This Lochwood modern home is not exactly what comes to mind when you think of the quiet East Dallas neighborhood.
In fact, many of you may have never heard of Lochwood. There are only 1880 homes here, mostly one- and two-story ranch styles built after World War II. Award-winning architect Cliff Welch hit the nail on the proverbial head when he described it to me as a stealth neighborhood.
While Casa View and Lake Highlands have seen a lot of newer construction, very little has taken place in quiet, private Lochwood. That’s probably because families tend to stay put here. With mature trees, rolling hills, greenbelts, creeks, and a 12.3-acre public park, it’s a lovely place to live. So why ever leave?
Rarely does an opportunity present itself for new construction. However, in 2007, a couple was seeking something different. They liked East Dallas and wanted to build something unique, so of course they looked to Welch.
Welch lives in East Dallas, as did the builder on the project, Tom Welker. They were both familiar with what was essentially an undiscovered site perched on a bluff (a little over an acre) at the end of a cul-de-sac. They realized this was the perfect spot for their client.
“On a Friday afternoon, we rented a cherry picker and went up about 12 feet to see what the views would be,” Welch said, recalling the pre-drone era. “Suddenly, you had all this privacy and could see nothing but treetops and a view to downtown from what would be the second floor. When we began building, I’d send out photos to friends and ask if they knew where I was.”
The responses ranged from West Texas to Possum Kingdom, and everyone was floored when Welch said he was half a mile from the Home Depot on Garland Road! By 2010, the unique home idea had become a reality.
Welch described the Lochwood modern home beautifully on his website:
Just east of White Rock Lake, perched on one of the highest elevations in the city, this home rests as an understated composition of stone, brick, and stucco. With a panorama of the lake and downtown Dallas beyond, views became the primary motivation for the design. The house is an arrangement of two juxtaposed cores: the living core and the bedroom core. Spaces are strategically placed to take advantage of the views. The main living areas downstairs run east to west, and the bedrooms upstairs run perpendicularly north to south.
It’s always a challenge for architects to tell us their favorite details about a house because each one is so unique. Welch did reveal one, though.
“We did a folded aluminum plate over the patio doors on the south side that serves as a sun canopy,” he said. “That was a fun detail to work out. But what really excites me is, and this applies to any good architecture, when you have a good client and a good builder and can design a unique home, it will always hold its value.”
The 2,514-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom Lochwood modern is certainly a unique property. “It’s so intimate to be in the middle of the city but step out and you are in complete privacy,” Welch said.” There is no other site in Lochwood like this.”
“The outside was also designed for entertaining,” Welch said. “The first owners had connections to the music industry and had well-known independent recording artists that would come by while they were in town and do house concerts in the backyard. It worked really well for that.”
This Lochwood modern has had only three owners over its lifetime, each an excellent steward of the property. The exceptional location and stellar design led to it being featured not only once but twice on the White Rock Home Tour. That’s a universal stamp of approval for the coolest house in Lochwood!