This blog was rebranded over a year ago to “Life on Beacon” and I realized I’ve still never shared the inspiration behind the name – our Junius Heights bungalow.
I have a crazy love of historic homes, so when an airplane bungalow in one of my favorite historic neighborhoods came on the market, I dropped all intentions of living with my parents for a bit while transitioning my life back to Dallas and purchased it.
Fast forward a few years (and a husband and baby), and we’re still in love with our little slice of Old East Dallas. We’ve made little upgrades to fit our personal style and revive the historic charm of the house that were lost after years of renters – and we have a bunch more that are in progress or planned.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Our home sits within Munger Place, however it’s been absorbed into the Junius Heights historic district, in large part because it was geographically separated from Lower Munger Place and was developed a number of years after LMP (Lower Munger Place is what is now known in Dallas as the Munger Place Historic District; more here).
The Junius Heights Historic District contains about 700 homes, many of which are Craftsman-style homes built between 1906 and 1940. It was named This Old House’s Best Old House Neighborhoods for Families a few years after its historic designation!
THE HOUSE
Our house dates back to 1915, when building was commissioned by JR Eldridge who developed our street and one block over. The house has a really fascinating history, which I’ll get into in another (likely longer) post.
Our Junius Heights bungalow was written up as “a rare ‘airplane bungalow‘”, published the day after I submitted my offer on the popular Dallas real estate blog, Candy’s Dirt. The style is a subset of Craftsman homes, with a sweeping top roofline that mimics the wings of a plane.
The home has been expanded at least once to add a first floor master, and underwent extensive interior renovations before we purchased it in 2015. The original garage was torn down at some point over the years and a larger garage with small apartment was added in its place sometime after 1940. We tore down that garage and built a new 2-story structure (garage on the first floor, apartment on the second) starting in 2019.
In total, the house is a little over 2,000 square feet in the main building, and an additional 500 in the detached carriage house. It’s small but perfect for our little family. We love its history and unique elements – and even more, we love the value we’re able to add to the property thru lots of little (and not so little) projects!
Follow along with some of our historic home upgrades
Inspiration for a Small Bathroom
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