This profoundly beautiful home in the renowned Volk Estates neighborhood is an English Eclectic mansion that is both historically and socially significant. It has served not only as a respite of comfort, protection, and security but also as the launchpad of dreams.
The social history of an iconic home is as important as the architect or the builder. It allows us to remember the people that founded and defined a city. This home was the center of Dallas’s social history for decades and is finally on the market for the first time in 50 years.
A Historic English Eclectic Mansion
Initially built for Milton J. Loeb and his wife in 1939, the English Eclectic mansion was designed by architect Hal O. Yoakum and built by Womack & Cozzo contractors.
Toddie Lee Wynne Sr. was the second owner. Although his name may not be familiar to a new generation, his and his family’s mark is as big as Texas.
Wynne was an oil man and international real estate developer. In addition to hotels in Bali, Hong Kong, and Malta, he co-developed Six Flags Over Texas and Wynnewood Village with his nephew Angus Wynne Jr. He also preceded Elon Musk in daring space adventures, funding the first private rocket to space. Can you imagine chats around the fireplace in this home, then? This is what I mean about socially significant.
The third family to live here was the Potters — a family who literally embellished Dallas.
Henry Cornwell Potter founded Potter Art Metal in 1925. The work of Potter’s team is everywhere in Dallas, from Highland Park United Methodist, The Highland Park Library, and Fair Park to the Stoneleigh Hotel and the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Charles Stevens Dilbeck and Dines and Kraft also favored Potter Art Metal for their residential designs.
Three generations of the Potter family lived in this English Eclectic mansion. Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty agent and philanthropist Gigi Potter Salley was the last generation of her family to reside here.
Although architect Wilson McClure did an update in the 1970s, Salley was responsible for two significant overhauls to the house, which is why it’s in such incredible condition today. Wilson Fuqua designed one of the home’s treasures, a wonderful room overlooking a courtyard designed by Lambert’s Paul Fields.
Built For Soirées
This has always been an important home socially and a center of entertainment for generations. The house has 11,955 square feet, six bedrooms, six bathrooms, multiple powder baths, a third-floor playroom, a private guest suite, and full quarters above the detached three-car garage.
You just don’t see rooms of this size any longer that are thoughtfully designed with luxury finishes. The reclaimed wood floors and beams in the family room are show-stoppers. There is simply nothing being built today of this caliber.
“Gigi was my friend and real estate partner for years,” Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s listing agent Jeanne Shelton said. “I’ve been there for holidays and big events and can tell you the house flows beautifully.”
Because there is a frenzy of new builds in the Park Cities, I turned to one of our favorite architects, Lloyd Lumpkins, to ask his thoughts about this beautiful English Eclectic mansion.
“If ever a home warranted saving, it’s this house,” he said. “The new market wants modern interpretations of the classical styles. This home meets all the requirements. It has simple massing, simple roof forms, clean lines, simple detailing, and big windows providing lots of light. And that’s before doing anything. It would require very little — tweaking some ceilings, modernizing the stair railings and cabinetry, painting the windows a darker color, and you would have a beautiful modern, classically inspired home.”
I asked him about the roof slate’s look as I was unfamiliar with it.
“Our clients used to pay a lot of money to get the aged looked with the lichen growing on the roof!” Lumpkins said.
There you have it. From a historic, social, and modern-day perspective, this English Eclectic mansion was built to last and is entirely relevant for today’s market.
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty‘s Jeanne and Doug Shelton have 7037 Turtle Creek Blvd. offered for $14 million.
