If you’ve ever driven around White Rock Lake, there’s no doubt that you’ve gawked at this sprawling mansion:
Dallas’ very own Mount Vernon. This almost-exact replica of George Washington’s home sits on 10 acres overlooking White Rock, and was built in 1929 by the famous oilman, H. L. Hunt.
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The Hunt family occupied the estate until 1999 when it was purchased by another family. The current owners, the Amend family, placed this piece of history on the market yesterday – for a cool $32 million. (Interestingly, the property was briefly on the market in 2008 for a rumored $50 million. Apparently there was some confusion between the owners and agent as to when the listing expired.)
And what, you might be asking, do you get for $32 million? Well, it’s a lot. This excerpt from the listing description hits the highlights of this magnificent estate:
“Dallas landmark mt. Vernon on 10 premier acres overlooking white rock lake. 10,511 sq.Ft. Main home totally renovated and expanded in ’02. Elevator accesses 3 levels, including 2,400 sq.Ft. Basement & wine storage. Renovated outbuildings include 2-story guesthouse, pool house, 4-lane bowling center, 16-car concours classic auto facility, lighted tennis courts, heated pool, putting greens, gazebo, outdoor grill, 2 fireplaces & pizza oven.”
Yowzers.
We checked out the appraised value of this property on the Dallas County Appraisal District’s website and the market value has been estimated at just under $9.5 million – apparently someone’s done a good job of protesting his taxes! (Of course, the homestead capping of the property’s value has an enormous impact as well.) The taxes on this mansion, even at the measly $9.5 million value, are a whopping $182,000 a year – ouch!
So, if you’ve got an extra $32 million lying around it looks like this is your lucky day. Click here to check out the full listing. And if you’d like to learn a little more about the modern-day Hunt family, check out this article.
UPDATE – April 9, 2010: Looks like the mansion was taken off the market after only two days!! The sudden appearance and disappearance of this listing was explained as a “clerical error.” Hmm. Read more about it here.
