Ten days before Christmas we broke the news: The Dallas Independent School District has purchased the old Oak Cliff Christian Church with the intentions of razing the 94-year-old 10th Street structure to make way for an athletic complex accompanying the W.H. Adamson High School redo. But court hearings and negotiations involving the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League and DISD attorneys resulted in a compromise: If the OOCCL could find a taker for the church by August 15, the district would gladly pocket the $1.2 million and walk away.
Alas, there were few nibbles but no bites, and so, by year's end, the building's coming down. Which isn't to say there still isn't time to save at least some of the structure: Michael Amonett, president of the OOCCL, sent Unfair Park the league's newsletter, which says attorney John McCall (a past OOCCL president) and recently elected school board trustee Eric Cowan have worked out a deal whereby interested parties can get "just a piece" of the church for a "nominal fee." The pitch:
Want it? Want just the front and sides? Want to build your new building with brick that doesn't come in sheets? Make an offer and it might not be refused. ... So if you want a beautiful facade, you can buy this one for a nominal fee. You must formally offer by September 15 however you would have until December 31 to remove it.If you're so interested, e-mail Amonett or Monte Anderson. But one significant note: McCall tells Unfair Park this afternoon this will be handled via a bidding process. And they "would love it if you would take the whole thing and rebuild it somewhere else," he says -- meaning, don't show up with a chisel expecting to take little pieces of the church. At least, not yet: After the September 15 deadline, if there are no takers for the entire facade they'll consider selling off bits and pieces via the "miscellaneous smaller bids" the attorney expects will come in. Still, all offers have to be OK'd by DISD. Which is why, McCall says, "We're not going to even consider small or partial offers till the time for a full bid passes."
We don't know how many feet tall it is but would be happy to stand on the roof and hold the tape measure, that way we could see which lucky area could benefit from this beautiful piece of architecture.
This is the last chance for some form of this church to live on elsewhere ... as well as evade the landfill which as far from green or stainability as one could possibly go.
