Turner House, at 401 N. Rosemont in Oak Cliff, is receiving a major facelift. The modified Prairie Four-square home was built in 1912 by J. P. Blake, one of the four original developers of Winnetka Heights. It has been the home of the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts since 1957. The house is structurally very sound, but due to water infiltration, the front porch roof has been deteriorating for many years.

By the end of 2008, the damage had truly reached a critical point. In December, the Society made a decision to go forward with a complete reconstruction of the porch. Ballantyne Roofing Company, which has worked on many historic structures in Oak Cliff and the greater Dallas area, was selected to do this work. After obtaining the necessary Certificate of Appropriateness and permits from the city, they began work in their shop during the holidays, preparing structural components, and then started work at Turner House on January 12th.

The ceramic tile was removed, the entire wood structure is being dismantled and a new structure is being built. The project is to be completed by February 20th. Turner House is closed for rentals during the construction, but will be open again for hosting private and community events starting February 21st. This project is part of the Society’s long range plan for completely restoring Turner House by its 100th anniversary in 2012.

The mission of the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts is to preserve Turner House as a historic venue for celebrating life events, fostering community connections, preserving history and promoting the arts. To learn more about the non-profit Society and Turner House, visit turnerhouse.org.

Rachel Hoehn took several beautiful photographs of the early January winter glaze in Winnetka Heights. Check out the gallery here.

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Originally posted by Vicki Fitzgerald

Researching the history of your home can be rewarding and interesting, and also frustrating. Take for instance 318 N. Rosemont.

The home was built sometime between 1912 & 1915 for J. G. Webster, vice president and general manager of Webster Wholesale Grocers. He lived there until 1920 when he moved to Highland Park. The address was listed as 302 N. Rosemont.

J. P. Webster moved into 402 N. Rosemont in 1920 and the address was listed as 402 N. Rosemont as it stands today.

302 N. Rosemont was north of 8th Street. In 1924 302 N. Rosemont shows up as south of 8th St.

Until 1937 the Webster home on the corner was next door to 230 N. Rosemont. The lot to that house was divided and another house was built. In 1939 302 N. Rosemont became 318 N. Rosemont. In 1950 the house and land was divided and the address 318 ½ was added to the city directory.

Many Winnetka Heights addresses have changed, and it is often difficult to trace the homes’ roots.

If you are interested in tracing the history of your home, you may e-mail Vicki Fitzgerald – punkypu (at) swbell (dot) net. I have some history on a lot of the homes in our neighborhood.

If you want to feel the experience of finding out about your home on your own, here are some tips:

• Go downtown to the Central Library, seventh floor.
• Ask for city directory microfilm for the year showing on your tax certificate.
• Starting with that date, go backwards until your address shows up.
• Ask for the building permit book for that year.

Looking through the permit book is tedious, but you can gather important data.
From that information, you can learn who built your house, when, and how many owners had it before you.