The 1916 Beaux Arts Cox Mansion is Gone, and Rumors Are Flying
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UPDATE 8/23 11 p.m.: An eagle-eyed resourceful reader sent us the demo permit, issued on August 1, for the Cox Mansion. It was demolished on August 23. We’ll continue to follow up on this story.
On the corner of Preston and Beverly Drive sat the most astonishing mansion Dallas has ever seen. Most people knew it as the Cox Mansion.
Now the historic Park Cities estate is a pile of rubble after it was unexpectedly torn down this week, following months of renovation work.
Built in 1916 by the architectural firm of Hubbell & Greene designed the home for Alfred T. and Susie Rose Youree Lloyd. Featuring an entry with a stained glass ceiling and a third-floor ballroom, the mansion was a marvel. The parties hosted here were legendary, a testament to Susie’s eccentric and engaging personality.
Nothing in Dallas could compare to this home, then or now, which is why everyone is stunned that it’s gone forever.
Oilman Edwin L. Cox and his wife Anne bought the seven-acre estate in 1976. Anne told the Dallas Morning News, “We’ll re-do the place, not tear it down.”
And redo it they did, renovating it to accommodate their world-class art collection and love of tennis and swimming. The pool had three chandeliers over it, and the indoor tennis court featured powder blue carpet.
For a 1986 cocktail party held there for the Crystal Charity Ball underwriters, the Dallas Morning News noted an amusing conversation that the original lady of the house, Susie Lloyd, would appreciate. Attorney Alan Feld, one of the principals with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, pondered aloud how the owners cleaned those chandeliers suspended above the swimming pool. Legendary architect Bud Oglesby quipped that they probably poured some Windex in the pool, lowered them, and swished them around. Easy.
The home continued to host great parties, well-known dignitaries, and, yes, even a president. When Mr. Cox died in 2020 at the age of 99, his art collection was auctioned for $334 million. The Cox Mansion was sold for a rumored $41 million to billionaire Andrew Beal, the second wealthiest resident in Dallas, according to Forbes 2024 rankings.
Beal is no stranger to architecturally significant homes. In 2016, he purchased the six-acre Trammell Crow estate at 4500 Preston Road. Listed for a whopping $59.4 million, the centerpiece was a historic 10,000-square-foot Tudor home. Beal demolished it, planning to rebuild. Then, in early 2021, the lot was sold to attorney Leslie Ware.
Notably, Beal was also a past owner of the Crespi Estate, a home once listed for as high as $130 million and sold to the Cox family in 2019.
Beal is not only a banker businessman, and investor, he’s also an amateur mathematician. Beal began his career at the tender age of 19, buying, renovating, and selling properties. He ended up in Texas because he bid on and won a building in an auction of federal properties in Washington, DC. Beal spent $217,500. He turned it around three years late for over a million dollars, then went to Baylor to get even smarter.
For anyone that has spent two years remodeling, repairing, and restoring to me seems like economic lunacy.
Ron Siebler
President of Preservation Dallas
According to numerous sources, Beal’s intention was to renovate this incredible Beaux Arts mansion. And that certainly seemed to be the case until Wednesday, Aug. 23. Suddenly, social media was on fire because bulldozers were rolling on the Beaux Arts mansion. In a matter of hours, the icon of Highland Park was reduced to rubble, leaving the community in shock.
Only Beal knows why, and so far, he’s not sharing that, which is unfortunate as it just feeds the rumor mill.
Among those rumors is one that throws the town government of Highland Park under the bus. There is speculation that friction developed over the timeline of accomplishing the renovations. However, it’s important to note that the town government has not made any official statements regarding the demolition.
Then there’s speculation that during the renovation process, some problems arose that even a billionaire found not worth the further investment. These problems could range from structural issues to unforeseen costs, but without Beal’s confirmation, they remain as mere speculations.
We’ve seen other iconic properties fall from insurmountable structural issues, so it’s certainly not without precedent. Mr. Beal, if you’re reading and want to set the record straight, we’d love to share your side, so contact us!
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Curious to know the rationale for demolishing this home……I often drove past the site during the extensive renovation and thought “I cannot wait to see it when it’s finished.”
Well, as I said in the story, rumors are flying. We can only speculate until the owner decides to speak up if that happens, and frankly, I doubt it will. There are no historical protections in this part of town, and the owner owes no one any explanation about what he does with his private property. Until the Park Cities get serious about enacting historic preservation protections, we will continue to see the loss of our architecturally significant properties.
This is a real loss for Dallas. Thank you for writing the article or I would not have known. Did this run afoul of any historic preservation laws? I would hope so.
Unfortunately, the Park Cities have ZERO protections for homes.
The Park Cities need to pass some laws or they will end up with streets of big white boxes. Their historic character is why we love those neighborhoods.
