I really love this unusual listing at 3615 Amherst Avenue in the heart of University Park. I hope this house had a great holiday because all through Christmas I kept thinking of it, wondering if it was OK. That’s because I took two HGTV stars through the place to show off Dallas real estate in early December — remember my Capital One deal with Jillian Harris and Todd Talbott?
We were sitting in the Green Room at Stonebriar Mall getting ready for our big interview, and Todd started asking me about the Dallas real estate market. We chatted and then I said, hey, want to see some of our amazing homes?
You bet, they said. Then the inevitable —
“Anything on hills? Water?”
Turns out these HGTV stars are from Canada where there are mountains and lakes. Turns out they are dang near as obsessed with House Porn as I am.
So after a full day of interviewing, meeting & greeting North Texas folks — a whole lot of them — during the Christmas holiday season at Stonebriar Mall you would think this poor duo just wants to get back to the hotel and put their feet up, right?
Wrong! They jumped at the chance to see some real Texas real estate. Especially something on the water!
That’s how we ended up at 3615 Amherst on a 16 foot deep creek that is actually the origins of Turtle Creek, with two Canadians oohing and ahhing over the fact that you could live in very upscale University Park in a totally contemporary home and still have a Canadian lake-like experience, even a mini one.
The house is 7159 square feet on .43 of an acre. There are six bedrooms, six and one half bathrooms, and a three bay garage. The home was completed in 2014 and is a masterpiece of construction: standing seam roof, pier and beam, SWD foam insulation, 7 zones, 17 SEER, tankless hot water, engineered for an elevator.
I love the builder, Tatum Brown Custom Homes, one of our vetted daltxrealestate.com home builders extraordinaire. I have known Mark Danuser since he started building homes in Dallas, but he really, really outdid himself on this property.
You enter through a very glassy foyer, and the formal living room is to your right with beautiful beams and a breathtaking view… the fountain of water. A huge Pella metal framed French door takes you out to the cantilevered deck overlooking the water. The floors are 3 and one-quarter inch white oak select hardwood.
Virginia, we are not in Dallas anymore!
This is the piece de resistance: an on-the-water experience in your home 24/7. It’s a lake home in your main home.
Jillian and Todd LOVED this, and they were blown away by the family room with the wet bar and walk-in conditioned wine room just behind it. The dining room is surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. The floor-to-ceiling windows and doors bring the tranquility of the water views, abundant landscape and ample natural light inside, while still bidding a sense of privacy due to the well-plotted siting of the home on the choice UP lot.
The kitchen is sheer perfection, and Todd was snapping away, from the sheaths of thick Calcutta Crema marble counters to the Ann Sacks glass tiles and backsplash behind the stove. We also stepped out to another back patio off the kitchen where outdoor cooking could take place if the 6 burner Wolf dual fuel was not enough.
Then it was upstairs to five of the six bedrooms: Todd really loved the master with the soaring re-claimed wood ceiling beams, but Jillian almost refused to move out of the totally spa-like master bath. Both approved of the huge shower and the vessel tub which we discussed pros and cons of at length. We perused the other rooms, explained the upstairs laundry room (Todd says upstairs laundries are popular in Canada, too) and took a break to admire the roofline in the upstairs sitting area.
Listed with Jonathan Rosen, (the listing expired on 12/31), this Tatum brown pride and joy was listed for $4,695,000. Probably will be again. Todd could not believe that it had been on the market for more than 30 days.
“This home is a Canadian’s dream,” he told us, “and the price — well, you get a Dallas palace compared to what your dollars would buy in Canada!”
A Dallas Palace indeed, on the water!
