Dallas

One of Dallas' Oldest Homes, Built in the Cedars in the 1880s, Ready for Its New Life on a New Lot

An old Dallas home is getting new life…and a new address. The Rosenfield House at 1423 West Griffin is moving.

The Queen Anne style home was built in 1885. It is one of the last vestiges of the Dallas Jewish community. The house is more commonly called “The Blue House” is visible from I-30 south of downtown. It was on a demolition course, until developer Mark Martinek stepped up to preserve the old home and move it a few blocks away to the corner of Browder and Beaumont in The Cedars.

“Most people think about when they’re going to move out of their house, they’re not going to move the house,” said David Preziosi of Preservation Dallas. “It definitely would have been easier to just demolish the house, put a parking lot down here, but then we would have lost an important part of our architectural history, our cultural history.”

The house is being separated into four parts so it can make the tight squeeze under power lines and down city streets to its new lot.

“I think preservation has great impact on how people view their town, their culture,” said Forrest Branan, who stopped to take photos of the moving progress. Branan is studying for his architecture license. “Putting quite a bit of work into it,” Branan said looking at the dissected home. “Almost enough to build an entire new one!”

Once loaded for the few blocks trip, the journey should take about a week at a snail’s pace and an estimated cost of about $200,000.

CLICK HERE to read more from our media partners at The Dallas Morning News.

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