Pedigreed Dallas mansion hits market for whopping price

Famed Texas architect designed Highland Park modern

Larry Speck in front of 3932 Potomac Avenue in Dallas (Allie Beth Allman, University of Texas School of Architecture)
Larry Speck in front of 3932 Potomac Avenue in Dallas (Allie Beth Allman, University of Texas School of Architecture)

Dallas is no slouch when it comes to modern residential architecture. It helps to have a legend involved.

A rare mansion designed by Larry Speck, the former dean of the University of Texas School of Architecture known for high-profile commercial and civic designs, just hit the market for $16.8 million. That’s close to the top asking price for magnificent mansions in the city now.

Built in 2020, the home is sited to blend into natural surroundings on its half-acre lot. That was probably no mean feat, as the house on Turtle Creek is in clear sight of the Dallas Country Club golf course. Speck renovated and added to a home, designed and built in 1975 by well-known Dallas architect Bud Oglesby. In the process of replacing both ends of that house, Speck opened it up to views of creek and course.

 

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Oglesby’s design paid homage to architect Louis Kahn. Speck’s website says he “clarified and fortified” the previous designer’s approach with texturally rich materials and natural light sources in the manner of Kahn such as sand-blasted limestone, Almondria wood and a glass curtain wall. The 6,809-square-foot house has four bedrooms and five bathrooms. With the exception of one surprisingly ornate powder room, the home and guest quarters evoke Kahn’s cool, quiet concrete masterpieces.

(Courtesy of Allie Beth Allman)

Speck, a Page principal, is known for Austin’s airport terminal, Houston’s Discovery Green and Dallas’s Rough Creek luxury resort. His urban planning work is also showcased in such projects as the Texas Capitol Complex master plan.

He was also dean of the architecture school from 1992 until 2001, when he resigned to protest regents’ decision to reject a modernist design in favor of something “classical” for its new Blanton Museum.

The House on Turtle Creek is on a cul-de-sac at 3932 Potomac Avenue and technically in the city of Highland Park. It was listed by Allie Beth Allman, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.

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