Have you noticed we give grand houses names? Have you also noticed that East Dallas has been a hot spot for some of the grandest?
We all know Mount Vernon on White Rock Lake, The DeGolyer Estate, and the once glorious Belle Nora on Garland Road. Then there was Grandwick, gutted by fire after a brief life as the Dallas Scientology Center.
But nothing has been more mysterious than The Buckner House. It’s that big Mediterranean on the right side of North Buckner as you head towards I-30, and it’s for sale.
The Buckner House was built in 1925. Remember, this was the year The Great Gatsby was published. It was the height of the Roaring ’20s, and if you had money and were smart, you designed a home that was a showplace.
Mediterranean architecture was cutting-edge in this era. It made a statement about taste and wealth and was the preferred style of those with both. The Mediterranean style is also an enduring one. Just consider Villa Vizcaya and the Biltmore in Miami — still standing, still cool.
Our photographer, Mimi Perez, and I were invited to tour The Buckner House this summer. It’s 5,733 square feet, with a marvelous cupola where I’d spend every evening with a nice glass of bubbly. The views are breathtaking, and the windows in the home are gorgeous. There are stained glass and bottle glass windows and a gorgeous quatrefoil window overlooking the front lawn.
The grand salon has marvelous ceiling beams and the balcony railings on the second floor overlook the action below. If you close your eyes, you can imagine those 1920s parties with the ladies in flapper dresses, men in tuxedos, and a raccoon coat or two flung over the settees. There was even a pool, long since filled in, but can you imagine? You know there had to be skinny dipping going on here.
From my deep sleuthing, I found this was the party house for decades. It was purchased by Lee C. Harrison, the president of the Prairie Oil & Gas Company of Dallas. His daughter went to Hockaday, so you know there were plenty of school parties, barbecues, teas, and balls here — and probably more skinny dipping.
John Maxwell owned The Buckner House in the early 1950s.
“He was friends with Tom Hughes,” Bruce McShan of McShan Florists told me. Hughes was the much-beloved producer and managing director of the Dallas Summer Musicals from 1962 to 1993. He was responsible for bringing in celebrities like Carol Burnett, Yul Brynner, Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn, and Liberace.
“Some of the stars stayed at the house while working at the music hall,” Mc Shan said. What a great way to avoid the paparazzi.
One of the most amusing things you’ll find on the home’s exterior is the faces. There are faces carved into the stone on columns, and one is up high on a corner of the house. The former staff quarters also have an amusing touch, with a top hat design in the linoleum.
So what’s the deal?
It was with little fanfare that this home hit the market a few months ago. I suspect that the reason is twofold. First, it sits on a smidge over four acres, which can lure what we preservationists consider an unsuitable buyer.
Second, the house has been vacant for about 15 years. Obviously, it needs love but that is where the education factor comes into play and finding that suitable buyer. Of course, I turned to the President of the Preservation Dallas Board, architect Norman Alston for insight.
People say they cannot fix something because they don’t know how to fix it. I often hear something cannot be fixed, or it’s going to cost too much and is not worth it. If you are not in the restoration and preservation business, you should not be gauging restorability.
No matter how something looks, it’s almost always the case with a residential structure that it is never too far gone to restore. If it has not burned, it’s probably salvageable. Buildings are far more resilient than people give them credit for.
One of the things I encounter with existing buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate is so many people cannot see past that. You have to envision a building as it once was. There is a different approach to economically putting a historic building back. You have to have the skills and know the techniques. We have to look at something and say it has value.
You bring it back, and you will have something greater than a new piece of property. That is why they make TV shows about fixing old houses! Time is not an indicator of salvageability. In Europe, people salvage. They don’t tear down. We struggle with making appropriate decisions about existing buildings. Look at the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, for example. It sat vacant for decades. It’s finally being restored to its former glory and turning Mineral Wells into a destination again.
It’s easy to find someone to tell you to tear a building or a house down, but I think we are finally seeing a cultural awakening to the value of cool buildings from our past.
Norm Alston
And indeed, this is a cool building with an extraordinary history. When it was built, Casa Linda was called Reinhardt, and the entire area had only about a hundred people. It did not even become part of Dallas until 1945. This area was all rolling hills and views and unexplored potential. It was an excellent location for a significant home.
“I’ve always noticed The Buckner House because it was unlike any other house in Dallas,” said David Griffin. “Even as a six-year-old, I thought it was the coolest house.”
Griffin is best known as the founder of David Griffin & Company Realtors, and he’s always had a keen eye for real estate. His dad used to own the Shamrock Hotel at Buckner and Interstate 30, so the family would drive down Buckner Boulevard two or three times a week to see him and pass by this memorable estate.
“From a mature perspective, this house has that same presence like that iconic shot in the film Giant, when Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor arrive at Riata because it is totally unlike any other house in Dallas,” Griffin said. “Our own Gatsbys built homes like this, and few of them have survived. When people build extraordinary things, they become a part of the fabric of who we were, where we’ve been, and the dreams of the people of that era.”
So, you see how important it is that someone who understands and honors not only the history of Dallas and the story of this home but also understands the property tax incentives that come with preservation has the honor and opportunity to love it back into that grand estate it once was.
Stephanie Connelly of the Brent King Group has The Buckner House at 1425 N. Buckner Blvd. offered for sale at $3.45 million.
