Preservationists and West Dallas neighbors are calling A.J. Ramler, who renovates and rents homes in Oak Cliff and West Dallas, a local hero for saving the Victorian Struck House, a storied piece of history.

According to the Dallas Morning News, German-born pioneers Heinrich Friedrich Struck and his wife Anna Maria Struck settled on the land and built the two-story farmhouse in 1890. Over the next seven decades, the Strucks or their descendants occupied the home in what is now the Western Heights neighborhood.

In recent years, the future of the historic treasure hung in the balance.

The latest commercial suitor, David Weekley Homes, planned to buy and raze the house to make room for dozens of townhomes on the land, but stars were aligned in the house’s favor. The homebuilder not only hit a brick wall when attempting to obtain rezoning for multi-family housing, the Landmark Commission voted unanimously to begin the initiation process necessary for designating the Struck House an official Dallas landmark. The initiation process alone protected the house from demolition or relocation for two years.

Struck House 

David Weekley Homes opted out of the Struck House purchase, and Ramler opted in.

"I walked through it," Ramler told the News, "and just fell in love with it."

Since he renovates and rents old houses in Oak Cliff and West Dallas, restoring the Struck House is right up Ramler’s alley.

 “Structurally, it’s in pretty good shape,” he said. “The layout is a little funky, but we like funky.” 

Ramler’s primary concern was that stipulations may be put on his restoration, so he attended a Landmark Commission meeting and pleaded for a halt on the initiation process. Though Commissioners refused to budge, they assured Ramler that the designation committee would work with him. 

"That's what the designation committee is there for," Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi, told the paper, "to make sure owners can do what they need to do and still preserve the historic integrity of the building." 

Ramler is documenting the Struck House restoration on his Instagram page, and he’s already discovered some historic treasures in the process: a photo of the original house that dates back more than a century and antique stained glass hidden behind some walls.

When Ramler completes the yearlong project, he plans to move in and call the Struck House home.

“It’s gonna be a cool house,” he said.