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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. |