Listing of the day
Location: Houston, Texas
Price: $11.5 million
Home to Houston’s moneyed and celebrated since the 1920s, River Oaks is the city’s take on Beverly Hills, "the gold ring for the socially ambitious," describes Teresa Byrne-Dodge, of Greenwood King Properties.
"There are other communities in Houston with houses just as grand," she says, "Memorial, for example and the Woodlands," but nowhere are the residents as well known, and in some cases, "notorious," she says. "River Oaks has the flashiest fortunes and the gayest divorcees."
This house is set on over two acres of green land, a relatively large amount of outdoor space for this subdivision, in the middle of a city.
The current owners are downsizing to be closer to their grandchildren. And there’s plenty of room in the house they’re leaving behind for a new family. "Upstairs, the spacious family room is more like a lounge that you would find at a resort, with pool table, built-in bar and plenty of room for playing games or dancing," says Ms. Byrne-Dodge.
Stats
The 9,893-square-foot mansion has six bedrooms, five full bathrooms and one half-bathroom.
Design Pedigree
Many of the homes in the area boast architectural pedigrees; John Staub, Hugo Neuhaus, Robert A.M. Stern, Howard Barnstone and Birdsall Briscoe have all built homes in River Oaks.
This 1950s red-brick mansion, on Willowick Road, is notable for its original Georgian style features and craftsmanship. Based on classic 18th Century proportions and symmetry, it has soaring ceilings and detailed molding, carved doors and pediments, beveled glass windows and random-plank oak floors. With a grand pillared entrance and sweeping central staircase, it is made for entertaining.
More:‘The First Texas White House’ goes up for auction
Amenities
There is a private, lighted tennis court, swimming pool and solarium, plus a garage for five cars, as well as separate quarters for guests or staff. And while Houston is located on a coastal plain with a very shallow water table so most local houses have wine "cellars" that are above ground, this property is unusual for its true subterranean wine cellar.
Celebrity cache
Developed by oil men and brothers Will and Mike Hogg, River Oaks has many successful and well known, aristocratic residents past and president, including pioneer heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley, the Baron and Baroness Enrico di Portanova, and Dominique and John De Menil, who gave Houston the well-respected Menil Collection museum.
Neighborhood Notes
The house is built around what many people consider to be Houston’s most prestigious country club and golf course and not far from the private St. John’s School.
Nearby is River Oaks Shopping Center, where there’s a Steinway piano gallery, and popular restaurants such as Tony’s, Da Marco and Brasserie 19, whose dedication to service includes sending a car to pick up customers up from their homes and dropping them off again after dinner.
Agent: Valerie Lankford, Greenwood King Properties
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