This State Thomas Charmer is as Loaded as a Park Cities Manse

I’m about to give you the dirt on this State Thomas treasure. You’ll be waiting to hear how it was built around the turn of the century, updated in the mid fifties and then eighties, right? The State Thomas neighborhood contains the largest collection of Victorian-era homes remaining in Dallas. Known as Freedman’s Town, it was created immediately after Emancipation (as in the Civil War) as a separate settlement adjacent to the town of Dallas — adjacent, but not in it. By the close of Reconstruction in 1874, Freedman’s Town was incorporated into Dallas, bustling with about 500 citizens.

The area is rich with history in a town where you really have to turn up stones to find it. In 1986, State Thomas was established as a Special Purpose District, making it an urban peripheral of downtown Dallas. It was christened Uptown. The area would soon become one of the most bustling urban success stories in the country, loaded with downsizing baby boomers and energetic millennials coming in as fast as they could.

In 1986, not one of their peers was nearby. In fact, they were still opening garage doors in the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and North Dallas. But State Thomas was exactly where Curtis and Patricia Meadows wanted to settle for their retirement.

They are one of the most well known couples in town. Curtis Meadows is a longtime lawyer, formerly of Thompson & Knight LLP. He was president of the Meadows Foundation for 18 years, where he oversaw the distribution of more than $270 million in gifts and grants. Under his tenure, the foundation was named most outstanding foundation in the U.S. by the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives.

He was also a faculty member at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he established a university-wide program in philanthropic and nonprofit studies.

Patricia Meadows has always swum lengths ahead of the current in art and culture. Best known as an advocate for the visual arts in Dallas, she co-founded D’Art (Dallas Visual Art Center) and the Emergency Artists Support League. She has juried hundreds of exhibitions throughout Texas and organized solo and group shows for individual artists, art associations and museums. Through her company, Arts Connections, she is a consultant to corporate and private collectors.

Together, they built 2707 State in 1986 to make the exterior fit seamlessly into the existing, historical neighborhood they had helped create, bringing every ounce of Highland Park luxury and convenience in place as soon as you crossed the wide-porched threshold. 2707 State Street is being offered for the first time for sale, marketed with Kyle Crews and Mary Alice Garrison of Allie Beth Allman for $3,280,000.

The home is three stories but relax, there is a commercial grade elevator and two stairwells. You can walk, climb, or let it carry you away! This is the perfect home for someone who works at home, as these two do. In fact, there are two offices.  Work-friendly amenities include the multi-zone AC and heat, and a mostly concrete backyard with gated driveway access to park 6 to 7 cars. The property also has 6 additional parking passes for street parking. There is an 880 square foot three-car-garage with floor art. The home sits on a nice parcel, 72 x 140 lot, with just enough turf for drive-up aesthetics.

Once inside, you get a whopping 6,860 square feet of interior space on three full floors. There are formals, dining room, huge gourmet chef’s kitchen with built-in breakfast banquette. The first floor is mainly formals and living, but a bedroom could certainly be configured here. Up the two next floors are six bedrooms and four full baths, plus a laundry room and upstairs kitchenette aka bird room. The master is enormous and features a pop-up TV at the foot of the bed.

Not only is this home perfectly configured for a home business, it can also acommodate a boomerang kiddo or two — there is that much space, all of it private.

Best of all, Boomerang Kid won’t need a car: the home is a sort walking distance to Whole Foods and all the shops, restaurants and salons of Uptown.

Come to think of it, the master and mistress of the house might enjoy that, too.

Basically, this home is a rare chance to get a head start on something we are going to be seeing way more of: full size homes with all the bells and whistles tucked into the “nookiest” corners of urban areas. 

Let’s call it the new old Dallas!