Now here is an early holiday gift to you, my dear readers: it really cannot get any better! I cannot give you NorthPark Mall, but I can give you a home by the same guy who designed it! It comes on a corner lot in the most coveted corner of Highland Park, Crescent Avenue, on two-thirds of an acre! The lot is so treed and protected by a brick privacy wall with encircling raised gardens you have no concept of the bustling world that exists right outside the door.
And frankly, you will not want to.
In 1963, Dallas architect E.G. Hamilton, a founding partner of OmniPlan, which is best known for designing NorthPark Center, freshly designed one of Dallas’ most significant homes at 3616 Crescent on this very choice terrain. We are told the home was originally designed for the Hexter family, as in Hexter-Fair title, but have not confirmed that the first owner was directly involved in the Title business.
Hamilton’s use of continuous planes delineating interior and exterior rooms and creating light, eye-pleasing spaces is on full display in all 6827 square feet, as is his abundant use of St. Joe brickworks and squared brick flooring. The original home was expanded and made even better in 1999 and 2008, when the extraordinary bodron+fruit (Svend Fruit & Mil Bodron are principles & the designers) managed updates and major additions. Those include a downstairs master suite, an updated kitchen, a sleek upstairs media room and a 20 yard swimming pool. The home has been highlighted in the 1999 AIA Guide to Dallas Architecture.
Currently owned by a Dallas surgeon, the home was in the hands of Laurence Lebowitz and Naomi Aberly for years. Laurence is the former chairman of the hedge fund HBK, Naomi is a Democratic fund-raiser and both are huge modern art collectors. So huge, in fact, that they live in another home of art. The couple now own the historic Dallas Beck estate designed by Philip Johnson on Strait Lane that is currently listed for $27.5 million with David Nichols. Neighbors on Crescent include Timothy Headington (who is building down the street), Russell Budd (Baron & Budd), Patrick Shelby (son of racer Carroll Shelby), Joe Sinacola and Gil Besing, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Cardinal Capital Partners, Inc
3616 Crescent has five bedrooms in a two story glass and brick rectangle. All quarters are designed around and above an open plan living area. Walk into the spacious, brick-floored foyer and turn in any direction — gardens are in full view. Straight ahead is the pool. I love the twin dining tables that can be joined together for larger dinner parties, or remain an intimate table for four. The kitchen is a total anti-open kitchen concept, which I predict will be coming back. The Butler’s pantry sets a whole new precedent: it contains a washer and dryer — for washing linens! It is also a second kitchen with drink/cold storage and dishwasher. There is another washer and dryer in the three-car garage with polished concrete floor, plus more counters/storage and sink.
E. G. Hamilton once said, “Architects can’t talk about good taste,” but he can certainly talk about storage: it is abundant in this home. The master is the best example: the room is 21 by 16 and has a private patio. The master bath could have been designed yesterday, it is so timeless: the shower and closets are huge, the tub and dual vanities are sleek, and the commode has it’s own little room with a small dental sink. There is a closet nearby reserved for an elevator. Upstairs are four bedrooms and the media room, which was once the master. At 25 by 17, it has it’s own master bath plus a hidden popcorn machine. Electronic shades close off the windows. Each bedroom has an assigned bathroom.
Flooring ranges from terrazzo to wide-planked white oak, and carpet. But this is a home that beckons the outdoors inside with every breath. From the children’s bedroom or the master, the living room or the kitchen, the verdant gardens can be seen and appreciated. The main patio has a fireplace tucked into a far corner, and the home is surrounded by generous outdoor living areas on all sides. Listed with Emily Price Carrigan Properties at $7,995,000, reduced from $8,500,000.
Tomorrow evening, we are having a daltxrealestate.com Quarterly Staff Meeting at this very home from 5:30 to 7:30 pm… so if you want to see one of the most significant Mid Century modern masterpieces by E.G. Hamilton in the flesh, well, you can find us out there on that patio by the fire, sipping wine. Won’t you join us???
