Favorite mansions

Glad you both enjoyed it!

The Freeman House on Chapel Hill Drive is 5 minutes from me; it was completed about five yrs. ago. I watched it go up and then went through it on a neighborhood home tour. It's spectacular.

Welch has another house currently under construction on the lot next door to Freeman. I'll drive by soon and see if it's pic-worthy yet, and post some if it is.

Wright was always a big philosophical if not outright stylistic influence for me in my architectural career. The market here demanded that I work in traditional styles, and I did, but always strove for a clean aesthetic with minimal, well chosen, and carefully crafted details, as well as area-appropriate materials.

 

Thanks again. Do you have any of your work to show?

 

You're welcome.

I retired mid-2004...everything digital was on my old computer, before it melted down. Everything else was/is regular photos, stored away in the attic or tossed. I never had a website.

One day soon, I'm going to take an afternoon and get some fresh digital shots. When I do I'll post a couple of my projects, along with miscellaneous notable houses around here.

There are some great neighborhoods here that have quite a few houses that were done in the 50's modern/Wrightian aesthetic; a handful have been scraped for McM's, but fortunately many people are seeing the design and historic value...along with rapidly appreciating prices...and sympathetically restoring and adding onto them instead of tearing them down. I'll get some pics of these.

I would have bought one of these modern houses for our in-progress downsizing but the 40's cottage suited our needs perfectly...in looking, it was a 50-50 tossup between modern and trad and we found a good trad house first.

 

Looking forward to it, Scott.

 

I really like this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentmore_Towers

 

Ahhh...the patronage of the pure, untaxed wealth that fueled the construction of these houses!

 

I love French Chateaus - there's a certain romance about their soaring rooflines and turrets that I appreciate:

http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/747622
http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/566519
http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/681956
http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/745034

 

Those are great houses...and surprisingly cheap, with the acreage and all.

"Chateauesque" is a boss style for all sizes of McM's here in Dallas, but very, very few have it down even near right.

Nice to see some good pics of the real thing. Thx for posting.

 

I want a French-inspired mansion myself, although smaller than these i suppose:
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French chateaus are quite exquisite but sometimes I find myself desiring something a bit more minimalistic.

Would you all feel comfortable in a home where every room is like a museum?

 

If you haven't, check out post #57...really nice small chateaus.

 

My bad - it's actually 500,000 sq ft and although it's 27 floors, every floor has double height (or some are reporting triple height!) ceilings so the building is similar in height to a 55 story building. Apparently it has 6 floors of car parking !?!?!

Some info here: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?Page=article&sectid=15&contentid=20070530022210718d7460de5
http://www.europaluxury.com/news/latest/billionaires-27-floor-mansion-under-threat.html

 

No, I wouldn't, but I'd want an ornate foyer/atrium, staircase and maybe a formal dining room for special occasions. Other than that, I'd like pretty cozy and simple.

 

May not be a super mansion, but it is certainly a quality home:

http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?cmid=1001557%2c1001562%2c1001563%2c1001564%2c1001570%2c1001571%2c1001582%2c1001600%2c1001613%2c1001620&typ=7&sid=0d53db4837e540ea8afd0a97b25cb9a6&sdir=0&sby=2&pg=5&lid=1079772130&lsn=44&srcnt=812#Detail

 

Very Nice.... Love the kitchen.
Reminds me of a B&B we stayed at in the Hamptons last year, The PondView.

 

I saw those, very nice. I know you were going off about them earlier, but I liked those French-inspired homes in uptown Dallas and in the Park cities. Around Turtle Creek there were several developments of townhomes that looked neat.

 

Just for sheer size and location Ira Rennerts beachfront palace is pretty impressive.
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That house is so big, way too big.

Looks like a college campus.

 

Yes, there are some very well designed and executed new French style homes here in Dallas...I didn't mean to come off as totally negative.

I guess I'm jaded because I worked on a lot of them and came to see it as a repetitive fashion. Also, as a former architect now in observation mode, I'm very critical of others' work!

I know the development you're referring to in Turtle Creek: Gated and stone-walled, high-density enclave of Chateau-style, ultra high quality single family homes. A commission there might lure me out of retirement.

That is freakin unbelievable. Looks well put together and organized along classical lines. I'll do some googling and see what else comes up, or do you have a link to more info?

 

Yeah its a very big home but it is right on the beach in the Hamptons.

 

i'd want a driveway just like that and i'd be more than happy!!!

any more pictures of that house?

 

Of course the irony is that they are tight against one another squeezed into a gazillion miles of sprawl with plenty of space. Lots of developments like that in Vegas, too - townhomes or single family built up on top of eachother squeezing 100 residences per acre in to each development... a development surrounded by acres of dirt and desert rock.

 

Eh.....the Hamptons don't really do much for me.

Aren't there now home sq. footage restrictions now because of his home?