Listing of the Week: The Classic Southern Life is Good on Southwestern

This home is one of the treasures of the Park Cities: a striking French Quarter flavor built by Rusty Goff in 2007 that is owned by one of the most talented landscape architects in town, Doug Smellage, owner and founder of Lawns of Dallas.

True landscapers, they built the structure and landscaped as carefully as they crafted the home’s interiors. That is why, from the very start, you notice that something is very different about 3141 Southwestern Boulevard.

First of all, it’s on a corner lot, the south east quadrant of  Southwestern and Airline. The lot is elevated to an almost Hill Country feel, and the house is set back more deeply than most. You actually walk up the cobbled stone driveway, which is curved and large enough to park a bevy of cars. The sensibility is New Orleans as you walk to the front door, surrounded by greenery, a side entrance from the gracious porch. Here is where Daisy Buchanan would be swinging and watching the world go by.

The entrance foyer is huge, sunny, and large enough to hold a grand piano or a cocktail party. Immediately you notice the wood stairway and landing, and rich wide-planked oak floors flowing from the entrance. What struck me most about this home was how different it is: this is not your typical, on-every-block center hallway floorplan with formals on each side. Rather, the dining room is straight ahead from the front door, while the formal living room leads to a Butlers Bar to the family room. Graceful French doors open out to the front porch, extending the space.

The kitchen hugs the east side of the house, beyond the dining room. The two rooms are connected by a large, efficient Butler’s Pantry. This also leaves the kitchen space to creative tasks: there is enough room for cooking, of course, and it’s furnished with the latest in high end gourmet appliances with rare granites. But there is also a morning room, and an office off the breakfast room. This area connects to the spacious family room and fireplace that is graced by a mantel custom made from French antiques that did not start out as a mantel. The same French antique touch was applied to corner cabinets in dining room and also the butler’s bar.

Am I getting your attention that 3141 Southwestern is NOT your typical Park Cities home? Good, because there is so much more to tell you!

Floor to ceiling windows in main rooms bring in the light even on the dreariest of days. The family room is particularly bright, facing south, and overlooking the salt water pool and spa. There is a pool bath, and an outdoor shower centered on one exterior brick wall. Outdoor showers are the best for summertime showering of kids and pets, and even some not so summertime showering.  The patio, pool and spa area is where it really becomes evident the home is owned by a landscape genius. Lush varieties of plants fill beds and pots burst with green. Still, for all the greenery, the yard is surprisingly easy to maintain. It’s on a generous lots: 70 by 160 feet deep, leaving plenty of side yard. The pool and spa are saltwater, easy on the skin. The back patio is covered from the elements and warmed by a large outdoor fireplace.

Now, for the interior upstairs. You can get there by stairs or elevator. I also like that this home has not wasted precious space with a back stairway. The 5794 square feet are efficiently designed and some rooms serve multiple uses. Example: up the stairs, the landing serves as a gathering area as well as a hallway. The back hallway is lined with bookshelves and cabinets to double as a library. Let me not forget the huge cedar closet with a vacuum seal closure.

Up here is the master suite, a 25 by 18 foot huge bedroom with full spa bath including soaking tub, dressing table counters, separate shower and huge his and her closets. The master bedroom opens to a screened back porch overlooking the pool and backyard landscaping. The space spawns almost the entire western flank. Go to the front of the house, in the master bath, and French doors open to the front porch overlooking Southwestern. It occurred to me that you could get a cross-breeze in that master pretty darn quickly.

Also upstairs are three more bedrooms, each with beautifully finished en suite baths and huge closets. Tucked in the back of this floor is the upstairs utility room complete with sink, and an exercise room that could be a media room.

The upstairs hallway is flowing with natural sunlight from the overhead skylights. There is a huge cedar closet here with a vacuum seal door. 

Now here’s the best part of my story: the price. Significantly reduced to $2,199,000 from a high of $2,350,000.

Which is quite a deal for this home, given the youth and vigor and all the perks and extras built into its DNA. Susan Bradley of Allie Beth Allman is marketing 3141 Southwestern, and says the owners are motivated. There are four bedrooms, four full and two half baths, three living areas and two for dining, though the back porch could very well be a third.

(Susan always has the best listings!)

 3141 Southwestern. Our CandysDirt Home of the Week, a gracious home of unique Southern style.

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