Spanish Colonial Style Architecture
Dallas Eclectic Architecture
This style is born not by rigid modernists but by artists who incorporated materials and space to accommodate their lifestyle.
4400 Belfort Place
4400 Belfort Place Was Built With a Specific Profile of a Highland Park Buyer in Mind
This Highland Park estate home at 4400 Belfort Place was designed with a specific profile in mind of a Highland Park buyer. The developer Blair Pogue, owner of Blantyre Homes, understands buyers who insist on living in Highland Park, relish convenience and a relaxed neighborhood atmosphere, while demanding quality, precision and a very sophisticated aesthetic. The developer selected the site and is building the home for that specific buyer in mind. The inspiration, design and process of building 4400 Belfort Place is reminiscent of a bespoke approach of creating an architecturally significant home.
Larry Boerder Designed this Architecturally Significant Home at 4400 Belfort Place
A great example of the architectural significance of Larry Boerder’s work is the estate home he designed and is currently being constructed on one of the most prominent sites in Highland Park: 4400 Belfort Place. Here, you will see his architectural vision and sensitivity to Highland Park and the site. His creative inspiration, exquisite eye for proportions, and insistence for quality construction and materials produce an architecturally significant home.
This Spanish Colonial style estate home with Italianate and Mediterranean detail on an acre of land draws from the early Highland Park Spanish Colonial architectural influences seen in many Highland Park homes and at Highland Park Village and Highland Park Town Hall. Larry Boerder has aligned the home to capture the breadth of the site and the sightlines of the front and rear gardens, pool and arbor, all anchored by the most majestic tree in Highland Park. The prominence and prestige of this estate home, sited on Armstrong Parkway, is balanced by the privacy and intimacy of facing Belfort Place. One observes the subtle symmetry of this Highland Park home with its balanced proportions delineated for different functions. The hand-troweled plaster on masonry is punctuated by the artisan cut and carved stone. The hand-formed clay barrel tile roof absorbs and reflects the summer heat.
Interior of 4400 Belfort Place Continues to Inspire
Entering the home at 4400 Belfort Place one sees a lavish staircase illuminated by sunlight and placed as an architectural surprise complemented by the architectural grace of layers of subtle grandiosity rather than immediately being assaulted with overbearing opulence. The groin vault ceiling defines the square vestibule entry looking into the formal living room. You will also admire the ceiling with a nine inch deep relief of geometric design. The essence of Mudéjar designed Spanish columns originating in the Iberian Peninsula add additional architectural context to this Mediterranean influenced home.
The first sight in the living room is the wall of windows looking into the rear loggia, garden and pool surrounded by the grass parterre. Looking down the expansive front horizontal hall, one sees the arched library shelves in zebrawood. In the dining room, the architrove detail terminates at the chair rail. Upon visually surveying the first floor of this very open sunlit home, one senses the contemporary appeal of the finest Santa Barbara homes and the accurate architectural history of centuries old European influences.
The 2,625 square foot air conditioned space below ground level brings more delight – a lovely game room, bar lounge, powder room, exercise studio with a Mondo surface, and a wine room. In addition, there is an elevator, laundry room, mechanical rooms and storage. Besides the elevator and stairs to the below ground air conditioned rooms, there is an elevator and two staircases to the second floor.
The graceful and majestic main staircase becomes a visual focal point with a backdrop of two stories of windows. The second staircase is more discreet and provides a convenient access to the kitchen and the informal rooms of the home.
Landscape Architect Harold Leidner Designed the Landscape at 4400 Belfort Place
Landscape architect Harold Leidner was provided the rare Highland Park one-acre canvas to create his landscape design accentuating this wonderfully wide expansive lot that relates to the prominence of Armstrong Parkway and the privacy of Belfort Place. His landscape design enhances the architecture of Larry Boerder’s Spanish Colonial Revival designed estate home set back gracefully on this nearly one-acre lot. Harold Leidner designed a sweeping, seemingly endless natural grass front lawn uninterrupted by plantings but framed by a lush, groomed, simple perimeter of clipped boxwood hedges and a bed of vibrant azaleas along the front of the home, invoking an informal botanical trademark of Highland Park. Anchoring the front yard is a majestic and celebrated live oak tree on the corner of the site visually connects 4400 Belfort Place to the mature grove of trees on Armstrong Parkway. The grand limestone walkway, with its straight axis, leads to an impressive front door flanked by azaleas and boxwoods that add a touch of formality and texture to this stucco estate home.
Entrance Drives and Motor Court
To the side, a charming porte-cochère paved in classic brick, and a motor court with brick pavers echo the symmetry and proportion of the home’s design. A thoughtfully integrated drop-off area from Armstrong Parkway ensures both convenience and elegance, allowing a seamless flow for vehicles to enter and exit gracefully onto Armstrong or Belfort Drive.
Landscape Composition of Rear Gardens
One will also love the composition of the landscape design of the rear gardens on this Highland Park one-acre site. Magnolias frame the rear of this estate site with its defined spaces that are all easily accessible from the rear of the home. The majestic and celebrated live oak tree continues to serve as a boundary for the site and a visual connection to Armstrong Parkway. The wide natural grass lower area is large enough for a pickle ball court and tented event area. The conservation grass parterre designed in a classical Spanish pattern surrounds the swimming pool and connects the cabana to the home. The conservation grass is custom threaded with variegated colored blade sizes and shapes that present a natural luster.
The cobalt blue pool water line tile, from a kiln in Italy, is a clean and complementary detail that enhances the colorful Mediterranean palette and pattern of tile and Lueders limestone that provides the surface of the rear loggia terrace overlooking the lower lawn, pool, parterre and plantings.
The private entrance from Armstrong Parkway runs through the private Armstrong gate that leads to the motor court and four garage bays. This area is also connected to the front entrance used for family and friends that passes through a porte-cochère.
Additional Structures at 4400 Belfort Place
The living quarters above the garage add an additional 738 square feet and additional architectural interest. The pool house also further accents the home and provides a pool bath, shower, gas fireplace and gas grill. The loggias, terraces and lawns complement the interior living spaces.
Robust Construction and Refinement
Douglas Newby remembers when the chair of the SMU art department once said to him that clay thrown off the wheel is the most beautiful when it is still wet, before it is bisque fired or glazed and high-fired. One is tempted to say the same about architecturally significant homes. They are the most beautiful as they emerge from the ground. The scale and proportions are uninterrupted from detail or ornamentation. The materials are celebrated. One can see the strength of the steel beams and layers of the structure of the home that provide the strength, stability and longevity of the home. As craftsmen and artisans begin their work on finished surfaces, an architecturally significant home is much like a jigsaw puzzle, where each piece that is put in place provides a clear picture of the home as it emerges. It has been with joy and admiration that I have witnessed this Highland Park home being built.
7035 Lakewood Boulevard, Dallas, Texas
Clifford D. Hutsell designed this Lakewood home for himself in 1930. At a cost of $10,000, this was one of the most expensive new residences in Lakewood and the same cost as many of the mansions that had been built on Swiss 20 years earlier.
4304 Arcady Avenue, Dallas, Texas
In 1992, Wilson Fuqua carefully delineated the front door and the stacked architectural elements above to create a composition that stands alone, blends in, and contributes to the Spanish Colonial revival style of the home.