Wilson Block

Six frame houses and their outbuildings make up this small Dallas district near the central business district, on the block bounded by Swiss Avenue, Oak Street, Floyd Street and Liberty Street. The largest, at 2922 Swiss Avenue, was designed in 1899 as the home of Fred and Henrietta Wilson. It is a Queen Anne house with a conical turret, many gables and dormers, and bands of patterned shingles. Three smaller houses on Swiss Avenue were built as rental property, and two small houses on Floyd Street probably served as servants' quarters. Together they share clapboard siding, hipped roofs, corbeled chimneys and classical porch details. The land lay in an area where La Reunion colonists and their descendants resettled, and Henrietta Wilson came from a colonist family. Fred Wilson was a Park Board member and civic leader. The nomination calls the group the most cohesive turn-of-the-century ensemble in Dallas. At the time of listing the houses were vacant, and one had been severely damaged by fire.