Raise Your Martini Glass to the Iconic Midcentury Modern That Chevy Built

We may need a new term for Midcentury Modern homes when they are this large, this architecturally intact, and absolutely built for entertaining. I think it needs to be the Martini Ranch! Our own Candy Evans dubbed it the House that Chevy Built when she wrote about it years ago. Y’all, let me know your thoughts while we dig into the story of this incredible home.  

This fantastic Midcentury Modern home was designed for Earl Hayes, a Detroit-based GM executive who moved to Dallas in 1945 and purchased Roy Hill Chevrolet in Oak Cliff. He then built the largest showroom in America next door to the dealership, forming Earl Hayes Chevrolet. By 1955, he expanded his business into car and truck rental, secured the Avis franchise for Dallas Love Field Airport, and initiated the bright idea of valet parking there. Hayes was also a prominent philanthropist and became known as Mr. Oak Cliff.

Hayes was not only smart, incredibly successful, and wealthy, but he also had excellent taste. So when it came to building a home, he spared no expense. Hayes owned the area south of Colorado Avenue along Kidd Springs Creek. He decided to build on two acres near Kidd Springs Park, which, from all accounts, was once a nature preserve and bird sanctuary established by City of Dallas forester and Oak Cliff resident R.A. Gilliam. 

He then scouted around for an architect who would understand the land and the design he wanted and landed upon Harold Prinz and LaVere Brooks. Prinz and Brooks were well known and had recently won a national merit award from the American Institute of Architects for their design of the Oak Cliff Savings and Loan. But the cantilevered Midcentury Modern Hayes house has to be their most interesting and challenging project. 

After Hayes died, Dr. Steven Bernstein, head of Gynecologic Oncology at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, became the owner and the perfect steward for this home. He was interviewed for the Preservation Dallas home tour that took place here in 2014 and mentioned a conversation he had with Prinze when the architect was in his 90s. Prinze told Bernstein that Hayes did not spare a dime on construction, insisting on a structure that would withstand elements and time, with beams 4 inches thick and iron supports. The design was so cutting edge that almost everything in the house is still intact. 

Hayes hired the Los Angeles interior design firm of Cannell and Chaffin, whose work appeared in multiple magazines over the years, including Architectural Digest and House Beautiful, so it’s not surprising that Town and Country featured the Hayes home in September 1957.

A Time Capsule

Donovan Westover coordinated the Preservation Dallas Home Tour in 2014 when this Midcentury Modern was one of the featured homes.

“The house is a time capsule inside,’ he said. “It’s almost like Hayes designed the house like an auto dealership because it is so structurally sound. It is a perfect house, and the grounds are unbelievable.”

Westover is spot on about the home being a time capsule. The kitchen floor linoleum squares are the same floor covering Hayes used in his automobile showroom in Oak Cliff! The travertine entry is exactly as it was laid in 1955. What caught my eye was the makeup mirror that pops up out of the countertop in the massive principal bathroom.

The Preservation Dallas Home Tour brochure sums the home up perfectly: 

One of the key selling points of the Hayes House was one of its initial challenges: the incorporation of a large-scale home on a parcel that has a significant drop in grade down to Kidd Springs Creek. The street side of the house has a long, low profile with recessed windows or diffused glass, offering well-lit but private interior spaces. At the rear of the house, however, floor-to-ceiling windows, walls, and doors provide dramatic landscape and pool views and create a fluid transition between interior and exterior space. Also typical of the Midcentury Modern style, interior rooms can be closed off with pocket doors, offering flexibility in the floorplan, and built-ins are incorporated throughout the house.  

Ann Keen

In the late 1970s, a living area was added toward the southern end of the pool, so seamlessly that you’d be challenged to figure out which part is the addition. 

A Late-Night Dip And a Cocktail

During my deep dive into the history of this home, I heard a story that may or may not be true, but it’s too good not to share. Scroll back and you will notice in the black and white photos that the lake comes right up to the house. The principal bedroom is cantilevered over the lake. Apparently, Mr. Hayes enjoyed a cocktail or two in the evenings. The story goes that he ended up in the lake one too many times, and of course, with the bedroom above it,  Mrs. Hayes certainly would notice. She decided the lake had to be moved back from the house. I don’t know about you, but a cocktail and a midnight swim sound pretty good to me!

This is a once-in-a-generation house. Only the original owners and the Bernsteins have had the opportunity to enjoy and protect it. We hope the next owner understands this is not only a home but an opportunity to be a good steward of a Midcentury Modern architectural icon.

Eugene Gonzalez with Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate’s Alta Realty Group is scheduling private showings on this Midcentury Modern marvel at 718 Kessler Lake Dr. starting Aug. 14. It’s listed for $4 million.