Spectacular. That’s the only way to describe this week’s High Caliber Home of the Week sponsored by Lisa Peters of Caliber Home Loans, an impeccably-renovated midcentury modern retreat listed by Janelle Alcantara of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International. And I challenge you to disagree.
Tiptoeing the edge of Coombs Creek in Kessler Parkway Park, 1645 Junior Drive is situated on an acre of heavily-treed topography in Oak Cliff. Among the mature Cedar, Elm, and an Oak tree you’d be hard-pressed to fit your arms around, you’ll find this four-bedroom, 4,310-square-foot beauty.
It was designed in 1963 by AIA award-winning midcentury architect David Braden, whose own masterfully-designed home is located a block or two away on Cedar Hill Ave. Though not explicitly linked by anything I’ve read, I’d say you can see many of the hallmarks he designed for his own home artfully done in this Junior Drive home.
Take this front living room for example. The entire Junior Drive home was built into the lush hillside and sits 30 feet above street level. Braden uses floor-to-ceiling windows to blend the indoors with the outdoors but adds a minimalistic deck that disappears into the landscape. Also, the brick and cedar ceiling beams are carried from inside to outside, which expands the sight lines into the trees, Alcantara points out. There are even partial views of the Dallas skyline through the trees.
In an interview for AIA Dallas, Braden described his process for building his own home nearby:
I designed a house for my family in 1951 on Cedar Hill Ave. in Oak Cliff. It was dug into the hill on the top level and the roof deck dropped down to the living room. [I] put a glass front on it and it looked out onto the deck. […] It was what I think was the first flying deck that appeared on a house in Dallas, TX.
David Braden
AIA Dallas
And what’s that shiny gold surface in this living room? Why that’s an original copper fireplace, a luxurious throwback and statement-making element of midcentury origins.
The wooded, .96-acre property affords immense privacy and a spectacular setting for a residence with clerestory windows and skylights that provide gorgeous dappled light.
The home is smart, too. Modern amenities include Lutron Lighting and automated shades, a home theater, and tankless water heating. The kitchen is equipped with Miele appliances, lighted display cabinetry, a breakfast bar, and plenty of storage. A secondary kitchenette is located downstairs adjacent to the media room.
Down by the home theater, there is a spacious storage room where the Lutron system and other mechanicals are housed. It’s a subterranean room so it makes for an ideal storm shelter.
The owner’s suite opens to a tropical paradise with a pool surrounded by nature, decks, and a fire pit. Behind the bed is a raised loft with a built-in desk, bookshelves, and cabinetry, which makes for a perfect home office or study.
It’s all just so elegant and smart and sexy and sophisticated, right?
Alcantara agrees. “The home is a blend of artistic vision and engineering to create a dwelling that harmonizes with nature,” she says. “It’s a modern treehouse where fantasy and reality intertwine.”
