It’s no secret that civic leader extraordinaire Mary McDermott Cook has made her home in West Dallas, giving up a stunning spread on Strait Lane down the street from Ross and Margot Perot, Brint Ryan, and all the other Dallas glitterati who line that street. The Dallas Morning News first spilled the beans in 2012. It was, indeed, the bluff above the Belmont Hotel where Mary built one of the most talked-about and architecturally significant homes in Dallas with the talent of architect Bill Booziotis and contractor John Sebastian.
This week, she let Dallas architects in for a sneak peak of the home, which you will probably see next in Architectural Digest. It was one of Dallas Architecture Forum’s 365 Modern Living receptions, and it was packed to the gills. The world found out about her lot acquisition in 2012, she built through 2013, moved in November 2014, and is enjoying the house tremendously, she said. It is an energy-efficient concrete home clad in limestone — walls, floors, even 17 inches of concrete on the roof. While not yet LEED-certified, she says her energy bills are 1/3rd of what they were in her previous home, which was only about 5,000 sq. ft., and the house was uniquely designed to catch the wind on her hill overlooking Dallas and, of course, the McDermott bridge. It’s so well-engineered she hasn’t even cranked on the AC yet in May. Except for when she lets in 100 architects, the house also has total privacy without one window covering.
Of course, John Sebastian (with his daughter) and Bill Booziotis were on hand to discuss the project.
Cook is a steady backer of Dallas and the Trinity River, nature, education, medicine and of course, art. Her discovery of Malone Cliff and presence in this area is helping values shoot up — already I am eyeing a home under construction by one of my home building dynamos Tom Greico ... just wait until we get inside that!
