This M Streets High Tudor Has Love Baked In
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Mr. Wylie Holt often smelled of bread. The longtime route salesman for Mrs. Baird’s Bakery — 20 years, in fact — probably couldn’t help spending some time on the bakery floor, seeing up close and personal the product he proudly sold to area grocery stores and local marts. When the old Mrs. Baird’s plant was built in 1928, Roland Baird insisted on large plate glass windows “to allow those who pass to see the bread in the making from dough to finished product.” This was before the Mockingbird plant was built in 1953, just a mile from Mr. Holt’s home on Monticello. That home is this week’s Highlight Home of the Week, sponsored by Dallas mortgage broker Lisa Peters of Cardinal Financial.
Situated in the prestigious M Streets of Greenland Hills, Mr. Holt’s home at 5454 Monticello Ave. is a classic high Tudor with European flair and charm, like many of the beloved homes here. Built in 1926, the 2,950-square-foot home has four bedrooms and three baths with a detached garage and apartment overhead. It’s a home that you can tell has been well-loved through the years.
Of course, it’s undergone updates since the Mrs. Baird’s Bread Company salesman once walked through the arched, oversize Oak front door at the end of a long work day. The sellers have preserved the historical architectural features while updating any obsolete features and functions. (Well, except for the “speakeasy grill” in the front door, a popular doorway fixture for homes built during Prohibition 1920-1933.)
The formal living room has a vaulted cathedral ceiling with stained wood beams bearing the shape of this Tudor’s steep gabled roof line. That steep roof line classifies it as a High Tudor, listing agent Robert Kucharski of David Griffin and Company Real Estate says.
A striking stone fireplace features a uniquely-shaped niche above the mantle, flanked by light sconces. And study those windows that feature small shields of stained glass. I can’t place them — Nautical? Collegiate? In any case, they’re amazing.
The sellers and previous owners completed well-thought-out additions to the home, including the second-floor primary suite complete with an ensuite bath with his and hers walk-in closets, a spacious chef’s kitchen featuring stainless appliances, granite countertops, a farm sink, and an abundance of shaker cabinetry. In the back, an oversized garage has a 480-square-foot guest house upstairs complete with a bathroom.
Of course, the location in Greenland Hills is unbeatable. Located five miles from downtown Dallas and bordered by North Central Expressway, McCommas Boulevard, Greenville Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue – Greenland Hills is steps from trendy restaurants, bars, shops, and social events and a short drive from everything the city has to offer. It’s also a highly walkable neighborhood with Glencoe Park and the Katy Trail nearby. And we know it’s home to the M Streets where a well-preserved collection of 1920s Tudors takes us back a century.
Mr. Holt wasn’t the home’s first owner and obviously not the most recent. He may not even be the most notable resident of 5454 Monticello, but he gives us a snapshot of 1950s life in this Tudor. His footsteps shuffling up the stone porch. To his left, the covered porch full of arches that would later become the perfect sunroom of windows. Opening that heavy arched door to his beloved home, where he lived with his beloved wife until they died one year apart. When Mr. Holt passed in 1954 at the age of 60, the Dallas Morning News wrote about his passing and the sales department of Mrs. Baird’s Bread Company served as honorary pallbearers. Obviously a good guy well-loved by his peers, and that certainly adds to this home’s story. You could make it yours, too.
Get started on your home loan for 5454 Monticello Ave. by reaching out to Dallas mortgage broker Lisa Peters at [email protected].
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Thank god no IDIOT has painted over the fireplace stone (yet) !!
This well-preserved and thoughtfully expanded 1920s High Tudor cottage embodies the charm of its M Streets neighborhood. Unfortunately, too many equally wonderful examples of this vintage architecture are being torn down and replaced by cookie-cutter contemporary McMansions too big for their modest lots. They’re more suited for new subdivisions in Plano or other communities of that ilk, and they are anathema to the M Streets’ ambiance.
A perfect example is currently being built just 3 blocks down the street from the gorgeous Greenland Hills original featured above. The oversized abomination currently under construction at the southeast corner of Greenville and the 5700 block of Monticello features side windows so close to the sidewalk that passersby can literally reach out and touch them as they stroll past. And the house’s residents will have a terrific view — especially of the drunken crowds on St. Patrick’s Day!
The homeowners are in for an equally unpleasant surprise when they try to pull out of their attached garage, because their driveway decants them directly onto busy Greenville Avenue. Furthermore, an attached garage is totally inappropriate — and possibly not even supposed to be permitted — for this Conservation District; who approved the builder’s blueprints, or were they even reviewed? The entire edifice looks as if it was plunked down with no regard whatsoever for its location, orientation, or context.
As a longtime resident of my own 1927 Tudor cottage and owner of a second, I would like to see more original period M Streets houses treated with the thoughtful respect lavished on Mr. Holt’s former residence.