This Is One of the Most Architecturally Significant Historic Lakewood Spanish Eclectic Estate Homes 

This is a rare opportunity to own an original Bertram C. Hill Lakewood Spanish Eclectic estate home built by the legendary Dines & Kraft team. It’s on the market for the first time in over 25 years.

Dallas has sadly lost sight of the privacy an estate home provides. For far too long, lots have been overbuilt with little regard for their setting and with zero balance between structure and landscape. When you can find a home enveloped in natural surroundings, you have indeed found a sanctuary. This Lakewood Spanish Eclectic estate home offers that perfect balance.

Bertram C. Hill was an English architect who arrived in Dallas in the early 1900s. He was responsible for some of the city’s most beautiful homes. Known for his large estate work, he designed 6601 Hunters Glen for Cullen F. Thomas, at least five homes on Swiss Avenue, and multiple homes in Lakewood and Highland Park. This Lakewood Spanish eclectic estate home is an example of his finest work.

Dines & Kraft comprises the development duo responsible for creating Lakewood and its distinctive look. They embraced a variety of architectural styles and hired talented architects like Hill to design spec homes here that are still among the most coveted in Dallas today. So this home embodies the best talent on offer in Dallas at the time.

The home was purchased from Dines & Kraft by Glen DeVoe and Laura Davis in 1926. Mr. Davis was a publisher of The East Texas Chamber of Commerce Magazine and of Texas Progress Magazine. He was also an assistant city editor at The Dallas Morning News and the manager of the East Texas Chamber of Commerce Dallas office. The home has had wonderful stewards over the years who have understood its value and worked hard to maintain it.

Beautifully sited with a pond at the front edge of the property, I cannot imagine any other estate with this level of curb appeal. The house was built with a tiered landscape plan to offer privacy without fencing in the beauty from neighbors.

The combination of terraced landscaping and architecture attracted the current owner, Cindy Walker. She grew up in homes on hills or slopes and understood the benefits of terracing. Her job saw her making regular trips to Florida, where she became intrigued with Mediterranean architecture.

The house was not up for sale when she first noticed it, but Walker put a note on the door. Oddly enough, the owners at the time were considering a lifestyle change and called her a few weeks later. It was meant to be, and Walker purchased this Lakewood Mediterranean estate home in 1998.

Over the years, Walker meticulously expanded the home to include a guest suite, a larger kitchen, a two-story secondary living area, and an expanded primary bedroom suite. The updates are so seamless you’ would’d be hard-pressed to figure out what is new and what is original, and that is on purpose. Walker did not want it to be apparent, and she was meticulous. She did things slowly, getting to know the house and how the light flowed, which is so important when updating a historic home.

Walker had  English Heritage construct the loggia, which you would swear is original. Because the roof is multi-colored tile, she wanted to complement the flooring.

Ludowici had quarry tile and sent over samples. Those colored slab samples became a working sundial on the property. “We repurposed everything we could,” Walker said. Marble and stone were added to the deck to mimic the marble walkways found throughout the estate. The house was even re-stuccoed, and modern soffit lighting highlights the dramatic crescent design Hill used.

“There is not a room where you don’t have a maximum view,” Walker said. “Upstairs, you feel like you are in a treehouse. Looking out the front windows, you see a total canopy all the way around.”

Walker will especially miss the pond filled with water lilies and lotus. “We have so much wildlife,” she said. “There are ducks, frogs, and egrets, and we have three or four owls. You feel like you are living in a park here.”
 
“There are many beautiful and well-loved homes in Lakewood; however, no home on Lakewood Boulevard has the matchless combination of setting and architectural design found here,” listing agent David Griffin said.

Griffin has this legacy Lakewood Spanish Eclectic estate at 6840 Lakewood Blvd. available for $3.75 million.