Historic Tyler on Tour, 2002
Kroesen - McCormick House
404 W. First Street
When Dixie McCormick bought her Tyler home it was more of an adoption than a sale. With its upswept front yard, storybook architectural lines and potential private studio space hidden away in the back garden, Dixie found it made to order when she decided to buy it in 1986.
Originally a part of Bergfeld Woods, the English Tudor cottage is brick veneered. Its updated paint almost obscures a checkerboard brick design just to the left of the front door, a signature of the original mason.
In 1932 Alfred B. Curtis, Jr. and his wife, Lillian, became the first owners. Mr. Curtis was manager of Smith County Abstract Co., becoming president and manager of the firm in 1936.
Farm manager and planter, Largent Parks and his wife, Laura, bought the property in 1937. But in 1940 Paul Kroesen’s widow, Helen, office secretary for Lasseter Simpson Spruiell & Lowry, became the new owner, one who would stay for almost fifty years. During part of the WW II years, Edward and Mary Carson rented the garage apartment. For much of the remaining time, Mrs. Kroesen’s brother, Bernard J. Cooney, shared her home. It was Mr. Cooney’s son Nick, Mrs. Kroesen’s nephew, who inherited the property and sold it to Ms. McCormick.
But it is the artistic touch of Dixie McCormick’s decorative painting that sets the mood today, beginning with the powder blue living room. Appointed with floral patterned upholstered furniture, this room showcases her antiques as well as her brushwork. On one wall is a 19th century bookcase that belonged to her father, Sidney L. Christie, a federal judge in Huntington, West Virginia.
The corner cabinet in the dining room is East Texas sweet gum and is original to the house, along with the upper cabinets in the kitchen. In several rooms Dixie has created stencil borders around the ceiling. She updated much of the house in 1986, restoring the wood floors, modernizing the kitchen and re-surfacing walls. Then in 1994 she added a master suite in the rear of the house. Just off this private area is a landscaped garden that features a koi pond and stone footpaths to her studio, the private haven above the garage where she paints. Her designs, applied on metal, wood and china, include floral motifs, Pennsylvania Dutch and the many varieties of Norwegian Rosemaling.
Retiring from Tyler Junior College this past February, Dixie now has more time to paint. Joining her sister, Virginia McKee, and friend, Patsy Bass, the trio participates in arts and crafts shows and enjoys creating beautiful things.
