatic landscape. Haskell said they added the pool and covered back patio.
“The back of the property was covered in invasive privet,” he said. “In order to create the pool and lawn, all of that had to be removed.”
To enjoy their pool area throughout the summer season, they added a covered patio area that was built within existing planters and walls. The sloped roof is high enough to catch a breeze and the west side is screened to block some of the bright late-afternoon sun.
A second home on the tour right down the street also sits on a two-acre lot. Cooper said each house on their side of the road sits on two acres, while those across the street are smaller.
Cooper described the second house on Gladiolus Street as “super surprising.” From the street it looks like a one-story ranch house, but because of the sloped terrain, from the back it’s a two-story.
Ryan Stepp, this year’s tour of homes co-chair, said most of the homes this year are paired like the two houses on Gladiolus Street, so you don’t have to drive to 12 different neighborhoods to see individual properties. He said real estate and construction company sponsors of each of the houses made it possible to find pairs of neighbors who wanted to show their houses.
Melissa O’Brien with O’Brien Property Group at Dave Perry Miller Real Estate pitched Cooper and Haskel’s house to the tour committee, Stepp said. Some of the other LGBTQ community members who are sponsoring houses are Kathy Hewitt, Michael Mahon, Tim Hill and Travis-Lee Moore.
Two commercial properties are included in this year’s tour. Stepp said this wasn’t the first time the tour’s included more than just homes.
He said, “The building at 1159 N. Madison Ave. fell into disrepair and burned down. Now it’s a gorgeous boutique hotel.”
The second commercial property is the Oak Cliff Assembly, near the Dallas Zoo, built in the 1940s as a Baptist church and now housing a 200-seat theater and offices for creatives, entrepreneurs and non-profits.
This year, the tour includes houses built between 1927 and 1969 in seven of Heritage Oak Cliff’s 30 neighborhoods. Proceeds fund grants to neighborhood associations throughout Oak Cliff.
“My neighborhood got money to fund our website,” Stepp said.
Other neighborhoods have received money to fund National Night Out events, refurbish old lamp posts, add sign toppers, pay for garden maintenance, add playground equipment and plant trees. Stepp said with all the recent construction in Oak Cliff, the area has lost a number of trees, so Heritage Oak Cliff has stepped up to fix that.
A special bonus on the tour is the newly-built house on a precipice above the Belmont Hotel, dramatically overlooking downtown. The house is LEED silver certified and has some of the best views in Dallas.
Heritage Oak Cliff Tour of Homes, Oct. 26 and 27 from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets are $40; $35 for members and $20 seniors. Tickets including the patron party on Oct. 24 are $75. Tickets available at HeritageOakCliff.org.