Oak Cliff premium Old Oak Cliff Conservation League shows off history with home tour James RUsseLL | Staff Writer russell@dallasvoice.com
It takes a lot of work to show off other people’s homes, especially homes that took a lot of work to renovate. So imagine showing off other people’s renovated homes as annual fall home tour director for the expansive Old Oak Cliff Conservation League. The umbrella organization of 30 member neighborhood associations covers nearly 10,000 residences. What better way to manage the personalities and diversity of the region than form a committee? Philip Leven heads the committee charged with planning the league’s annual home tour, now in its 42nd year. Leven hasn’t been chair for that long — it’s only 10
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his second year — but the Hampton Hills resident said the process of picking and choosing entrants works. And it’s not that hard to get people to recommend potential sites for the tour. “We rely on people to recommend themselves or others, but we’re not above knocking on someone’s door [if we like their home],” he said, referring to the planning committee’s dedication to the tour. “We start early in the year, around March or April, and we’ll look at 15 to 20 homes and pick 10,” he said. The goal is to show off as much as diversity as possible in the neighborhoods. “It doesn’t have to be a historic home or a million-dollar home,” Leven said. “The home just has to be interesting.” (Cookie cutters need not apply.) Homes, however, do not have to be houses. In the past, tours have included condominiums, apartment buildings and even community and commercial spaces. “We’ve included churches if they have cool architecture, and commercial spaces [for the same reason],” he said. “We like to include good exam-
A potential development, pictured top in artist’s rendering, has residents of Oak Cliff concerned it will change the area’s character. Homes on the tour, above and top right on the next page, reflect the neighborhood’s character.