Exterior Painting in Oak-Hickory, Denton, TX

A historic district with its own paint rules

Exterior painting in Denton's Oak-Hickory Historic District follows written color standards, because the City of Denton protects these blocks west of the Courthouse Square as a local overlay district. The Development Code describes it as generally bounded by Hickory Street on the south, North Welch Street on the west, Pearl Street on the north and Williams Street on the east.

Its main streets, West Oak, West Hickory, Mounts, Denton, Pearl and Fulton, hold some of Denton's oldest and grandest houses. The city's 2019 Historic Preservation Plan counts about 70 buildings and structures in the district.

From Silk Stocking Row to a protected district

In the 1880s Denton's wealthier families built large homes west of downtown, and Oak Street became the preferred address, known informally as "Silk Stocking Row." The preservation plan describes the surviving 19th-century houses as large, elaborate frame structures, mostly Queen Anne. Later decades added Revival styles, Prairie houses, Craftsman bungalows and some mid-century ranches.

Concern for this neighborhood helped start Denton's preservation program. The plan records years of worry in the 1960s about rezoning, demolition and the construction of Carroll Boulevard along the eastern edge, before the city adopted its first preservation ordinance.

Denton County's history and culture staff date the district's homes from 1878 to 1931. Two have Recorded Texas Historic Landmark markers:

• Lipscomb-Doggett House. A one-story frame Victorian cottage built in 1895, later updated with Craftsman-style exterior features after a new owner bought it in 1920. Marked in 2016.
• Christal House. Built in 1906 by Frank Craft for James Russell Christal, with a wide veranda on three sides, Corinthian columns and a Palladian entrance. Marked in 2015.

Since 2021, much of this part of town has also been within the West Denton Residential Historic District, which the National Park Service added to the National Register of Historic Places with 377 contributing buildings.

What the city's color standards say

Section 4.9.4 of the Development Code sets the exterior color rules for Oak-Hickory:

• Palettes. A structure may be painted any color from paint manufacturers' preservation color collections, or similarly intended collections. Any paint brand is allowed.
• No fluorescent or metallic colors on the exterior of any structure in the district.
• Dominant and trim colors. Every structure needs a dominant color "which shall not be of vivid saturation," and its colors must complement each other and the character of the main building.
• Gutters and downspouts must match or complement the color scheme.
• Stain must be typical of the style and period of the house.
• Masonry and brick. Surfaces not previously painted must not be painted unless painting is necessary to restore or preserve them, or replacement masonry cannot be matched in color and texture. We paint brick and masonry; in Oak-Hickory, raise any unpainted brick with the city's historic preservation staff before the job is planned.

The rules reach beyond the house. Accessory buildings that can be seen from a street must be compatible with the main building's materials, detailing and color, and fences must be a color compatible with the house. Frames on screens, storm doors and storm windows must be painted to match or complement the main color scheme. The code also requires existing wood facades to stay wood, which makes careful repainting the usual way to keep an old exterior sound.

The Certificate of Appropriateness is your step

Before exterior work in the district, the City of Denton requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. The application belongs to the homeowner. The city's rules treat repainting as ordinary maintenance or a minor exterior alteration, including "painting of wood or other appropriate elements including a change in color," so the Historic Preservation Officer can approve it without a Historic Landmark Commission hearing. Since January 1, 2026, the city has accepted applications on a published submittal schedule.

Our part is to work within what the city approves. Your written estimate lists every surface and every color by name, which helps when you describe the project. Once your certificate is approved, we paint the approved colors on the approved surfaces, and we set the start date after that approval.

Painting a Queen Anne or Craftsman exterior

Old wood houses in Oak-Hickory carry decades of paint. Queen Anne homes add turned spindles, brackets, shingled gables and tall porch posts, while Craftsman bungalows have exposed rafter tails, deep eaves and tapered columns. Every one of those details gets hand prep:

• loose paint scraped
• edges feathered by sanding
• soft or damaged wood flagged before painting
• bare spots primed
• joints recaulked

Only then does color go on. We also plan the house, garage, carriage house or other outbuildings and the fence as one scheme, because the code asks them to read together from the street.

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