This adorable Caruth Place Tudor cottage was built in 1926, so, of course, that sent me on a nose dive into the Dallas Morning News archives.
You have no doubt heard the name Caruth but probably associate it with the area near Central and Northwest Highway, as you should. But what you probably don’t know is that the Caruth family owned about 30,000 acres from downtown to North Dallas, east to Forest Hills, and west to Inwood Road. They were instrumental in the development of Dallas. To give you an example, Ray Nasher leased the land for Northpark Mall from the Caruth family, and we would not have SMU if it weren’t for their generous land donation.
Brothers William and Walter Caruth opened a general store on the banks of the Trinity River in 1849. With that success, they started acquiring land and in 1881 went their separate ways with Walter purchasing a 900-acre farm in East Dallas, establishing this area as yet another Caruth farm. He built his family mansion, Bosque Bonita, at the corner of Greenville and Belmont in the middle of vast corn and cotton fields. That’s hard to imagine now!
After his death, the enormous house became the Hardin School for Boys in 1917, and in 1919 Ella Hockaday purchased it. She had the mansion rolled on logs to the back of the property so she could build a two-story brick school for young ladies. The magnificent home stood until 1964 when, of course, land prices being what they were, it was sold to make way for an apartment complex. But I digress. The point is Walter’s family began to sell off the land after his death in 1897, putting in motion the development of Belmont Addition, Vickery Place, and Caruth Place. These neighborhoods were as sought after in the early 1900s as they are today.
I always think about how impressed the original owners of these charming homes would be if they could see them today, beautifully maintained and updated. This Caruth Place Tudor is a perfect example of a house standing the test of time in a neighborhood that understands and values its history.
When Ralph Page and Wesley Mao were house hunting in 2011, they spotted this 2,280 square foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom Caruth Place Tudor. “We fell in love with the neighborhood,” Page said. We did not want a fixer-upper, but there was low inventory then like there is now.” They bought it and did a top-to-bottom remodel, tackling the big items first like the foundation, windows, and doors. Because this is such a vibrant area with plenty of Lower Greenville entertainment and restaurants within walking distance, other renovations took a backseat while they enjoyed the neighborhood.
“Then we had twins and went into major nesting mode,” Page said. “We gutted to the shiplap and started over with new sheetrock. We designed it to be our dream home for this phase of our lives. We are in love with the way the kitchen turned out, the back deck, and the outdoor space.”
The couple moved out and called on Karen and Eddie Otto of Home Star Staging to ensure buyers could connect with their dream home.” They did a great job of picking up on the colors we’d used in the house and carrying that through.”
“We started with a more modern aesthetic, and the colorful choices in the home directed our staging,” Karen Otto said. “The rooms are huge, and the house has a really nice floorplan.”
“It’s hard to pour your heart into a home then leave,” said Page. “But we can both work remotely now and be closer to family, which is important when you have children.”
Amy Belton with The Rise Team at Paragon Realtors has 5552 Belmont Avenue listed for $849,900.
