You Can Channel Old Park Cities in Fort Worth’s Berkeley Place

Do any of you recall and miss the old University Park before decades of tear downs and new builds made it fancier, even dare I say flashier? Alas we can’t turn back time. Or can we? I remember my introduction to Berkley Place in Fort Worth at the home of a couple who were to become future friends and I experienced a strong wave of déjà vu. The discreet charm of this beautifully preserved Near Southside neighborhood reminded me of the University Park of my youth.

Like the majority of the housing stock in Berkeley Place my friends’ house at 2210 Pembroke Drive is a proud survivor from the 1920’s celebrating its centenary this year. The handsome brick house with a classic Ludovicci tile roof, with 4,500 square feet housing four bedrooms and four-and-one-half baths sits on a beautifully manicured double lot.

Already in a nostalgic mood bolstered by a gray autumn day, I recall that it was in this living room that I began to entertain the possibility of a move from my beloved home in Dallas, to begin a new life in Fort Worth. And within one year I had made the move to a house in another Near Southside neighborhood less than half a mile away.

Also difficult to look at the spacious dining room with this bay window apse without recalling many a dinner with a dozen or more friends around the oval dining table. High points were the dinners, slaved over for days, cooked by the owner’s Korean mother when she visited. Kimchi anyone?

Off the dining room is the large den with its amazingly intact, warm, knotty pine paneling and shelves.

And the eat in kitchen where the magic happened. The floor plan is a bit unorthodox but includes ample new cabinetry, chef grade appliances and an oversized farm house sink. Predictably, at parties guests would congregate and crowd the room and adjacent breakfast room before dinner was served.

A recent addition is the new primary suite adding a large bedroom and additional deluxe bathroom bedecked in elegant soft gray marble.

The former primary suite also benefits from a fully renovated attached bath.

The super sized back yard has a large floating deck and plenty of space to add a pool. Attached to the garage is a 686 square foot guest house featuring one bedroom, one bath, a den, and kitchenette.

With all it has going for it and all of the updates, why would anyone want to leave? Well my friends are soon to be empty nesters and are downsizing. Sort of. Check out their dreamy new digs I wrote up in 2022. Apparently my friends have already begun an agressive renovation.

Ashley Mooring with Sotheby’s International Realty has priced 2210 Pembroke Drive at $1.629 million.