The Homes That Define Midway Hollow

If I were showing someone Midway Hollow for the first time, I'd want to drive it rather than simply describe it.

The houses make more sense that way.

You'll see low-slung brick ranches set back from the street, smaller cottages, renovated originals, and the occasional midcentury house that makes you slow down for a better look. Then you'll come to a home built within the last few years, considerably larger and unmistakably from another era.

That contrast is Midway Hollow now.

Start With the Ranch

The ranch is probably the house most closely associated with original Midway Hollow.

Much of the neighborhood was developed during the postwar years, when Dallas was expanding northward and the typical new house was considerably smaller than what many buyers expect today.

These were practical homes. Usually one story, often brick, with fairly straightforward floor plans and generous yards. Bedrooms and closets were smaller. Kitchens were working spaces rather than entertaining spaces. Formal living and dining rooms were common.

They weren't trying to be statement houses.

And that's part of their appeal today.

A good original ranch can feel remarkably comfortable on its lot. The house doesn't consume the property, mature trees have had decades to grow around it, and there's often a relationship between house and yard that is harder to create when considerably more square footage is added.

You can see how these original houses fit into the larger neighborhood in the Midway Hollow Neighborhood Guide.

There Are Some Midcentury Surprises

Not every 1950s house in this part of Dallas is simply a ranch.

There are some genuinely interesting midcentury homes tucked into Midway Hollow and the surrounding area, particularly as you move toward pockets such as the Disney Streets in neighboring Midway Hills.

That's an important distinction because “built in the 1950s” can describe very different houses.

Some are straightforward postwar ranches. Others have the long horizontal lines, expanses of glass, lower rooflines, and stronger indoor-outdoor relationship we more readily associate with midcentury modern design.

They're not on every block, which is precisely why they tend to catch your attention when you find one.

Renovation Created Another Kind of Midway Hollow House

Then there are the houses that are harder to categorize.

They're original, but not really.

Over the years, owners have opened kitchens, added primary suites, expanded living spaces, updated systems, and reconfigured floor plans. Some renovations are subtle from the street. Others have transformed the house almost completely.

The best ones tend to solve the practical problems of a house designed seventy years ago without erasing everything that made the original appealing.

Of course, “renovated” can mean almost anything. A house with new countertops and flooring is very different from one where plumbing, electrical, windows, HVAC, drainage, and the floor plan have all been addressed.

For a buyer, knowing what actually changed matters far more than the word used in the listing description.

New Construction Changed the Streetscape

New construction is the other unmistakable piece of Midway Hollow.

The neighborhood's lots and central location made older properties attractive for redevelopment, and over time smaller houses began giving way to much larger ones.

The architecture varies. You'll find traditional and transitional homes, contemporary designs, and newer houses using warmer materials and cleaner lines.

The floor plans are different, too.

First-floor primary suites, open kitchens, dedicated offices, larger closets, game rooms, multiple en-suite bedrooms, and more elaborate outdoor living spaces reflect how people expect a newer house to function.

None of that makes new construction inherently better than the house it replaced. It's simply a very different product.

The gradual addition of those houses is a big part of why Midway Hollow keeps reinventing itself.

Pay Attention to the House-to-Lot Relationship

This is one of the things I'd watch closely if we were looking at houses together.

How does the house actually sit on the property?

With an original ranch, you may have considerably more yard but less interior space. With newer construction, you may gain the rooms and functionality you want while giving up some of that openness outside.

Neither is automatically the right answer.

It depends on how you live.

Do you want a large backyard? Do you care about keeping mature trees? Is single-story living important? Would you rather have a larger house that requires very little immediate work? Or do you like the idea of taking an older home and making it your own?

Those questions become much more useful than simply deciding whether you prefer “old” or “new.”

Our guide to buying new construction versus an original ranch in Midway Hollow goes further into those tradeoffs.

Midway Hollow isn't architecturally tidy, and I don't think it needs to be.

The original houses give the neighborhood its history and scale. Renovations show how those homes can evolve. New construction represents another generation choosing the same location for very different reasons.

Drive a few blocks, and you'll probably see all three.