I guess the current owner is a flipper, and as they say, a leopard doesn’t change its spots.
The current owner is most certainly not a flipper. This was a 40-plus million mansion owned by a billionaire. He has a Wikipedia entry. You can look him up.
Hi Karen, not trying to be impolite but homes can be turned at any price point, whether $50,000 or $50 million. From that Wikipedia entry: “Beal became known for buying properties, renovating them, and selling them.”
Thank you for writing on the demise of this house. Hopefully something wonderful will rise in its place, perhaps another home, or perhaps historic preservation laws..
Yes, I actually wrote that in my story and that Mr. Beal has a history with architecturally significant properties. He’s an investor and, from all accounts, had every intention of restoring and improving this home. Perhaps one day, we will be able to find out what happened.
What REALLY happened…
This literally made me sick to my stomach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s just a building; there are more important issues on which to focus. So, unless you are writing the cheques, stop whining.
Well, Jon, I could not disagree more. We do focus on other issues, and frankly, we love whiners because they are generally passionate about issues. You may have missed my point. It’s not JUST a building. It was a home, an important one at that, and that is what I write about. It has zero to do with money, so no clue what you mean by that. Mr. Beal may certainly do what he wants with his property, but our readers can also whine about the loss, and we welcome that.
Permit was issued on August 1, 2024
https://app.mygov.us/task/city/cityhome.php?cityname=545#location_lookup
Permit #24-01146 to Colin McDaniel Scrap-it demolition/raze contractor
It looks like they put that gigantic steel roof on top of the structure. My bet is that it caused structural damage and the whole place started to crumble.
Matt, I have to say that was my gut instinct, that something went terribly wrong and he just threw up his hands.
One of these is a photo I took, not that I’m that fussed about it.
YAYY Jimmy! Which one? I’ll put a credit line on it. Most of these are from social media but we try to credit whenever we know who took them! Thanks for letting me know!
Trammell Crow is the correct spelling.
Thanks Terry, Our auto correct thinks it is smarter than us : ) We appreciate you reading and helping us out!
a raze/demolition permit was issued by the Town of Highland Park on 8/1/2024
you can see the permit by going here and typing in 4101 Beverly . the permit number is 24-01146
just follow this url
https://app.mygov.us/task/city/cityhome.php?cityname=545#location_lookup
Peter, you are amazing! Thanks for this, and if you ever need a completely unpaid research position, we need you!I’ve updated the post.
D/FW needs to stop tearing everything down.
Sad.
Carlos, I completely agree!
It’s been three weeks since the death warrant was issued. Plenty of time to concoct a “plausible” excuse?!
I declared this to be the single most important historic house in the Park Cities. Due to what I considered to be “irreversible” alterations which stripped the home of its historic character, I was declaring the house “lost” as long as 6 months ago. I was never aware of who Beal’s architect was, but he or she provided poor leadership and bad advice at every turn, in my opinion. My mourning about the house started long before this week’s demolition. I’m fully dedicated to turning folks outrage about this into to true culture of preservation in the Park Cities.
As a just-turned-teen I biked with neighborhood kids to HP pool and library. We passed the Beverly gate where a black, faded to purple, silk wreath hung for years after original owner Rose Lloyd’s death. HP has records of her misunderstanding her tax statement and her quibbles with Dallas Country Club were note worthy.
Now the death of the house, the removal of ancient trees, installation of a mammoth city bus-sized metal tank newly buried on the property could stand some further look-see. Can’t wait to some kind of white box with black metal windows erected. Can anyone explain “aplomb”?
This is the Lloyd estate to some of us.
Thank you for your comment, Colleen. We are all sick about it but until HPK decides historic properties need to be saved, it seems this will continue. I did not know they buried a huge tank there. Wonder what that’s about. Yes, it was the Lloyd estate for many of us, and I don’t think the history of Mrs. Lloyd will ever be lost. She was quite the character. My favorite story is of her offering to buy the country club when the asked about purchasing her estate so they could expand!
This is absolutely devastating. I drove by today again and cannot believe it. #saveourhistoricalhomes
Hi Karen, great article.
It Does have to do with money. It is ALL about money. The entire focus is money.
James if you have info, do tell! I find not everything is about money but almost everything is about ego : )
Sadly, overall, Dallas does not treasure the patina of age, which no amount of money can build. Thats just how it is and has always been. That said, when the builder who bought my mother’s 90 year charming Dutch Colonial in Highland Park, told us his plans to replace it with his shiny modern box, I did warn him of my sweet mother’s words: “If anyone ever touches a brick on this old house, I will haunt the ground forever.” He paled. But he scraped her place and built anyway. Gotta wonder how the electrical and plumbing are doing.
