Tessa Carla Blog's: Modern Masterpiece! This $7.5M Glass House in Dallas Is Clearly a Must-See

Thursday, 11 June 2020

Modern Masterpiece! This $7.5M Glass House in Dallas Is Clearly a Must-See

Dallas Glass House — Costa Christ/Stephen Reed

If you’re not the stone-throwing type and don’t mind washing windows, this modern home in Dallas, TX, fits the bill.

The three-bedroom residence on West Ricks Circle is made almost entirely of glass, 40 slabs of marble, and 60 tons of steel.

“It is a really special house. It’s a piece of art,” says the listing agent, Ryan Streiff. “It’s a good house in the day, but it’s spectacular at night.”

The home has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and two half-baths and is listed for $7.5 million. The current owners had the home custom-built, but never moved in.

“They put a ton of money into it and will not be recouping all [of it], so they’re pragmatic about the fact they’re going to be selling what was their vision to somebody else,” Streiff says.

Streiff says the owners were inspired by the Farnsworth House in Plano, IL. The celebrated architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed that home in 1945, and completed it in 1951. It’s basically a glass box that floats above the ground. Today, the distinctive structure is a museum.

Joshua Nimmo is the architect who designed the Dallas home, with a similar floating design and a sleek and streamlined look. All the mechanics for the 6,325-square-foot dwelling are hidden under the house, in a 5-foot basement of sorts.

The interior is sturdy with polished concrete floors, and most of the walls that aren’t glass are made of Calacatta marble.

A marble cube in the middle of the living space houses a powder room and entry closet.

The kitchen is sleek and long, with gorgeous cabinetry and most of the Miele appliances hidden from view. The interior designer William Nash created the indoor space.

“It was designed to host large parties and spill out on the terraces and the lawns,” Streiff explains, adding that the acoustics are excellent, thanks to the custom-designed ceilings.

Streiff envisions the potential buyers as “extremely minimalist.” The house could, for example, serve as a second home for somebody who likes to entertain and might not live in the house year-round, he suggests.

In the master wing, the breathtaking master bathroom features black Agata marble, and brass fixtures designed to look like polished jewelry.

Streiff notes that the house displays some “incredible” engineering feats, given the weight of the marble slabs used.

“The fixtures are really high-end,” Streiff says.”They didn’t spare any expense.”

The bathroom floors are heated, and the bathtub and shower are white. The drawers next to the sinks are made of marble and needed specially designed motors to be opened and closed, due to their weight.

Even though the house is made of glass, it has a private feel, Streiff adds. The landscape architect David Hocker designed the grounds surrounding the home, to take advantage of the live oaks and red oaks on the property.

“You can’t see into the house from the street at all,” Streiff says. “There’s a thick hedge going across the front and a canopy of live oaks.”

The back area has a metal fence covered with ivy.

“There’s all these layers to give privacy,” the agent added, to allow for the possibility of lighting the whole house up at night.

Hocker also designed a reflective pool made of black granite that could potentially be used a swimming pool, if a buyer desires.

As currently configured, the circular body of water is mainly there for looks.

“It’s just this wonderful trickling sound, and it runs over the edge of the circular pool,” says Streiff, who adds that it sounds something like a river.

There is a four-car garage with racing track lights, configured for a car collector.

Hidden doors will hide anything an owner stores in the garage, without adding clutter. You can’t even see the mechanism that makes the garage door go up and down.

The home sits on 1.33 acres in Hillcrest Estates, a neighborhood where all of the homes are on an acre or more.

“In Dallas, if you’re zoned for 1 acre-plus, you could still technically have livestock, two per acre,” Streiff explains.

This home, though, is built more for art than animals.

“It was designed for empty nesters, art enthusiasts, particularly those who might have a sculpture collection, because it would be an amazing setting to have sculptures positioned all around the home,” he says. “I would say well-heeled buyers, but probably not many with kids.”