Spotlight on Community
Groovy Baby!
I've found a house in Dallas where Austin Powers would be right at home. I can just see him pulling his Jag into the circular driveway, turning to his female companion and saying, "Groovy, Baby!"
Perhaps they'd stop in the den with it's copper fire pit for a little conversation or enjoy a dip in the pool, but when things got shagalicious, the master suite with its round bed and sunken rock-walled shower would be the perfect venue for some shagadelic fun.
More Than a Bachelor Pad
Though Austin Powers would love the Round House, it's more than a groovy bachelor pad. In fact, the five bedroom/ four bath edifice was built as a family home. At a recent Preservation Dallas event, which featured a tour of the home, one of guests recalled the days when he lived around the corner and hung out with Parker kids. They didn't realize, as they grabbed a snack in the downstairs rec room, that they were enjoying a Mid-Century Modern Masterpiece. It was just the Parkers' House.
If you visited today, you would know you were someplace special. The home is filled with unique hand-crafted touches: original mosaics, the copper fireplace, artisan tiles, wood paneling and more. There's a green house for those with a green thumb and a sauna, if you want to relax. I was thrilled to see Frankoma tiles, because I grew up eating meals on the company's Wagon Wheel pottery.
Available for Purchase
The reason we were able to visit this blast from the groovy past is because it is on the market. Richard Graziano of Allie Beth Allman has it listed for a mere $1,725,000. This price is certainly higher than the neighborhood average, but this is not your average home. It's more like a 5800+ square foot art piece that you can live in and it is in a good neighborhood. 7507 Baxtershire is south of Forest and east of Hillside, a perfect North Dallas location.
Mid-Century Modern is a hot item in the architectural community, especially examples like this one with it's fabulous wood paneling, handcrafted cabinetry, gorgeous mosaics and unique artisan touches. Frank Lloyd Wright would love it. But the general public tends to expect high ceilings, spa-like master baths and gourmet kitchens at the expense of beautiful craftsmanship, but don't buy that attitude. Take a another look.
Life in the Round House
Imagine several of your friends parking their cars in the spacious circular drive. If the front door is closed and they had never been to your house, they might wonder where to enter. Then they'd see the steps across the reflecting pool water feature. A second look would reveal the double doors hidden in the lovely ironwork.
As they stepped into the foyer, the monumental freestanding copper fireplace would invite them down into the leather sofas of the conversation pit and you would greet them from the bar in the corner. The clever design of the bar would allow you to mix up drinks and pass them around the room or pass them out a sliding glass window to friends who have chosen to enjoy the pool.
Perhaps your kids would be hosting the children of your friends down in the rec room. They could serve non-alcoholic Kool-aid cocktails from the bar to the built-in round table. The tiled surfaces would certainly be kid and kool-aid safe, while epic gaming battles were waged on the big-screen TV.
As much fun as entertaining would be in this round house, it would be the quiet, everyday moments which could please you the most: opening the doors of the beautiful cabinets in the kitchen; looking up from a book you are reading in the den to see delicious wood paneling or those Frankoma tiles; puttering around in your greenhouse; working in an office that seems to be more outside than in; even sleeping in your own round bed.
I hope whoever buys this lovely home wants it for all the beautiful things I have described here and all the others I didn't have word count to include. It would be a shame to replace this masterpiece with yet another McMansion.
I'll include a few more pictures for your pleasure. We're sorry all we had was a phone to capture them with. Next time, Bill promises to bring along his real camera.
