You know how some folks make fun of those who build build huge homes with multiple fireplaces? Why do you need multiple fireplaces in Dallas? They jeer, it never gets cold here.
Yeah, right, and we never are without heat, are we?
There’s a reason for fireplaces, and the folks in these homes know that too well. They are warm and cozy right about now WITHOUT HEAT whether in their living room, family room, kitchen, trophy room, breakfast room, master bath taking a bath (you could heat the water over the fireplace, of course) hot tub (assuming somehow you could get that hot and bubbly without juice, maybe through a gas heater) or outdoor patio. Why? Because these homes have a minimum of 8 fireplaces, and a few have nine—Mount Vernon over by White Rock Lake, and Paigebrook, my favorite home in the world out in Westlake. By contrast, Champs D’Or, which sold at auction last year, only had 7 fireplaces in 36,630 square feet of living space. Clearly, 7 is not enough but that did include a fireplace in one of the powder rooms, which guests would have appreciated during the Icepocalypse.
Perhaps that’s why it took so long to sell Champs—not ENOUGH fireplaces!
In California, you can no longer even build a fireplace, at least not in a new home, though I am sure the Silicon Valley elite find ways around this.
So here we go: to keep you warm today in case you are one of the 20,000 still waiting for juice to kick on your heat. Homes across the area with 8 or 9 fireplaces to keep you toasty, from Fort Worth to Flower Mound (lots of fireplaces up there) to Dalworthington Gardens in Arlington.
Read fast, before the natural light goes down…
4409 West Lawther drive, aka Mt. Vernon, has nine fireplaces. See here how you could hang in the family room, read by the fire and even shoot pool if you lived here. This is, of course, the famous home of firsts in Dallas built by H.L. Hunt on the shores of White Rock Lake.
Now asking $19,000,000 (reduced from $29,000,000), this home has 10,511 square feet and enough fireplaces to survive any heat loss in the formals, master bedroom, and outside patio. The only thing I’d worry about is the cars in the 16-car auto concourse, and I cannot recall seeing a fireplace in the bowling alley. Ah well, that’s why there’s antifreeze!
Next on our list is an amazing house in Plano at 5504 St. Andrews Court, reduced from $5,875,000 to $4,950,000. How have I not seen this place before? Listed by Cindy O’ Gorman (of course, she has the BEST listings!) this pup has 8 fireplaces in 13,001 square feet. Six bedrooms, six full and three half baths. It is, Cindy says, a masterpiece in European design, exquisite workmanship, and state of the art technology. It is tucked onto a private cul-de-sac lot with panoramic greenbelt & lake views from most rooms. There’s a wine cellar, elevator (oops that won’t work without juice), art galleries, and both upper & lower level sun decks that won’t do us any good today, will they? The walls are custom plastered walls, the floors are wood, limestone, & marble flooring, the kitchen is commercial to-die-for, and the outdoor living area has a saltwater pool, full kitchen and of course a fireplace. Note to owners: move that ceramic vase, get you some firewood!
Then there is Watauga in Bluffview, off Midway. I have been meaning to write up this home for quite some time, it is one of my “O” homes! Giving it a once-over here because I have toured it and there is too much to cover. Suffice it to say: 13,713 square feet, six bedrooms, six full and three half baths, and eight fireplaces including one in the fabulous exterior kitchen pavilion. See here, take a bath by this fireplace and you will be all warm and toasty. It’s $7,500,000.
I really cannot wait to show you this home. Hint: it was built by a radio news personality. Stay tuned… don’t touch that dial…
More to come, must make this quick lest the Blogging Gods get irate… and I need more hot coffee.
