DALLAS — The first time they came for the Aldredge House’s state historic marker in the summer of 2020, they broke the cast aluminum sign in half, leaving the parts on the grand mansion’s front lawn.

What You Need To Know

  • The Aldredge House dates back to 1917 and was the first home in Dallas to be designated a historical house museum

  • The house is in the Swiss Avenue Historic District, a 2.5 mile stretch of some of Dallas’ most elegant mansions

  • The Aldredge House has had its State of Texas Historical Marker vandalized once last August and then stolen on June 6, 2021, and police are still searching for what could be three suspects

Almost a year later, the criminals struck again, this time removing the sign completely, pole included, in the early hours of June 6.

Police are still looking for the thieves. But the question remains, who has it out for the 104-year old house museum on Dallas’ elegant Swiss Avenue?

To be sure, many of the neighbors living on Swiss Avenue, a nearly 2.5 mile stretch of some of Dallas’ most elegant and historic mansions, have not been pleased with the recent goings-on at the Aldredge House.  

The house, built in 1917 in the French Eclectic style, was one of the first mansions constructed in what was to be an elite enclave of grand homes for Dallas’ wealthiest families. The neighborhood was originally called Munger Place and Swiss Avenue was to be its crown jewel, according to the Swiss Avenue Historic District’s website. 

Indeed, the mansions along Swiss Avenue are grand and elegant, and, during the past 100 years, have housed some of Dallas’ most notable families, including two Dallas mayors and several Texas politicians, the founders of the Neiman-Marcus Department Store, businessmen and lawyers, and of course, many, many socialites. 

At the beginning of the neighborhood’s development, several homes were owned by the relatives of the man who envisioned the elite neighborhood, Robert S. Munger. Aldredge House was owned by Munger’s niece, Rena Munger Aldredge, and her husband, George N. Aldredge.

Today, the neighborhood is the Swiss Avenue Historic District, the first neighborhood in Dallas to receive such a designation. The Aldredge House became Dallas’ first historic house museum and, in 1974, Rena Aldredge left the mansion to the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance and Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to health education. The Alliance also pledged to maintain the Aldredge House and preserve it as a museum and a window into Swiss Avenue and Dallas’ history. 

The mansion can also be rented out for board meetings, fundraising events and, as in recent years, weddings. Lots of weddings.

It’s the latter that spurred several irritated neighbors to speak out during a June 10 Dallas City Council meeting, in which the members were discussing the renewal of a special-use permit for the Aldredge House to continue hosting such events. Several neighbors complained about the parking issues and noise that come with the weddings and other events hosted at the mansion. Those against it said they opposed having a commercial property operating in a residential neighborhood. 

“We vehemently opposed the original application. They sought to expand the hours until 11 p.m. Who does that? Not a good neighbor,” David Dean was quoted last month in the Lakewood Advocate as saying in the council hearing. 

In the end, the council voted to renew the Aldredge House special-use permit until 2024 under the mansion’s designation as a Planned Development District. The permit comes with limitations, however. The Aldredge House may host events 36 times per year, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

It wasn’t the first time neighbors had complained about the noise from the Aldredge House’s hosted events. There have been ruffled feathers about the noise from weddings and other parties as far back as 2014 when the house hosted as many as 48 weddings in one year. 

“There are still hard feelings on both sides, but the purpose of this renewal is to buy time for both sides to work together to figure out a more permanent solution,” District 14 Councilman David Blewett told the Lakewood Advocate. “For now, it’s my belief [that] it’s the best option for the neighborhood and to maintain peace.”

In the meantime, there is still the matter of the mansion’s missing state historical marker. A public information officer with the Dallas Police Dept. said this week that no arrests had been made. The Lakewood Advocate reported that police were looking for three men, aged 15 to 25, who may have been involved in the sign’s disappearance.

“The marker theft makes us all very sad,” a board member of the Alliance said. “It’s an elevated offense since it’s a state marker!”