It’s appropriate that this three-story French traditional home is located along Airline Road, just north of Southwestern in University Park. Its owner launched an eponymous airline with his titan father in the ’80s, and in the early ’90s, having sold it, selected this quarter-acre corner lot to custom build his dream home on Greenbrier Drive.
Cue the new wave music of New Order and a zooming jet sound effect going by. We’re doing an ’80s montage.
The airline was Muse Air, a Dallas-based carrier that sought to compete with the lucrative Dallas Love Field to Houston Hobby route of Southwest Airlines. Its co-founder Michael Muse saw opportunity in the newly deregulated airline industry and launched the company with his father, the late Lamar Muse, who parted ways with Southwest Airlines as its first president.
Muse’s brand new blue-and-cream planes — elite MD-80s with barely the tags ripped off them —offered roomy, but more importantly, assigned, seats with ample legroom. Flight attendants dressed in classy blue-and-beige skirt suits and absolutely no smoking was allowed on board.
Muse Air launched its sold-out inaugural flights between Dallas and Houston on the morning of July 15, 1981. Eighteen days after the airline launched service, however, President Ronald Reagan fired all of the nation’s then-striking air traffic controllers. For the next four years, the airline’s expansion of service to the west coast, throughout Texas, Florida, and adjoining states was made difficult because of an inadequate supply of aircraft landing and takeoff slots. Muse remembers that lobbying in Washington for more access to the limited supply of slots and wheeling and dealing with other airlines for available slots “turned my hair prematurely gray, seemingly overnight.”
Four years after they launched, in 1985, Southwest Airlines (tired of competing with Muse Air) bought the company in an acquisition that was breathlessly covered by D Magazine, Texas Monthly, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Muse Air, which was renamed TranStar, is now up in airline heaven with other Texas-based airlines Braniff, Legend Airlines, and Texas International/Trans Texas Airways.
From that highlight reel of ’80s aviation history, we move to the corner of Greenbrier and Airline Drive, where you’ll find this stunning stucco creation, listed by Doris Jacobs of Allie Beth Allman and Associates for $3.195 million.
The French traditional is situated on an oversized 73-x160-foot corner lot that totals 0.27 acres with a wide frontage that features a front-side driveway. When Muse and his wife Diane, who retired in 2000 as a senior partner at Akin Gump, custom-built the home in 1991, they took inspiration from a Lucian Hood-designed home in Houston.
“We loved the architecture and design, but we didn’t want to live in Houston,” Muse says. “We bought the already-vacant lot and began building when Dallas was at the very bottom of the real estate market. There weren’t but a dozen building permits at city hall and there was no delay in getting material or labor.”
The Muses paid close attention to the details and craftsmanship of this home, which included regular visits to the Dallas Design District, and careful thought into the entertaining aspects of the home.
The exterior was hand-trowled with Portland cement stucco — the real stuff made of cement, sand, and limestone — and contrasts beautifully against the lush, mature landscaping and warm accent lighting. Step inside to find 10-foot ceilings, a grand staircase, and hardwood surfaces in this 5,809-square-foot home with four bedrooms, and five and one-half baths.
To one side of the foyer, a spacious dining room, and on the other side, a living room or study with a cross-beamed ceiling and built-in bookshelves. Cross-beamed ceilings continue in the more contemporary great room with sliding glass doors that open to an expansive covered veranda and French doors that open to the front-side patio, which is surrounded by verdant trees that offer shade and privacy.
This spacious living area features a temperature-controlled redwood wine closet with floor-to-ceiling wine racks and a wet bar with Sub-Zero refrigerator with ice maker — the perfect amenities for frequent entertaining, as the Muses often did.
Nearby, a spacious kitchen features stainless and paneled appliances including a Jenn-Air gas cooktop with griddle, a KitchenAid double oven, dishwasher, and microwave, and a paneled Sub-Zero refrigerator with freezer.
The second level of living is equally impressive. The oversize primary owner’s suite has abundant built-ins with a desk area. French doors open to reveal a Juliet balcony with Pennsylvania Bluestone flooring. The suite features adjacent his and hers marble baths with a jetted tub, stand-alone shower, abundant built-in storage, and an immense walk-in closet.
Two additional ensuite bedrooms feature loveseat seating and extra large walk-in closets on the second story. On the third story, there’s a fourth bedroom that could become a game or exercise room, or even a quiet office.
Retreating to the backyard and adjacent side grounds, there is an expansive covered terrace that overlooks a shimmering fountain and manicured landscaping. The home has an oversized three-car attached garage with epoxy-coating flooring, plus a workshop area with built-ins and stainless steel sink.
Speaking of those side grounds, the front door of this home faces Airline Road. As such, the home has two addresses. It’s officially 3201 Greenbrier Drive, but every once in a while an errand letter will come to the home’s other appropriately named moniker, 7777 Airline Road.
Doris Jacobs of Allie Beth Allman and Associates has listed 3201 Greenbrier Dr. for $3.195 million.
