Atwell Design

We love the Dallas Museum of Art! 🖼️ Two of our best Atwell ambassadors (aka "Outwellers"), Jade and Caitie, are active members of the DMA - so much so that they've recently been featured on signage! They were photographed at the Frida Kahlo exhibition opening last year, flaunting their member tote bags. You might also see the photo of Jade and Caitie on the DMA's website, and in some of their emails. We love seeing Jade and Caitie featured in their marketing efforts, and we love supporting the local art scene wherever we can.

Remember, members get more!

Dallas, we have a problem.

Our city council is considering ill-advised initiatives to demolish our City Hall behind closed doors to potentially make way for a lavish entertainment district. This will line the pockets of local and out-of-state development investors and cost Dallasites hundreds of millions.

We have a problem with this.

For nearly 35 years, we've been proud to align with the values of our clients and this is no exception. For 15 of those years our office was located two blocks from City Hall where we witnessed this icon serve as a public hub for city-wide activities and an anchor to the southern CBD. We are privileged to have clients in architecture, preservation and non-profit sectors with vast expertise in this area. Without exception, they support keeping City Hall from both fiscal and preservation perspectives.

We're taking a stand. Please join us. Take 30 seconds to send an email to your council person, as well as all members of city council and the mayor. Tell them to stop a hasty vote Dallas could forever regret and could cost us financially, and to evaluate options for robust development that preserves the I.M. Pei-designed gem we own.

It's not just possible: It's smart. Click here to act now. https://actnow.savedallascityhall.com/act-now

Follow Save Dallas City Hall to stay informed.

Photo Credits: 2-Thorney Lieberman, 3,4-Robert C Lautman, 5-Balthazar Korab, 6,7-Leonid Furmansky, 8,9-ModTexas, 10-Dallas archive, 2-7 courtesy of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Hey! Did you know May is Bike Month? Atwell team members Morgan and Rob often bike to the office (and, yeah, Morgan lives in Richardson, so this is no small feat!) Naturally, they like to keep their helmets on in case of flying expletives.

Fun fact: we inherited our office from "Mr Bike" himself: Bud Melton, designer of The Katy Trail…and WE designed the capital campaign that funded it many years ago.


Robert Tharp
Bud

We were thrilled to work with Preservation Dallas to develop the program for their annual Preservation Awards held at the iconic Longhorn Ballroom! Kristin and Morgan were lucky enough to attend courtesy of our clients Nancy McCoy and her team of preservation architects at Treanor Dallas. McCoy and team won multiple awards, including one for a gorgeous Dilbeck owned by one of our Dilbeck Conservancy clients. Our friend and collaborator Mark Birnbaum was also honored with a special Preservation Education Award for his significant repertoire of preservation-focused films. Big congratulations to all of these deserving award winners.

Preservation Dallas Dilbeck Architecture Conservancy

Fighting Childhood Hunger with the North Texas Food Bank | Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel is uniting with law firms across North Texas to combat childhood hunger and food insecurity. Support our efforts by donating to the North Texas Food Bank today. During April, the firm’s attorneys and staff are taking part in the North Texas Food Bank’s (NTFB) Food From...

What a great cause — and a great firm! Donate now!

Fighting Childhood Hunger with the North Texas Food Bank | Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel is uniting with law firms across North Texas to combat childhood hunger and food insecurity. Support our efforts by donating to the North Texas Food Bank today. During April, the firm’s attorneys and staff are taking part in the North Texas Food Bank’s (NTFB) Food From...

Oh, the synergy! Our A Field Guide To American Houses by Virginia Savage McAlester client collaborates with our bestie and referrer modtexas. Who could ask for anything more!?


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Posted • Let’s learn more about this fabulous 1958 time capsule, designed by Don Duncan, with !

Written by preservation icon (and Dallasite) Virginia Savage McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses is an essential tool (I keep mine in the car for easy access). The book tells us that Ranch-style homes originated in the 1930s in California and became ubiquitous in the postwar housing boom of the 1950s and 60s. Their growth was directly related to the use of automobiles and the expansion of the suburbs where it was possible to have sprawling designs on wider lots.

Loosely inspired by early Spanish Colonial design, Ranches were promoted by California builder Cliff May and soon found their way into influential shelter magazines like House Beautiful. “These same magazines promoted a casual family-oriented lifestyle for postwar families… and the Ranch became the favored way of experiencing this informality. Described as ‘middle of the road modern’ and ‘modern inside, traditional outside,’ the Ranch was also considered, both by lending institutions and builders, to be more acceptable to the American home-buying public than more dramatic modern designs.”

This fine specimen in Coleman – which is available to rent as – is straight out of The Field Guide’s chapter on Ranches, with its broad profile, picture windows, off-centered front door, attached garage, low masonry planters, sliding glass doors, back patio, etc.

To learn more about identifying styles of houses, follow our friends at and get your own copy!

📷: Stardust Retreat. History: A Field Guide to American Houses.

❤️ modTEXAS is a statewide community service project. We’re crowdsourcing the largest collection of Texas design worth preserving. Use to contribute and explore!

Words of wisdom for Dallas about our client Dilbeck Architecture Conservancy that we can really stand behind. This article says it all—and has a nice little shoutout to us for branding this exciting organization! Big thanks to Karen Eubank and CandysDirt.com for such a detailed and important overview in advance of last month's highly successful Four Sisters Home Tour. We're still high on the buzz!

https://candysdirt.com/2024/05/17/the-dilbeck-architecture-conservancy-launches-with-an-extraordinary-tour/

How much fun to be a sponsor and marketing partner for the Dilbeck Architecture Conservancy! Helping usher this organization into the public eye and shine a light on these iconic Dallas homes at their inaugural event has been a thrill. From the keepsake tour booklet, to signage and social media promotion, to the The Dallas Morning News Op-Ed by Dilbeck expert Willis Winters - our job is made easy when we work with such inspiring homes and the enthusiasts who lovingly preserve them
Bonus round: We spied this gorgeous edition of A Field Guide To American Houses by Virginia Savage McAlester, another Atwell client, in one of the Four Sisters!