Construction on the playhouse began in early June, and final touches, including exterior painting and decorating, will be completed by July 13.
The playhouse is the culmination of months’ worth of work by 35 HP high school students that started in early spring. It is a replica of the Williams House that was built in 1931 and is now listed on the Preservation Park Cities Top 100 List of architecturally significant homes. Before construction on the playhouse could begin, students spent time learning how to read 100-year-old blueprints and using AutoCAD construction software to create a scaled dollhouse-size model that was used to guide the construction of the playhouse.
The HPHS playhouse is one of 22 projects by architects and builders that will be on display and it is the only entry from a high school. Other featured playhouse builders include the Dallas Mavericks, Butscher’s Backyard Playhouses, Austin Commercial, and others.
Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses is an annual awareness and fundraising event. It features custom-designed, child-sized playhouses that are available to win by raffle. The HPHS playhouse replica of the Williams House is generously provided for display at Parade of Playhouses by an anonymous donor and is not part of the raffle. The event helps support CASA’s mission to help child victims of abuse and neglect.
Learn more about the MAPS playhouse project
Click here to read MAPS students build dollhouse replica for the Dallas CASA project or visit the MAPS webpage to learn more about the program and specialized courses offered to HPHS students.
Click here to watch the MAPS Environmental Architecture Dollhouse Project video or click here to read the Dallas CASA blog post about the HPHS project.
The project was also featured in the Park Cities People, click here to read more.
Special thank you to Lee Lewis Construction and Stantec Architecture for working closely with the MAP program and helping the HPHS students throughout the entire project, and to the following individuals for supporting the class project:
- Bob Clark
- Taylor Armstrong
- Larry Good
- Preservation Park Cities
- The Barrett Family
- Dobson Roofing
- Westside Construction Services