Italianate Highland Park Mansion on Beverly Drive Abounds With Provenance

If you are looking for a luxury home in the Dallas area, one of the first names you will hear is Beverly Drive. There are a lot of lovely streets, but this one is as good as it gets, and that is by design.

When John Armstrong, considered the father of Highland Park, was developing the neighborhood, he and his son-in-law, Hugh Prather, went to Los Angeles to visit residential developments. When they saw the plans for Beverly Hills, it was clear they needed to hire landscape architect Wilbur David Cook Jr. to create the conceptual plan for Highland Park. Prather and Armstrong’s other son-in-law, Edgar Flippen, founded Flippen-Prather Realty, and the planning of an exclusive community began.

It’s long been thought that Beverly Drive was named by Cook after his Los Angeles project. The street was considered the town’s “main cross-town thoroughfare,” and Highland Park’s first electric lights were switched on in November 1914.

We need not worry about the sale of it. People will always buy the very best.

John Armstrong

The largest, most expensive, and most exclusive homes were built on Beverly Drive. Every once in a while, one of those original historic homes comes up for sale. Such is the case with this Italianate mansion. It was built by The Russell Brown Company for Dr. Samuel Edwin Milliken and his wife, Sallie, who was the daughter of Barnett Gibbs, a former Texas lieutenant governor. Their daughter, Catherine, married Adolphus Busch III, grandson of the co-founder of Anheuser-Busch, whose passion project was the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas.

Alberto Garza, who runs the excellent Instagram Sidewalks of Dallas, did deed research on the home and found the following information:

“Sallie purchased it independently of her husband in April 1920 for $35,000, which was unusual for the time. Following Sallie and Samuel’s divorce, Sallie’s second husband, Edgar Dick Slaughter, moved into the house.”

So, not only does this home have a seriously important historic provenance, it’s been renovated, updated, and beautifully maintained, and has only recently become available for the first time in over 30 years. Historic homes that have been cared for stand the test of time because they were constructed to last with materials we can no longer find today and by extraordinary craftsmen. They also feel like home because they have a depth of character that only comes over time.

From the stately Lueders limestone exterior entry with a leaded glass door to the interiors filled with exquisite millwork and detailed moldings, this 5,079-square-foot Beverly Drive mansion is the very definition of luxury living.

One of the interesting things you will find is Count Rumford-designed fireplaces in two of the rooms. These were conceived by Sir Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford, who was a physicist known for his studies of heat. He designed a fireplace with angled sides to carry smoke away without losing heat. It was a sensation when he debuted it in London in the late 1700s. These fireplaces have experienced a major comeback in high-end luxury homes and are even more the rage today than at the previous height of their popularity in 1850.

Original Highland Park homes were designed for a lifestyle that catered to both family and entertainment. Even though the Dallas Country Club (est. 1896) moved to Highland Park in 1909, most people still preferred the intimacy of entertaining at home.

With four bedrooms, three-full and-two-half bathrooms, a home office, a gym, guest quarters, and a three-car garage, the quality, character, and timeless design of this home make it a rare find in Highland Park.

Allie Beth Allman herself has 3605 Beverly Dr. listed for $7.75 million.