Preston Hollow

Preston Hollow sits in North Dallas, just north of University Park, and it has always felt a little set apart from the rest of the city. Wooded lots, winding streets, and houses placed well back from the road give it a quiet, almost rural character that is rare this close to the center of Dallas.

A Neighborhood That Used to Be Its Own Town

Preston Hollow was incorporated as its own municipality in 1939 and stayed independent until 1945, when residents voted to join the city of Dallas. The name comes from the wooded creek hollows running west from Preston Road. Developer Ira DeLoache began carving the first lots out of former farmland in the 1920s, and the small real estate office he built later served as the town hall. It still stands today as Ebby’s Little White House.

The Estate Area

The land that made up the original town is still called the Estate area, bounded roughly by Preston Road, Walnut Hill Lane, Midway Road, and Northwest Highway. This is where the largest lots are: long gated drives, mature trees, gentle rises and falls in the land, and streets that curve rather than run on a grid. North of Walnut Hill the houses scale down somewhat, but the tree canopy and the sense of privacy carry through.

Architecture Worth Slowing Down For

Preston Hollow rewards a slow drive. The first estates went up in the 1920s and 1930s for doctors, lawyers, oil families, and entrepreneurs, and many were country-style houses with room for horses and stables. Charles Dilbeck, the architect most associated with this corner of Dallas, built his romantic, rough-hewn cottages of brick, stone, and timber here and in the Park Cities. Those early houses now sit alongside decades of newer construction, so a single block can move from a 1930s Tudor to a brand-new contemporary.

Schools

Preston Hollow is served by Dallas ISD, with elementary campuses including Preston Hollow, Pershing, Walnut Hill International Leadership Academy, and Withers, feeding into Franklin, Medrano, or Walker middle schools and then Hillcrest, Thomas Jefferson, or W.T. White. Zoning changes street by street, so it is worth confirming a specific address before you write an offer. The area is also known for its private schools: St. Mark’s School of Texas and Preston Hollow Presbyterian sit inside the neighborhood, with Hockaday, Jesuit, and Episcopal School of Dallas nearby.

Everyday Life

Preston Center, at Preston Road and Northwest Highway, was a dairy farm within living memory and is now the everyday hub for shopping, restaurants, and offices. NorthPark Center, the Dallas North Tollway, and Love Field are all a short drive away.

If you are thinking about buying or selling in Preston Hollow, I would love to walk you through what is happening street by street.