The history of The Cliff House begins in 1898, when Virgil Ewing Hunton was born on a farm in Eastern New Mexico. He came to study at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he became a minister in 1934. Reverend Hunton and his wife Lucille attracted 44 congregants to his new church, then located in the Chalk Hill area of West Dallas.

Later that year, three church trustees – G.B. Doggett, J.T. Clemmons, and E.G. Van Meter – persuaded Rose Lloyd to sell them a parcel of land at Davis Street and Tyler Street, which would become Davis Street Baptist Church.

Hunton and other volunteers, including many members of the church, worked tirelessly every day until long after dark building the structure. While the wives brought sandwiches and sodas, Reverend Hunton dug holes for the foundation piers and gathered stones for the concrete from nearby Kidd Springs. He did all this while working his day job as chief porter at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas.

In the 1940’s Reverend Hunton’s son B.J. was married in the church, and the building has since hosted hundreds of weddings and celebrations under the leadership of Tyler Street Baptist Church, Tyler Heights Baptist Church, and Iglesia del Senor.

In 2017 Boxwood Hospitality began what would become an eighteen month loving restoration of the space, adding small modern touches in lighting, sound, and accessibility, while honoring the essence and spirit of the original church and its builders . The Cliff House was finished in 2018, and immediately gave the Bishop Arts District an incredible venue binding celebrations from the past to present.