NeoClassic Verisimilitude: The Very Best of the Vendome

You know the Vendome, the Grand Dame of Dallas high rise living? There was a time in Dallas, before The Residences at the Ritz Carlton, Museum Tower and One Arts Plaza were born, when dropping this name as your address resulted in a small hush — as in oh, you live at the Vendome? It still carries a whole lot of weight, which we are sure our Jon will have an opinion or five on. I have been fortunate enough to tour several Vendome properties, and it boggles my mind to see how packed each is with haute design. I need utter only two words: “Winspear Penthouse’ : the 16,000 square foot home designed by Lynne B. Sheldon with more than 20 rooms: five baths, two half-baths, four bedroom suites, a media room, a club room, a golf room, a game room and a mosaic  pool on the 18th and 19th floor with 24 foot tall ceilings overlooking the city skyline.

When you come in off the street to The Vendome at 3505 Turtle Creek, you walk into a European-style lobby with a 24-foot ceiling, a fireplace with an antique mantel from London and a stairway that leads to a library. Each home has gas fireplaces, hardwood flooring, marble baths, frameless showers, gas kitchens, and operable windows and balconies.

And then there is 17A.

Dallas starchitect Ralph Duesing re-drew the interiors of this 4200 square foot, two bedroom plus study, three and a half bath home to make it look like a feature in Architectural Digest. (I don’t think you could find a home in the entire building that doesn’t look like a spread out of  AD.) No expense was spared here in 17A on millwork, custom paint finishes and architectural customization. The foyer is like a rotunda, and the living room is uber chic but also light and sunny. My favorite room is the library which makes one feel like escaping in here all day with a book or three. The master has dual baths for him and her, huge closets and access to the balcony. And every corner is custom with a capital”C”.

David Nichols with Allie Beth Allman has this listed at $6,995,000, and the home just came on the market February 25. I googled the owners and found a little bit of vintage Robert Wilonsky:  the home is owned by Herbert Hall McAdams. who apparently had a farm in Vermont at one time. Nine years ago McAdams was in hot water with the townspeople of Barnard, Vermont, over a dam, pond and bridge he and his wife wanted to build at their farm:

According to two stories that have appeared in the Burlington Free Press since Sunday, the couple has been involved in a “rancorous dispute” with some 14 Barnard residents for more than four years over the McAdams’ decision to “build a dam, pond and bridge across an old town road on their Barnard property without going through the usual legal channels to discontinue the right of way. It was a dirt road that local people had used for hiking and horseback riding.”
After a court hearing, the McAdams won the right to do whatever they wanted–as is the perogative of anyone who lives in a $1.6 million Turtle Creek home, damn it (or, maybe, dam it). But the McAdams then took to court the 14 townsfolk complaining about their construction; the McAdams were “claiming discrimination because they were outsiders,” reports the Free Press. As a result of the McAdams’ decision to go after their critics, Vermont legislators have created new legislation that disallows folks from trying to restrict someone’s…whatchacalit…right to free speech, since apparently the Constitution ain’t enough.”

This was back in 2006, and isn’t it interesting to see those numbers? Tell you one thing: the place is worth a WHOLE lot more than $1.6 today. $6,995.000 is nothing to sneeze at BUT the qualified mortgage lenders at Inwood Mortgage & Inwood Bank can help you find financing, especially at this level, especially on Turtle Creek Blvd., now with easy on-line banking…… even if you are from Vermont.