Friday Five Hundred: There Is Nonesuch House as Cute as This Lakewood Ranch Near the Stanley Marcus Estate… and Everyone Knows It

10 Nonesuch, a famous neighbor

Not to outdo your delicious find, Joanna, but I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. How can this home at 11 Nonesuch Road be so darn tootin’ CUTE? First of all, highly creative owners — Mary Poe is a marketing genius over at D Mag, and her husband, Bob, is a well-known Dallas artist. And you know buying a home from an artist, architect or designer adds in even more value because it is turn-key: all the design work has been done for you. You’ve got LOCATION on a fabulous street that will give your return address some panache and raised even the most Botoxed eyebrows. You’ve got 2177 square feet with a killer outdoors area … three bedrooms, two and  half baths all of which have been redone by the best folks in town, two living areas and that outdoor living room with a dry-stack stone fireplace, vaulted and beamed ceiling and waterfall.  I haven’t even gotten started on the kitchen — all redone with Carrera marble tops, Walker-Zanger backsplash, gas cooktops, double ovens, island for prepping. Best of all, your neighbors include the old Stanley Marcus estate at 10 Nonesuch Road, the home of Stanley Marcus for about 60 years, and host to everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Lady Bird Johnson to Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, just to drop a few names. Asking $550,000 and hate to tell you, but it already has a contract on it.

10 Nonesuch is still owned by Mark and Patricia Lovvorn, who, during the heat of one hot August, toyed with the idea of scraping it (for better energy efficiency) back in 2008, even after they initiated historic designation proceedings back in 1999. The Lovvorns changed their minds, the house is still there, not so energy efficient but more than efficient on charm and history! Did you know that Stanley Marcus fired Drank Lloyd Wright over this house? Yes, the man who turned Neiman Marcus into a retail empire fired Frank Lloyd Wright” because the home he designed at first had no bedrooms (Wright told Marcus to sleep outside, since the weather in Texas was so mild) then no closets (they just accumulate junk and clothes, he told Marcus) and no screens (let the wind blow the bugs away, he told Marcus). And after the house bid came in way over budget (Marcus had wanted to spend $45,000) Marcus hired Dallas architect Roscoe DeWitt to build this International Style. 10 Nonesuch cost about $150,000 to build back in the mid-1930s, post the Great Depression. What’s that, like a million in today dollars? 11 Nonesuch was built in 1961. And it has closets.