Inside the Just-Renovated Stanley Marcus Home in Lakewood: a Dallas Historical Landmark
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10 Nonesuch Road, the home retailer extraordinaire Stanley Marcus built with this wife in Lakewood, is now open to select group of Realtors. Though it is not in MLS, I hear several buyers are circling. Built in 1937/1938, Nonesuch is now ready to tackle the 21st century. The private projection room has been re- wired, the kitchen dramatically updated, the wine cellar is gone, converted to a stunning white marble laundry room with room for two full washers and a stack unit—
“We converted it to a utility room — that’s what Baptists do,” joked Mark Lovvorn, the homeowner, who is active in First Baptist Church of Dallas, to Dallas Morning News reporter David Flick.
Things have been brought up to date, says Lovvorn, from the sinks to the wifi. He thinks Grace Kelly would approve.
Grace Kelly was one of a handful of celebrities who enjoyed the Marcus hospitality at 10 Nonesuch Road along with Lord Mountbatten, Eleanor Roosevelt had tea, and Nelson Rockefeller who admired Marcus’ collection of paintings. Famous designers were in abundance, including Coco Chanel. Comedian Jerry Lewis also attended parties on the verdant south lawn.
The architecturally sensitive remodel was time and resource intensive: Lovvorn hinted to Flick that he spent in the upper neighborhood of seven digits.
While the principal rooms remain mostly intact, surfaces were changed. Walls were moved in some areas, and every plumbing fixture was replaced. The redwood and white colors that Marcus favored still dominate the house, but in more contemporary settings.
Lovvorn told Flicks he had the original hardware — even the screws — replated and reinstalled. The egg-shaped silver hinges in Mr. Stanley’s mahogany closet shine like silver. Frank Lloyd Wright had initially designed a home for Marcus without closets, but the Dallas architect who got the job, Roscoe DeWitt, filled every nook and cranny with built in closets, drawers and shelves. There is a redwood sauna off one bedroom. The wood in Mr. Stanley’s closet is heavy mahogany. Every drawer is solid. The Marcus’ library, with its leather floors, looks almost exactly as it did decades ago. The leather came from a fancy shoe display at the downtown store; Marcus felt it a waste to just toss the leather, so he made a floor out of it.
Over the large, airy garage is a 1,100 square foot guest house where the Lovvorns have lived during the entire three year renovation.
So they restored the house and will never live in it?
That is correct.
So they restored the house and will never live in it?
That is correct.
Oh I am just in love with what they did!
Oh I am just in love with what they did!
Simply gorgeous!
Simply gorgeous!
So – why doesn't the owner mention the Architects that did the actual renovation?
And being proud of tearing out the Wine Cellar for a glorified Laundry-Mat?
No wonder the world has such a low view of Dallas.
So – why doesn't the owner mention the Architects that did the actual renovation?
And being proud of tearing out the Wine Cellar for a glorified Laundry-Mat?
No wonder the world has such a low view of Dallas.