Fence Installation in Old East Dallas, TX

The housing stock here sets the whole job. These are deep, narrow city lots with detached rear garages, alley access, and front porches that sit close to the sidewalk. Mature pecans and live oaks shade most yards, and root systems near the property line change where and how a post can go in.

A fence that works on a new build in the suburbs looks wrong on Swiss Avenue. Too tall, too solid, or the wrong material and it fights the house instead of framing it. The homes in Munger Place and Junius Heights were designed to face the street with open front yards. Slap a six-foot privacy wall across the front and you've broken the whole rhythm of the block — and on a designated street, you won't get it approved anyway.

We start by reading the house. A Craftsman bungalow wants a low cedar picket or an open iron fence with square posts. A Prairie home wants clean horizontal lines and heavier proportions. A Tudor wants something a little more formal. Then we fit that to your lot, your trees, and your district's rules.

This is the part that trips people up, so here's the straight version.

Swiss Avenue and Munger Place are city-designated historic districts. Junius Heights is one too. That means most exterior changes you can see from the street — including a new fence, a replacement, or a front-yard change — need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Dallas Landmark Commission before you build. It's not optional, and skipping it can mean a stop-work order or tearing out finished work.

Swiss Avenue is the strictest of the group. The district guidelines are specific about height, material, placement, and design, and the front yard gets the most scrutiny. Open, see-through fencing like wrought iron is favored there over solid panels, especially street-facing.

• We build to the published district guidelines, not around them.
• We can prepare the drawings, materials list, and specs your Certificate of Appropriateness application needs.
• We'll tell you before you commit whether a design is likely to pass — no surprises after the deposit.
• On non-designated blocks in Peak's Addition and the rest of East Dallas, the process is lighter and we can move faster.

If your street is designated, treat approval as part of the timeline. Build time is a few days. Getting the paperwork through the Commission adds lead time up front, and we plan for it.

Period-correct is the whole point in Old East Dallas. Here's what actually fits.

Wrought iron and ornamental

The original iron in this neighborhood is some of the best in Dallas. Straight top rails, simple pickets, modest finials — nothing fussy. We install new iron that matches the era and restore the antique runs still standing on these blocks. Open iron is also the easiest style to get approved in front yards on Swiss Avenue. See iron fence installation for what we build.

Cedar picket and privacy

Western Red Cedar is our standard, and it's the right wood for a historic home — it ages into the neighborhood instead of standing out. Low front pickets that respect the open-yard look, taller board-on-board in the back for real privacy. Details matter here: cap and trim, post caps, and picket profiles that echo the house. See wood fence installation and privacy fence installation.

Gates that read as original

An alley gate off the rear drive, or a front walk gate that matches an iron fence — we build both to the same period logic as the fence. Add an operator for the drive if you want it; see automatic gate installation and repairs.

Full range of work across these neighborhoods, built for old houses and old lots.

• New cedar fencing — front pickets, side and rear privacy, era-correct details on Western Red Cedar.
• Iron installation and restoration — new ornamental runs plus repair of original wrought iron, matching pattern and spacing.
• Historic-district design and documentation — drawings and specs to support your Certificate of Appropriateness.
• Gates — alley, walk, and driveway gates matched to your fence and home; automatic options available.
• Fence repair — rotted posts, leaning sections, storm damage, and rust on antique iron. Honest calls on repair versus replacement.
• Staining and sealing — natural and semi-transparent finishes that let cedar weather into the block.

Every install goes in on galvanized-steel posts and is backed by our 5-year workmanship warranty. Steel posts matter more than usual here — the clay soil under East Dallas moves with the seasons, and a wood post in the ground is the first thing to fail.

A few things specific to building in this part of Dallas:

• Alleys. Most of these lots back to an alley with a detached garage. Rear gates and clean access to the drive are part of nearly every job, and we set posts clear of the alley easement.
• Old property lines. Century-old lots don't always match what people assume. We locate the line before we dig so your fence sits where it belongs and doesn't start a dispute with a neighbor.
• Root systems. The tree canopy is half the reason people love these streets. We work around established roots instead of hacking through them, adjusting post spacing so the tree — and the fence — both last.
• Grade and slope. Older yards settle and slope. We rack or step panels to follow the grade instead of leaving gaps under the fence.

If you're just outside Old East Dallas, we cover the surrounding areas too — see our work in Lakewood and around White Rock Lake.

Ready to fence a historic home the right way? Call Dallas Fence Company at (469) 809-2424 for a free onsite estimate. We'll read the house, check your district's rules, and give you a design that fits the block.