11/25/2025
Highland Meadows Preservation
Established in 1959, Barkley Square was developed by Frank H Malone with homes built by Leland G Lee Jr and Lee Construction Company.
Homes in Barkley Square were offered in thirty different designs in period architecture of Mid-Century Ranch and Early American Ranch. Homes were advertised as the "House of Ease" and were built including over twenty revolutionary building products by Reynolds Metals Company. Homes were three bedroom, two bath, family room, completely furnished kitchen, two car garage, fireplace, air conditioning with a General Electric heat pump and insulation with Owens Corning fiberglass... All for the starting price of $20,000.
The Ranch-Style house is a uniquely American style of architecture, it began in the 1930's in Los Angeles and quickly spread across the country. At the end of World War II, war veterans who had been offered generous home loans returned home, ready to resume their lives and raise families. However, scarcity during the Great Depression and the war led to few houses being built and a pent-up demand. "While architects in Western Europe and the Soviet Union met the need by building high-rise apartment blocks, Americans created a consumer product that people wanted to buy, and that was the Ranch-Style house." Alan Hess, architectural historian.
Barkley Square advertisement, November 1959, courtesy of Highland Meadows Neighborhood Association Archive.
Learn more about our neighborhood and its important place in the history of Dallas, post-war America, and Mid-Century architecture by visiting www.highlandmeadowsneighborhood.org