The HP Council apparently functions as a hip-pocket government pliable for those with the $$$. Hence the lack of appreciation for HP’s historical value. As for Beal, I’m hard-pressed to understand how a banker billionaire tears down an historical structure without revealing to his constituencies why he is destroying history. There may indeed be untenable structural problems after the house has undergone so many restorations. But, for Pete’s sake, be sensitive to public concerns. After all, they’re your customers.
We wondered the same. If all the heavy steel on top compromised the foundation. I could never really see the house from the road or Lakeside but it will be missed. Now, I really want to read the history of this home. Wondering if DCC will make a play for the land?
Kate, thanks for asking because it’s given me the incentive to write another post on the history of this fantastic home. Stay tuned!
We wondered if the steel structure compromised the foundation, also. Does anyone know who the architect was on the project?
Kate, do you mean the current architect working with Mr. Beal? That is a mystery. On the permit photo, you can see the contractors
involved and do a bit of research. They have not put any historic experience on their website and seem to have formed in 2021.
The outcry here is warranted. But the tear downs will continue forever until we have a culture that cares about our culture. Unfortunately, I believe that until our pervasive transactional attitude toward real estate property as “merely a commodity” changes, this pattern will eventually lead to the erasure of all historic building stock.
If you blame a non-profit entity like Preservation Dallas for failing here, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Donate to them instead! Or better: sign up to volunteer and you’ll learn about their good work and how many treasures they’ve successfully saved over the years. And, find out why it’s so difficult to turn this ship on advocacy and education via a non-profit volunteer-run entity.
If you blame the town governments for this phenomenon, consider what possible benefit they might realize by enforcing one-size-fits-all rules that effectively limit real estate transactions resulting in frustration among their constituents and diminishment of their tax base? Instead, go attend a few zoning board hearings in the Park Cities to witness how vehemently they work to protect the beauty of their neighborhoods by saying “no” to even the most reasonable variance requests.
There are enforceable legislative mechanisms that exist to protect historic properties. Doug Newby has written about preservation deed restrictions and facade easements – they worked to save a David Williams masterpiece. It takes effort on the part of owners of historic properties to put these protections in place prior to selling.
Every tear-down like this one is a visible manifestation of the sad collision between “win at all costs” economics and a culture profoundly ignorant of its own history, the importance of art/design, and the value of authenticity.
Well said, Nicholas. Preservation Dallas cannot do anything about what goes down in the Park Cities other than make a statement. Dallas can do nothing about it, either. The Park Cities are indeed a bubble. The charm that has always drawn buyers is soon going to be a distant memory, and it will look like any suburban luxury development.
From the inside out the Rose Lloyd mansion was truly one of the most elegant, magical homes I have ever seen. This is just one more example of erasing not only community history, but also removing a significant architectural masterpiece.
Preservation is synonymous with education. The struggle continues to educate the cities of University and Highland Park about this issue. With no protective ordinances in place, the residents will continue to read one obituary after another for irreplaceable architectural gems.
Mr. Beal is a one man wrecking crew. He is heading north on Preston. Is Highland Park Village next
on his list?
Thank you for your insightful article and your efforts to inform and educate
Highland Park’s character and rich history is being pushed to the side for spec homes. Once they are gone, they are gone for ever. Sad. Where is the outrage?
Utterly sickening. I’ve seen that house so many times, I consider it the most famous house in Dallas (not that ugly South Fork tract home in the sticks). I NEVER ever thought it would be razed. This is a monumental loss and I completely blame Highland Park and its refusal to protect certain properties that are iconic to the neighborhood. Maybe this will be Highland Park’s Penn Station and its heartbreaking loss will spur a movement to save historic properties in HP. Ms Lloyd and Mr Cox must be spinning in their graves. What a disgrace.
My dad was born in 1907. His memory of Dallas is extraordinary . As a child ,and teen dad remembers dugouts in down town .a dugout is a cave like dwelling dug into a hill.
One can only imagine a scene from our past. I building or house with a dugout adjacent to it
I my self was born in 1934. Oh how I wished I had taken pictures. My family down thru the many years did take pictures. I have so many pictures of lost Dallas.
Nothing can erase my memories . Not even people with great wealth that try.
Good bye to another memory. A lost peace of history.
Beal is working on building a new mansion that will be more of a French provencial style. Previous house torn down as the contractor that was hired to complete the renovation bit off way more than he could chew.
Hi Mortimer, Yes, read my latest post today. It has the renderings of the new home. I was curious about the architects as there were initially some named folks involved, then a couple of much younger ones I’d never heard of. If you have inside skinny send me an email!
Neither the original or last owner would have wanted this. I suspect the grounds are now haunted. My son’s home was built on such a property, and indeed, his home, though newly built, was haunted and he had to sell.
I find it rather incredible that at my former modest home I could not make the smallest of external alterations without HOA approval, yet an historic mansion of this magnitude can be swept away with a mere permit. It’s beyond upside down.