Standing on a patchy plot of grass in front of a red brick Victorian in Dallas in 2023, the structural engineers delivered what felt like a terminal diagnosis. Local restaurateur Shannon Wynne had purchased the crumbling historic home in the Cedars neighborhood in 2021 with his business partner, Casey McManemin. Prompted by a concerned neighbor who called to warn them that the house appeared to be physically falling over, the partners brought in experts to inspect the aging dwelling. The engineers concluded—almost immediately—that the structure was nearly beyond the point of repair.
Excessive water damage had taken its toll over the decades, a sidewall was leaning a full eight inches away from the rest of the building, and most shockingly, the load-bearing brick walls were sitting directly on the earth without the benefit of any traditional foundation. These alarming discoveries provided undeniable evidence of the 1903 property’s overwhelming deterioration. The lack of a proper foundation, combined with the volatile and shifting Texas soil, had caused parts of the historic home to move dramatically, threatening its overall structural integrity to such a degree that it at one point required exterior bracing just to remain standing.
Eager for an antidote to this architectural emergency, Wynne reached out to architect Russell Buchanan. The two men had successfully collaborated on other restoration projects in the past, and Wynne knew he was the right person for the job. "He was the only architect I had a relationship with who I thought would do an appropriate job," Wynne says. That professional trust proved to be the right decision. Buchanan swept into the project like a lifesaving sage, devising a solution that felt like an experimental medical treatment: conventionally untested, prudentially promising, and so far out of the ordinary that it just might work.
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The one-of-a-kind cure involved a two-in-one approach. Buchanan designed a contemporary aluminum-clad home featuring sleek, gray slatted siding, and then rebuilt the once-deteriorating brick Victorian property entirely inside this brand-new modern structure. "It’s marvelous," Wynne says of the final design.
Like the engineers who had inspected the site earlier, the architect had initially concluded that the historic home was simply too far gone for a simple, surface-level repair. In order to genuinely preserve the dwelling, Buchanan realized he would have to disassemble it completely and then put it back together on a proper, modern foundation. But once that radical fate became clear, it opened up the exciting possibility for something even more extraordinary.
"We agreed the best thing to do was to document it as carefully as possible—both photographically and dimensionally—and then disassemble it," Buchanan says. "That opened up the possibility of reassembling it in a more protected environment."
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The inspiration for this unprecedented approach came from Europe, where Buchanan had observed similar design concepts, as well as from the temporary protective structures commonly used to shield archaeological dig sites and sensitive historical ruins from the elements. "I realized there was a potential to combine the preservation of the original home in an environment that would protect the building," Buchanan explains. While the historic home could theoretically have been reassembled on its new foundation without any additional covering, adding this protective outer shell would shield it from the punishing sun, driving wind, heavy rain, and other weathering elements. "While this idea was out there," he notes, "I had never seen it quite to the scale of our project."
The team knew from the outset that they wanted to add significant square footage to the property, but they were not interested in creating a modern addition that merely mimicked or faked the historic architecture. In its finished state, the historic brick house takes up only about a third of the total interior area, leaving ample space for creative architectural experimentation and wide-open modern living.
Any other client might have found the ambitious plan far too extreme, but this was precisely why Wynne entrusted Buchanan with the project in the first place. He was actively looking for the kind of outside-the-box thinking capable of producing a concept as radical as a house-inside-a-house design. Wynne also wanted to make a definitive statement about protecting history and architectural heritage in Dallas. The home, which does not carry official landmark status and has no record of notable past owners or high-profile historical uses, is not the typical candidate for such a rigorous and costly historic preservation scheme.
By affording it the careful, meticulous treatment that is usually reserved only for the city’s most culturally prominent public buildings, Wynne, McManemin, and Buchanan are demonstrating the vital importance of protecting a city’s everyday architectural legacy. The striking exterior structure presents the Victorian home almost as a museum artifact, enclosed reverentially within a protective, display-case-like architectural box.
Executing the vision required a painstaking deconstruction process, stripping the original home down from the top. "Literally brick by brick," Buchanan says. The consummate design—including the meticulously detailed brick frieze—was thoroughly and exhaustively documented so that it could be faithfully recreated later. The team carefully pulled old iron nails out of the wood roof structure, carefully removed the original windows, doors, and dormers, and then systematically removed, cleaned, and cataloged every single brick, storing everything off-site until the new foundation and exterior shell were ready for reassembly. "It was not a typical demolition," Buchanan adds.
The front facade of the historic home is constructed from Abilene brick, a distinct variant manufactured in the historic Texas city of the same name. "The masons followed the drawings precisely and executed it with such pride in their craftsmanship," Buchanan says, praising the skilled labor involved. "The brick masons did a marvelous job reassembling the facade," Wynne echoes.
With the historic components safely cataloged off-site, the construction crew built a brand-new, stable foundation and erected the sleek exterior modern structure. Only then did they reassemble the historic building within its new, protected interior environment. The finished 3,800-square-foot design encompasses all of the home’s original building blocks, including the salvaged brick, structural wood beams, interior doors, and vintage windows.
Aside from a swapped bathroom and kitchen placement designed to accommodate a fully contemporary cooking and sanitation space, the floor plan remains entirely original. Replacements for any historic fixtures or materials that simply could not be saved were thoughtfully and rigorously sourced to date strictly between 1895 and 1905, ensuring strict historical accuracy. Stepping outside the original brick framing of the Victorian places visitors directly inside a massive, gallery-like expanse defined by pristine white walls and glossy terrazzo flooring.
The interior of the restored Victorian portion even includes the home’s original fireplace in its exact original location. While the completed project may visually resemble a giant child’s dollhouse left securely inside its original packaging, it is entirely functional as a living space. "We built it as a residence," Wynne says. "It has a primary bath, powder room, and primary bedroom."
While Wynne and McManemin are still carefully evaluating what ultimate purpose the property will serve—noting that they could easily envision it functioning as an intimate private museum, an exclusive event space, or the headquarters for a non-profit organization—it was an absolute imperative for them that the structure remain genuinely livable.
"Our goal was to preserve an important architectural artifact, but do it in a way that doesn’t try to replicate it," Buchanan says, summarizing the philosophy of the build. "It’s of its own time."
Should someone eventually opt to make the property their personal home, perhaps the most unique daily challenge will be interior decoration, particularly within the physically ambiguous transition space that exists between the Victorian’s preserved exterior walls and the modern structure’s sleek interior shell. This liminal zone is frequently what startles visitors the most when they first tour the completed building. "They’re like, ‘Am I inside?’ ‘Am I outside?’" Wynne says with a laugh.
Yet once that initial shock wears off, he hopes visitors and onlookers internalize the core message behind the daring design: that this modest red brick Victorian is worthy not just of a second look, but of an entirely second chance at life. "We wanted to do a new spin on restoration that shows that you’ve sometimes got to go to exhausting lengths to protect something that’s important," Wynne concludes.
