Stevens Park Historic Mansion Ready for Holiday Memories

Our Saturday Six Hundred is a gorgeous Venice-style Spanish mansion in the Stevens Park neighborhood of North Oak Cliff is just waiting for your Christmas tree and garlands.

And the beautiful 1846 Mayflower Dr. probably has some stories to tell, too, since it was built in 1928 by the architecture firm Flint & Broad, who were also responsible for many other buildings and homes in Dallas, including the Masonic Temple on Harwood Street, and parts of the aquarium at Fair Park and the original Love Field passenger terminal.

The firm also designed a Highland Park home on Versailles Avenue, and the Medical Arts Building in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the Black Hotel in Oklahoma City.

Thomas Broad and Lester Flint established their firm in 1923. Not much is known about Flint, other than he had served as president of the North Texas chapter of the American Institute of Architects during the Depression, and served as one of the first members of the State Board of Architectural Examiners.

More is known about Broad, who was born in Paris, Texas, and got his undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Texas at Austin before attending Harvard for graduate school, leaving to go back home after a fire destroyed downtown Paris in 1916, where he helped with the rebuilding effort.

After stints in the U.S. Army Air Corp and then a firm in Kansas City, he went to Europe in 1921 to further his education.

By 1923, he was in Dallas, establishing Flint & Broad, and designing commercial buildings and homes. During the height of the depression, he took a leave of absence to assist in the CWA and other relief organizations and federal programs.

According to papers from Broad’s later partner, Donald Nelson, which detail a lot of the firm’s work, including the home on Mayflower built for Dr. Ben Grandstaff, it was Flint who was running the firm while it was responsible for the work it did on the Hall of State and the Dallas Aquarium.

 

When Flint died in 1938, Broad was the sole owner for a period, and oversaw the firm’s work on the administration building at Love Field and the Masonic Temple, as well as 18 buildings built for the Buckner Orphans Home.

And while some might be gunshy about buying a home as old as the Grandstaff residence, the sellers have taken a lot of that worry out of the proposition, with recent foundation and roof work, refinished floors, improved plumbing, HVAC, electrical, framing, plasters, and paint inside and out.

The home has been completely renovated. The kitchen has gotten a sleek upgrade that still manages to feel period-appropriate.

Both full bathrooms and the powder room also got a complete update, as well as the lighting throughout the home, which also boasts four generous bedrooms and a wonderful floor plan for entertaining in the common areas.

Aaron Jistel, who listed the home with Listing Spark, said the home has been well built. “Solid bones strongly built on pier and beams,” he said. “Good for years to come.”

The 3,033 square foot Kessler Park home is listed for $698,000.