The first time most of us saw a glass house was in a darkened movie theater watching Ferris Buellers Day Off.
Character Cameron Frye’s Midcentury Modern home was the unforgettable location where Frye causes his father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder (which took pride of place inside the house) to crash through one of the window walls to the ravine below. We were riveted, not just to the scene but also to the idea of a glass house.
What could be cooler?
The film location is actually known as the Ben Rose Home. It was designed by David Haid and A. James Speyer, a protégé of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It’s not the only home inspired by the legendary architect.
Our Monday Morning Millionaire was influenced by Mies’ design of the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois. Work on that home began in 1945 and finished in 1951, so the design was incredibly cutting edge for the time and has inspired generations of architects. Just have a look at Pierre Koenig’s 1960s Stahl House in Los Angeles, Werner Sobek’s Y1 design in France, and The Glass Pavilion by Steve Hermann Design in Montecito, California.
It’s hardly surprising that when Joshua Nimmo, founding principal of Dallas-based Nimmo Architecture, was designing this sanctuary in the city for new clients that he drew inspiration from Mies. Nimmo, an award-winning architect in his own right, was the senior project architect with Lionel Morrison before launching his firm. He worked on the One Arts Plaza residences, W Residences, and several Northaven-area residential projects.
To say your architectural dreams are in good hands with Nimmo is putting it mildly.
The House on Ricks Circle in Hillcrest Estates is one of the featured properties on the Nimmo website, and I cannot put it better than the architect:
The owners of House on Ricks were seeking a home that would transport them: a peaceful sanctuary amid a bustling city and an impactful work of architecture that melts away when experienced from within.
The resulting home is thoughtfully woven into a site brimming with mature live oak trees. It gestures quietly to the neighborhood behind a generous front courtyard and features a low-slung, limestone staircase spanning its glass façade. The entryway ushers guests into open living spaces that frame views of the expansive, tree-filled side yard and meditative pool. Private areas of the home gradually unfold in a floor plan that balances communal space with opportunities for individual retreat.
The home’s integration with its site, extensive glazing, and carefully wrought details are key to the design solution. The floor slab cantilevers from a foundation half its size, protecting tree root systems and affording varying perspectives of the gradually sloping site. Hidden doors allow residents to move seamlessly from one area to the next with uninterrupted views. Integrated mechanical systems recess in discrete coves. Continuous recessed drains around the permiter maintain flush transitions indoors to out; mullions recess in ceiling and floor, and back-of-house functions hide in plain site.
Why do people choose a glass house? Other than the obvious reason of seamlessly linking the outdoors to the indoors and having the natural light transform your world every minute? Glass is also incredibly practical. It’s environmentally friendly and UV stable. So breathtaking aside, it’s a smart option.
In this case, the lot was too breathtakingly beautiful to shutter out — the land was once a fruit tree farm in an enclave called Hillcrest Estates that was developed as minimum one-acre lots in the 1940s and ‘50s. Trees are already abundant and were carefully protected during construction. At least 10 more oaks of significant caliper were shipped in to match the existing 50-year-old trees surrounding the home, yielding a forest visible from every angle.
11345 W Ricks Cir. – Melissa Jennings from Grant Wiseman on Vimeo.
A Private Enclave Full of Significant Architecture
While the Hillcrest Estates enclave is not gated, it is a large circle with the Wander Lane cul-de-sac at one end, and only one cut-in street, Belmead. There are only a few original ranch homes remaining, most have given way to architecturally significant modern masterpieces from Lionel Morrison’s curved contemporary at 6645 Northaven Road to a new build underway with Sharif & Munir on the lot previously owned by former city councilman Lee Kleinman: the new build, by a prominent Dallasite, will include a full underground garage.
60 Tons of Steel
When you design a home that you can see through, the interior finish-out requires considerable thought and exquisite detailing, which has been beautifully executed throughout the 6,325-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom House on Ricks Circle. You will find so much book-ended marble in this home your eyes may never be the same.
“Although the design aesthetic of this home speaks to simplicity and minimalism, a tremendous amount of meticulous detailing and complex planning went into the overall vision and construction, “ says listing agent Melissa Jennings.
Examples: the acoustic ceilings which prevent sound echoing, the 5 ft. deep basement which serves as a storm shelter and runs below the entire property. And the materials brought in by truckload after truckload.
“More than 60 tons of steel and 40 slabs of Calcutta marble imported from Italy were used to build the home,” she says. “More than a million dollars was spent on just the steel itself.”
Of course, the surrounding grounds are instrumental in the overall success of the design plan.
With over an acre to work with, the internationally-renowned Hocker Design Group did a stellar job of creating a natural, minimalistic landscape. It takes a great deal of effort to ensure a landscape looks effortless. Hocker enhanced the lush, existing landscape and brought in chunky rock for driveways and right-of-way parking. The textural juxtaposition is strikingly memorable.
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s Melissa Jennings has 11345 W. Ricks Circle listed for 7.995 million.
