A nearly $20 million Dallas estate overlooking White Rock Lake and modeled after President George Washington’s Mount Vernon was the most expensive home to hit the market in Texas last month.
The asking price for the stately, Georgian-style mansion, modeled after Washington’s Virginia estate, is $19.95 million. Allie Beth Allman of Allie Beth Allman & Associates is the listing agent for the property.
Six of the state’s 10 priciest homes were in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in July, according to a list from the Houston Association of Realtors. The association uses information from local listing services throughout the state, including North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.
The homes were listed between July 1 and July 31. The list doesn’t include any new construction homes that are not move-in ready.
D-FW Real Estate News
Dallas’ Mount Vernon home was built in 1930 by Thomas Y. Pickett. It wasn’t quite completed until legendary Dallas oil magnate H.L. Hunt purchased the property for $69,000 in 1938.
The family lived there for the next 60 years.
Current owner John Amend and family are the second family to live there, but they’ve had the property on and off the market since 2016. The family also tried to sell it back in 2011, according to previous Dallas Morning News reporting.
Located at 4009 W. Lawther Drive, the property sits on a 10-acre lot. The main home has 10,500 square feet with five bedrooms and 6½ bathrooms.
Dallas’ Mount Vernon home was built in 1930 by Thomas Y. Pickett. Legendary Dallas oil magnate H.L. Hunt purchased the property for $69,000 in 1938, and his family lived there for the next 60 years.
Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer
The home has a special meaning for the Amends. They were two East Dallas teenagers when they ended their first date at the gates of the estate in 1967.
“I said that if I could live anywhere in Dallas, Mount Vernon would be the home,” John told The News in 2011.
They got the chance to buy it following the death of Hunt’s widow, Ruth Ray Hunt, in 1999.
The Amend family made extensive renovations to the property in the early 2000s, including the addition of a more than 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom guest home.
Their company, the Amend Group, did much of the work on the concrete home and surrounding acreage.
Among the home’s more notable features is a four-lane bowling alley complete with a 1950s-style Coca-Cola soda fountain. The 16-car garage can double as a formal event space for 300 people.
The bowling alley was John’s idea. His full-time pro and director of bowling operations, Randy Little, would give lessons to visiting guests like Laura and George W. Bush or Glenn Close.
You can stare out toward the lake from rocking chairs on the home’s expansive porch.
Other amenities include lighted tennis courts, a heated pool and putting greens.
Dallas’ Mount Vernon has an expansive porch with rocking chairs where one can enjoy a view of the lake.
Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer
Other D-FW homes on the list include:
- A nearly $14 million home at 3709 Euclid Ave. in Highland Park. The five-bedroom home has five full bathrooms and three half baths. The walk-up and water feature sets the stage for the nearly 10,000 square foot mansion.
- A nearly $11 million mansion at 10160 Gaywood Road in Dallas. The French-style home was built in 2011 and sits on 1.28 acres in the heart of Preston Hollow.
- A nearly $10.7 million home at 4700 Dorset Road in Dallas. The primary suite in this more than 13,000-square-foot mansion was completely redesigned and updated.
- A nearly $9 million full-floor penthouse at 2555 N Pearl St. #2200 in Dallas. The four-bedroom property is located within The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Dallas.
- A $8.75 million mansion at 1711 Maranatha Way in Southlake. The five-bedroom home sits on 3.7 gated acres. The property’s backyard features a large heated and cooled diving pool, cold plunge, spa, three fire pots, multiple covered patios, and a full outdoor kitchen and bar.