Winnetka Heights was platted in 1908 for residential development and is Dallas’s largest historic district. Jefferson Boulevard runs diagonally across the district and forms the commercial heart of Oak Cliff to the east of Willomet Avenue. The neighborhood consists of early-twentieth-century residences, predominantly Craftsman bungalows and foursquare houses, most of which were speculative ventures based on pattern book models.
The Prairie Style Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts Building (1912; 401 N. Rosemont) was the house of oilman and Winnetka Heights investor J. P. Blake. The colorful Moderne Kessler Theater (1942, Raymond F. Smith; 1214 W. Davis) opened as a movie house and was acquired in 1945 by Gene Autry’s theater chain. A tornado in 1957 ended its movie life. A church and other businesses occupied the building until it was purchased in 2009 and rehabilitated (2010, Quimby McCoy) as a live entertainment venue. A tall, concave facade, responding to the corner site, enlivened with vertical green and cream stripes and a green, angled marquee advertise the theater.
Cannon’s English Village (1923, Lester N. Flint; 1310–1314 W. Davis) is a picturesque Old English–styled commercial block of plastered and half-timbered gables. The red brick first story has retail space, and apartments occupy the second floor.