HISTORY
Westcliff is approximately four
to six miles southwest of the Fort Worth Central Business District,
and was part of the 1867 Thomas B. Taylor Survey. Common usage
calls the properties immediately south of Bellaire Drive South
and Texas Christian University part of Westcliff, though that
area was originally known as Bellaire Heights. Westcliff extends
to Loop 820 on the south.
Records indicate that Ivy Trammel
sold a large portion of this land to Dorothea Darren in 1941.
Another early owner of this land
in 1906, was W. D. Reynolds of the Reynolds Cattle Company. In
1938, Eva M. Gale sold some of the land to Mattie Lee Wells and
Madge Kirby Ferrell, who platted and dedicated some of the area,
giving it the legal description of Ferrell-Wells Addition.
In 1945, J. E. Foster bought
the land and changed a street originally platted as Carb Avenue
to Biddison. He built the Westcliff shopping center in 1945 and
formed the Westcliff Company, which along with the Riverside
Development Corporation, developed Westcliff from north to south
between 1945 and 1965.
Four homes along a lane at the
western edge of Westcliff Road South are on land originally owned
by the Edwards Ranch. The deed restrictions here specified that
these homes must face west, a provision designed to keep the
Edwards family from having to look at the back doors. Therefore
the backs of these homes are facing the lane at the end of Westcliff
Road South.
Early deed restrictions on Westcliff
were originally binding for 20 years, after which time they were
automatically extended every ten years unless a majority of owners
submitted a revision request. Deed restrictions are intended
to ensure that the value of the properties are not undermined
by undesirable factors. Restrictions stipulated that no old house
could be moved on an existing lot, and that homes must be at
least 1150 square feet for one story, or 900 square feet on the
ground floor for one-and-a-half story homes. Exterior surfaces
were also required to be fireproof.
As development of Westcliff continued
southward, to Encanto and Manderly in 1949, to Willow Lake and
further south in 1974, deed restrictions changed slightly, increasing
minimum home sizes.
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