Students Build a Better Tomorrow for Children Served by Dallas CASA

Highland Park High School students are building a playhouse that will unlock a world of imagination for some lucky children, while making a tangible difference in the lives of others served by Dallas CASA.

The environmental architecture students are hard at work on a miniature market and café inspired by the home at 4401 Beverly Drive. The home was recently featured in Preservation Park Cities’ book The Houses of the Park Cities, which notes that it is one of just three remaining Streamline Moderne residences in the area.

The home’s style is unusual because of the time period when it was popular — the end of the Great Depression and beginning of World War II, explained architecture teacher Yvette Hightower, who co-teaches the Moody Advanced Professional Studies course with science teacher Jeff Barrows.

“Not a lot was being built,” she said, and “it is a style that has been very much torn down.”

The historic home-inspired build is an annual project for MAPS environmental architecture students. At its completion, the students’ house will join 10 others on display from June 13 to 29 at NorthPark Center during Dallas CASA’s 30th anniversary Parade of Playhouses. 

The 17-day event raises funds that support the efforts of Dallas CASA, which provides volunteer advocates who work on behalf of child victims of abuse and neglect. But it’s also known as the nonprofit’s biggest friend raiser, explained public relations manager Rosanne Lewis.

Individual raffle tickets for an opportunity to win a playhouse will be available for $5 each. Five tickets can be purchased for $20. The low price tag means that anyone who dreams of owning one of the mini-homes can have a chance to try their luck.

“It’s very inclusive, so everyone can participate,” Lewis said.

Environmental architecture students Juliana Maambo and Lynsie Leake designed the house that was selected as this year’s MAPS playhouse by a panel of architects, the president of Preservation Park Cities, and professional builder David Espedal. All 28 environmental architecture students are working under Espedal’s guidance to make the house a reality.

Maambo and Leake said they asked themselves what kind of playhouse they would have wanted as children in creating the market and café. 

“One of our favorite things to do as kids was playing outside and also having play food,” Leake said. “I always remember playing at that with my little cousins and my little brothers.”

The house includes details that will put young gourmands’ imaginations to work. It has a serving window with a striped canopy and counter, so that children can pretend to take orders from their friends, as well as a Dutch door.

The students kept decorative and curved elements from the original residence, and added furnishings including a market cart, kitchen, and table with four chairs.

“We’re really proud of it,” Maambo said. “I think it’ll be a really great asset to whoever gets it.”