Sam Wyly’s Highland Park Tudor Estate Hits the Market

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Tudor estate

You’ve probably driven by this Tudor estate every Christmas, slowed down, and gawked just like thousands of others. There have always been the most astonishing holiday displays in the front yard. If you’ve lived in Dallas very long, you’ll know it belongs to philanthropist and entrepreneur Sam Wyly. Although Wyly’s resume takes up an entire page in Wikipedia, most of us know him as the owner of the arts-and-crafts chain Michaels Stores.

Wyly and his brother Charles were extraordinary businessmen, regardless of fraud issues with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sam has moved to Edgemere and his fabulous Tudor estate at 3905 Beverly Drive is on the market for the first time in over 50 years. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own an iconic Dallas property that has had not just one, but two brilliant entrepreneurs as owners.

Tudor estate

The house was originally designed by renowned Dallas architect C.D. Hill for Fred Schoellkopf. We can’t put it any better than Virginia Savage McAlester, Prudence Mackintosh, and William C. Winter did in their book “Great American Suburbs: The Homes of the Park Cities, Dallas.”

C.D. Hill’s rise to architectural prominence in Dallas coincided with the initial development of Highland Park. Edgar Flippen and Hugh Prather succeeded their father-in-law, John Armstrong, as Highland Park’s developers following his death in 1908. Flippen hired Hill to design his family’s residence at 4800 Preston Road.The prestigious home, completed in 191o, was designed as a replica of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and was intended to attract affluent buyers to the development.

At 3905 Beverly is one of the most opulent Tudor mansions in Highland Park, designed by Hill for Fred Schoellkopf and completed in 1923.

The architect’s masterful creation consists of an asymmetrical front gable with a projecting entrance trimmed in cast stone. The roofline of the house is among the most complicated of any Tudor residence in Dallas: a pyramid coupled with a series of cascading hipped roofs situated over each of the home’s set-back wings (the easternmost wing was added with architectural sensitivity by later owners). The roof eaves splay at their edges and are interrupted by eyebrows and a gabled dormer extending upward from the second-floor windows. Three chimneys are each capped by distinctive terra-cotta chimney pots. All of these features were skillfully employed by Hill to create this picturesque Tudor with a commanding presence on Beverly Drive.

Tudor estate

Tudor estate

Tudor estate

Tudor estate

Tudor estate

The sunroom overlooking the pool and garden with a dramatic original light fixture.

Gothic tracery abounds in the dressing room and bathroom.

It’s as if this home was destined to be owned by genius entrepreneurs. Schoellkopf has a business history that equals Wyly’s. His father moved to Dallas in 1869 and built a prominent saddlery and leather business in downtown Dallas. Fred became Vice President of the Schoellkopf Company, best known for their trademark white elephant and famous Jumbo Brand saddles, still available on eBay today.

It’s time for another genius entrepreneur to make this 7,579-square-foot Tudor estate their home. It sits on a coveted 1.03-acre lot, one of only four on Beverly Drive that face the Dallas Country Club’s golf course. There are five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a powder bath, sunroom, game room, and a large guest apartment over the three-car garage.

“It’s magnificent,” Allie Beth Allman listing agent Susan Shannon said. “I’ve never seen anything like it, from the carved woodwork and moldings to the barrel-vaulted ceiling in the living room. There is a grandness to this home.”

This iconic Highland Park Tudor estate can be yours for only $12.5 million. And we do mean only. Trying to reproduce this grandeur would set you back five times that price today if you could find the craftsmen. Are you the next genius entrepreneur that is looking for a once in a lifetime home? If you buy it let us know!

Karen Eubank is the owner of Eubank Staging and Design. She has been an award-winning professional home stager for more than 25 years. She’s been a professional writer for 20 years. Karen is the mother of a son who’s studying music at The University of Miami. An ardent animal lover, she doesn’t mind one bit if your fur baby jumps right into her lap. Find Karen at www.eubankstaging.com

Karen is a senior columnist at Candy’s Media and has been writing stories since she could hold a crayon. She is a globe-trotting, history-loving eternal optimist who would find it impossible to live well without dogs, Tex-Mex, and dark chocolate. She covers luxury properties and historic preservation for Candys Dirt.

2 Comments

  1. Sandy Maltese on July 11, 2017 at 12:27 am

    Candy, you make descriptions of houses read like a novel that you can’t put down! I felt my heart beating just a little harder as you described the R O O F of this house! :)) You are truly a gifted writer! Please write about 523 Greenwich Ln COPPELL!!!!

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