A Tale of Two Historic Garland Houses: One a huge national success story, the other an eyesore and a bureaucratic and political quagmire

(First in a series of three)

The Pace House 2017 ready for its home-tour guests

The Tinsley-Lyles House after being lowered onto its tall foundation

 

This is a tale of two city-owned, vintage Garland houses that reflect a valuable part of the city's story in the early days of its history. 

Four years ago both were threatened with demolition to make way for more apartments near Garland's City Hall. The city was faced with highly publicized crisis about their future.

Today, one house (top picture) is now privately owned. Moved to a new location, it is listed as a "Contributing" structure in Garland's first National Register Historic District, awarded by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Beautifully refurbished, the house now is an income-producing asset for its owners in the near-town Travis College Hill addition. For three years as a residential property, it has produced a commendable amount of tax revenue for the City of Garland.

Annually, at least 500 admirers pour through this dwelling, the Pace House, as part of a public home tour, where guests glimpse an authentic farmhouse from the Texas frontier. Daily, visitors ease up to the curb alongside it at 317 South 11th Street, sometimes appreciatively pausing their cars to take photos. Others stop by on foot as they pass through to their destinations.

Its restoration is featured in an award-winning documentary that has been viewed by many thousands in the U.S. as well as internationally and has brought great acclaim to our city.

The other house (bottom picture), snared four years later in the quagmire of Garland city politics, represents a boondoggle. City Councilmember Anita Goebel of District 2 once estimated that the City of Garland has already shelled out about $330,000 on the dwelling. Recently, the Garland city manager's office released figures showing the total to be $316,028.18. Earlier Anita and other councilmembers signed off on a city appropriation of $179,000 for the project. Now the mayor, some city councilmembers, and other city officials are wanting to spend another $75,000 just to begin the process of restoring the house. Nobody knows for sure what the total cost eventually will be. Nor have they said publicly how the house will be used.

This second house, the Tinsley-Lyles House, is situated near the downtown Garland Central Public Library next to the city's railroad car and depot occupied by the Landmark Society, which focuses on maintaining photographs, files, and other records and memorabilia of Garland's past. The Tinsley-Lyles House was built by William A. Tinsley in the latter part of the 1800s and was purchased by R.H. Lyles in 1902. Moved from its original site at Austin and First Streets, it is one of Garland's oldest remaining dwellings.

Today, the Tinsley-Lyles House sits boarded up and is subject to decay while city staff members struggle to keep homeless residents out and hope and pray a fire never occurs there. Its dilapidated condition regularly prompts questions, "What is going to be done with that house?" visible from the rail line, Main Street, and other significant rapidly improving, visual parts of Downtown Garland.

The Tinsley-Lyles House is NOT situated in the new Downtown Garland National Register Historic District (mostly the Downtown Square and some buildings surrounding it). Where it sits now, it has little to no chance of ever being added to the National Register of Historic Places. Its foundation was built up artificially high because it sits over a box culvert—prompting jokes and snickers about the not-so-historic, oversized foundation. Historic preservation architects in Dallas laughingly say when the house is eventually moved again, the current massive concrete foundation should be converted into a new but small city coliseum. Others not-so-jokingly say it could be a new city swimming pool.

The bottom line is, the Tinsley-Lyles House is an eyesore, a mess, a bureaucratic quagmire, a political hot spot—and sits begging for the community to come together, set aside petty partisan politics, and find a workable solution that will lift it above the fray. The key question is, can it ever be something meaningful for the city's inner core that will help draw people to the downtown area?

In the next column, I will address "How Did the City of Garland Get into This Mess Anyway?", and then in a third and final column, "How Does the City of Garland Get Out of This Boondoggle?"