Inwood Home of the Week: State Thomas Brownstone Makes Uptown Living a Blast from the Past

The State Thomas Home Tour was just last weekend, so we are bringing you a brand new listing (just hit MLS) in the State Thomas District at 2411 Hall Street, No. 1. This is an end unit three story that proves how affordable great brownstone living is in Uptown, especially in the State Thomas ‘hood which is so rich with history.

The way back machine: In 1868, James and Elizabeth Routh Thomas bought 40 acres in State Thomas. Of course, it wasn’t called State Thomas just yet, it was farm and prairie. The hopping part of town we call Uptown was known as The Vineyard, called such because there were actual vineyards and fruit trees raised and cultivated on the land between Cedar Springs and McKinney. The Vineyard was west of McKinney Ave. East of McKinney was the Thomas Colby District until 1976, when it was just shortened to State Thomas. Did the “Thomas” part of the name come from Elizabeth? Or was it from Dallas businessman Thomas Lardner who, in the mid-1980s, cleared more than 30 acres along Thomas, State, Allen and Hall streets with the investor Lehndorff Group.

Lardner was actually one of the first developers to call the area Uptown, and he planned for a high-rise district. But then came the 1980s, real estate crashed, and the neighborhood grew organically into a community of low- and midrise residential buildings. The McKinney Avenue Trolley stopped running in 1956, to start back up in 1989.

Today, Uptown is one of the most walkable communities in Dallas. Weekends and even on many Weekday evenings, hundreds of people walk the well-lit, tree-lined sidewalks from restaurant to restaurant, from home to the gym, from work and home to shops and public transit via the McKinney Avenue Trolley. That and the nearby Katy Trail could be why so many young professionals want to live here.

No. 1 is 2187 square feet with three bedrooms, three full and one half bath, on different levels all accessible by stairs. “It’s not your typical townhouse with one small bedroom downstairs and one master on the third,” says agent broker Rustin Smith. “All three bedrooms are very large, well sized and all have full baths.”

The home has a lot of sunny natural light with large windows and patios throughout. Just wait until you see the fourth floor roof terrace —  an entertainers dream! It is at least 800 square feet with a 60-inch built in media center with control access, exterior speakers and views of Downtown, Uptown and North Dallas. The Seller is leaving that puppy right there. The walkability factor in this area is very high: there’s a cleaners across the street, a grocery 100 feet away, and all the uptown bars are a brisk walk away.               

Asking price is $525,000, listed with boutique broker Rustin James Smith, who tells me the media center and rooftop patio are pretty sweet. So are the folks at Inwood Mortgage who can help you get the financing you need to buy this baby, without so much as a snag, peep or whimper. Because shocker: Inwood actually LIKES to lend !