Otto and Norma Beutel married in 1916 and moved into a home on Hood St. in Dallas. Along with Norma’s mother and brother, the household soon added a daughter, Betty G, and a son, Jack Allender Beutel. In 1928, the four members of the young family moved to 4338 Vandelia St. in Perry Heights. Otto …
Category Archives: Houses with History
How Luby’s Really Began
Luby’s Cafeterias and Dallas go together like peas and carrots. While Luby’s own company history calls San Antonio the birthplace of the Company in 1945, the reality is that there were Luby’s Cafeterias all over the Dallas area for years before then. So why the disconnect? Not surprisingly, the answer lies in family dynamics. Earl …
Leader of the Band
Paul and Margarita Guerrero and their six children lived in New Braunfels and all played in the family band in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. They played dance-band music and Mexican boleros as they traveled regionally around Texas. The father, Paul Sr. also played trumpet and valve trombone in many top Afro-American bands, such as …
We love our park, but who was Craddock?
Our beautiful park, as you know, was donated to the City of Dallas by the Craddock family in 1922 when Gordon Perry platted Perry Heights. It was the first privately donated tract of land for the purpose of a public park in the City’s history. The land was just short of 10 acres and it was …
The Preservationist
Catherine (“Cay”) and Nathaniel (“Key”) Kolb moved into the house at 4402 Rawlins in 1964 and in it raised three boys and three girls. They had met in Dallas in 1958 while Cay, who had just graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, was working as a buyer for Sanger-Harris and Key had just graduated …
The Opera Stars in the Kitchen
If you were lucky enough to get an invitation, your senses would be overwhelmed with garlic, lemons, and sweet oregano while listening to the chic couple talk about their adventures living all over Europe, singing in the most beautiful opera houses, and probably tennis. Plato and Dorothy Karayanis loved to entertain in their condominium at …
The Collector
Edgar Lee Smith moved into the house at 4415 Vandelia with his mother, Ethel Smith, in 1955 when he was 28 years old. He had just received his MA from the University of Texas after graduating from SMU with his BA. Before he could obtain a higher education, he served in the Navy during World …
Perry Heights Home of Oak Lawn Pioneer
Llora Cullum Pierce moved into this home at 4322 Hall Street in 1924 when she was 59, with her three children after her husband died after two years of ill health in 1923. Her husband was Rev. John Foster Pierce who taught at Southern Methodist University since 1920 after preaching all across Texas in various …
The Flamenco Genius on Vandelia Street
Eddie Freeman was a noted English jazz musician of the first half of the 20th century (1909-1957) and a transcriber and teacher of flamenco music in the latter half (1957- 1987) while living in Perry Heights in Dallas. Edward J. Freeman was born in London and ran away from home at 14 and survived by playing …
Edward Gordon Perry, Sr.
Edward Gordon Perry grew up in a little town called Woodville, Tennessee, about two hours east of Memphis. As a young man in 1908, he moved to El Paso and was the first businessman in El Paso to begin selling Fords in 1912 (the model T type) along with his brother-in-law. Three years later he …