Fireplace Design and Remodel in Old Preston Hollow

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Old Preston Hollow is the original. The blocks between Walnut Hill and Lupton, Douglas and Preston, where Ralph Stichter built his first two estates in 1922 and Ira DeLoache carved the first formal lots out of a 56-acre farm in 1924, hold what is still the most architecturally diverse and historically significant estate fabric in north Dallas. The Charles Dilbeck homes from the 1930s and early 1940s set the original standard, the mid-century houses that filled in the remaining lots through the 1950s and early 1960s pushed Dallas residential architecture forward, and the rebuilds and major renovations of the last twenty-five years have been carried out by some of the most serious architects and builders working anywhere in the country. A fireplace project inside one of these houses is a project that has to meet a very specific bar — one set by the original architect, by the subsequent renovations, and by the neighborhood’s collective memory of what the right work looks like. TSE’s Old Preston Hollow practice was built to meet that bar. Speak with our design team at ☎ 214-444-8094.

Old Preston Hollow occupies the original section of the larger Preston Hollow neighborhood, mostly bounded by Walnut Hill Lane to the north, Lupton Drive to the south, Douglas Avenue to the east, and Preston Road to the west. The 75230 zip code anchors the neighborhood, with portions running into 75225 and 75220 along the southern and western edges. Ralph Stichter purchased the first significant acreage at the northeast corner of Preston and Walnut Hill in the early 1920s and built two estates there in 1922, before Ira DeLoache and Al Joyce began the formal development that produced most of the original housing stock. The bulk of the original estate construction happened in the 1930s, with Charles Dilbeck designing many of the most architecturally significant homes — including the Tudor-styled E.J. Solon residence that is generally considered the beginning of the Old Preston Hollow estate tradition.

The neighborhood today holds a broader range of architectural styles than almost any other premium Dallas pocket: original Dilbeck Tudor and English revivals, Mediterranean and French Eclectic estates from the same period, mid-century Colonial and Georgian homes built into the 1950s, mid-century modern houses on the larger lots that opened up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and a substantial inventory of major rebuilds and renovations completed by leading Dallas and out-of-state architects over the last twenty-five years. Lot sizes are generally an acre or more, the tree canopy is mature and protected, and home values regularly exceed $2M, with the larger estates trading well into the multi-million range. Resident demographics skew toward established Dallas families, principals of major firms, and a steady inflow of buyers who chose Old Preston Hollow specifically because the architectural fabric and the lot scale produce an experience that newer Preston Hollow expansions cannot replicate.

The architectural diversity of Old Preston Hollow means that a fireplace remodel here begins with a careful read of which architectural conversation the home is participating in — and the conversations are genuinely different. A Charles Dilbeck Tudor estate from 1937 has a fireplace tradition rooted in steep stepped masonry, hand-carved oak mantels, and tall narrow openings that anchor a formal living room. A Mediterranean or French chateau-style estate from the same period has a different fireplace entirely — typically a cast stone surround with hand-formed detailing, a smooth plaster or limestone surround, and proportions that read as continental rather than English. The mid-century Colonial and Georgian homes filled in the remaining 1950s lots have yet another grammar — formal openings flanked by built-in millwork, marble or limestone surrounds, and mantels detailed in a Federal or Adamesque vocabulary.

The mid-century modern houses on the larger lots — many of them designed by O’Neil Ford collaborators, Howard Meyer, and other Dallas modernists — were built around horizontal fireplaces as the room’s organizing element, and the major contemporary rebuilds of the last twenty-five years have introduced linear fireplaces, large-format limestone surrounds, and the kind of high-craft contemporary detailing that requires shop drawings rather than catalog selection. None of these conditions are well-served by a generic fireplace remodel approach, and the fireplaces in Old Preston Hollow have generally been altered at least once and often twice in the decades since they were built — sometimes well, often badly. Our role on a project is to read what is original, what was added, what is worth keeping, and what needs to be returned to a state the home’s architecture can recognize as its own.

Our Old Preston Hollow work clusters around four specialties. Period-sympathetic restoration on the original 1930s and 40s estates is our largest service line — work on the Dilbeck Tudors, the Mediterranean and French Eclectic homes, and the early Colonial and Georgian estates, where the original fireplace details have either survived in part or been altered in ways that need to be carefully undone. We source reclaimed Texas limestone, Lueders stone, hand-cast cast stone, period brick, and the specialty millwork that this work requires, and we maintain field measurements and archival references for the most common original mantel profiles.

Old Preston Hollow has a relatively small ecosystem of architects, interior designers, and builders who work at the level the neighborhood expects, and most of them know each other. We have built our practice on those relationships — by being the fireplace specialist who shows up at the architect’s coordination meeting prepared, who produces shop drawings that integrate without revisions, who does not propose alternatives to the architect’s specification, and who completes the work at the level of craft the rest of the project has been executed to. We have collaborated with architects whose firms have been doing Old Preston Hollow work across decades, with the next generation of Dallas firms doing the contemporary new builds on the larger lots, and with out-of-state architects brought in by owners for specific projects. On any architect-led project, our standard practice is to execute exactly what the architect has specified, source from the supplier the architect has chosen, and produce shop drawings that match the construction documents to the line weight.

An Old Preston Hollow project begins with a 90-minute on-site consultation, during which we meet with the homeowner and the project architect or interior designer where applicable, read the existing fireplace condition, take field measurements, and discuss design direction. We follow that with a written design proposal that includes preliminary drawings, material specifications and sourcing, and a fixed-fee design fee that credits against the project. Design development runs four to six weeks for a discrete remodel, six to ten weeks for an architect-led restoration, and twelve to sixteen weeks for a new-build coordination integrated with the architect’s construction document set. Construction itself runs four to ten weeks depending on the scope, with hand-carved replacement millwork, custom cast stone, or significant chimney structural work extending the timeline. We stage all dust-producing work behind temporary partitions, protect adjacent finishes, and complete a final commissioning with the homeowner and project architect present. Most Old Preston Hollow projects deliver within six to ten months from initial consultation to final walkthrough.

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Yes. Period-sympathetic restoration on the original 1930s and 40s Dilbeck homes is one of our core service categories. We source reclaimed Texas limestone and Lueders stone, hand-carve replacement mantels from period profiles, and install sealed-combustion fireboxes that pass current code without altering the visible architectural moment.

Yes. We rebuild the firebox to current code while holding the exact horizontal opening dimensions the original architect specified, and we re-source the original surround material — typically travertine, book-matched stone, or specific clay brick.

Yes. Architect-led work is one of our largest service lines in Old Preston Hollow. We integrate at the schematic phase, attend coordination meetings, and produce shop drawings that match the architect’s construction documents.

Yes. We maintain relationships with three regional quarries, two specialty masonry suppliers, and several reclaimed-material yards that carry the period materials Old Preston Hollow restorations require.

Yes. Outdoor fireplaces and integrated kitchen-and-fireplace pavilions have grown into a steady category for us in Old Preston Hollow as the larger lots have been re-landscaped to include serious outdoor rooms.

Six to ten months from initial consultation to final walkthrough on a typical architect-led project, depending on scope and on whether hand-carved replacement millwork or custom cast stone is required.

Call our design team at ☎ 214-444-8094 to schedule an on-site consultation.

Speak with our design team about an Old Preston Hollow fireplace project. Call ☎ 214-444-8094 or schedule a consultation online.

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