The Highland Park students behind a playhouse modeled after a fairytale-esque Charles Dilbeck-designed Park Cities home hope their design combines fun, creative elements and architecture education.
Each year in recent years, students in the environmental architecture class within the Moody Advanced Professional Studies (MAPS) program at Highland Park High School have designed a playhouse based on a historic Park Cities home to be featured in Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses, the signature fundraiser for the organization supporting child victims of abuse or neglect.
Senior Julia Kerr and junior Hailey Hunt came up with the winning design, as decided by judges, that will be featured in Dallas CASA’s 2026 Parade of Playhouses from May 22-June 7 at NorthPark Center. For more information about Parade of Playhouses and to find out how to buy raffle tickets, click here.
Their playhouse design is modeled after a French Norman-style home in the 4200 block of Shenandoah Street designed by Dilbeck and built in 1935.
MAPS environmental architecture teacher Yvette Hightower said once the winning design is selected, the students put the design together using AutoCAD, a 2D and 3D computer-aided design software used by architects, engineers, and others, and build it.
Kerr said she and Hunt wanted the playhouse design to remain true to the inspiration house, bring joy to those who see it, and be functional for the children who will get to enjoy it.
“We wanted the inside to be welcoming to children and useful,” she said.
One of the elements they incorporated into the playhouse design was a large table inside and chalkboard for children to draw on.
“We want there to be things to do inside the house,” Hunt added.
Both students said they worked together well on the design.
Hightower said in addition to teaching architecture tools and working together, she intends the project and the partnership with Preservation Park Cities on it to highlight the value of historic preservation as well.
Some previous playhouse designs created by the students have been modeled after homes designated by Preservation Park Cities as among the most historically and architecturally significant in the Park Cities. In 2024, for example, their playhouse was modeled after the historic Mouzon-Wise House on University Drive, which was built in 1916 by one of the SMU’s founders and is the oldest home in University Park.
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