4400 Belfort Place – The Finest New Highland Park Home Offered for Sale
4400 Belfort Place is a Once-in-a-Generation Home
Evokes Highland Park – $34,500,000
The Highland Park estate home at 4400 Belfort Place is a once-in-a-generation home. One has not seen a home in Highland Park built of this quality in the last generation and we are not likely to see another one built soon. This Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style home at 4400 Belfort Place was inspired by the architectural excellence and look of Highland Park in the 1920s and it perpetuates that iconic architectural excellence now.
Architectural Significance of 4400 Belfort Place
There are many remarkable residences in Highland Park, but few would provoke the response that came from architectural historian Willis Winters, FAIA, who upon seeing the house exclaimed, “WOW.” Willis Winters goes on to explain,
This is the finest new residence I have seen in Highland Park when it comes to cohesive design, craftsmanship and intricate detail.
– Willis Winters, FAIA
He co-authored the definitive book on architect-designed homes of Highland Park titled Great American Suburbs: The Homes of the Park Cities, Dallas, and is currently writing the definitive book on architect Charles Stevens Dilbeck. So, Willis Winters definitely appreciates great houses and admires the Mediterranean and Spanish Revival style home at 4400 Belfort Place and its magnificent contribution to elevating the architectural landscape of Highland Park.
Bespoke Approach to 4400 Belfort Place
My motivation was to develop a home that looks like it could have been in Highland Park for 100 years and one that elevates the architectural landscape of Highland Park.
– Blair Pogue
The developer of this architecturally significant home at 4400 Belfort Place, Blair Pogue, did not have this home designed for himself, but he had it designed for the profile of the sophisticated Highland Park buyers he knows so well from growing up in Highland Park in a home around the corner, attending Highland Park schools and SMU, and being raised at the knee of one of the nation’s most respected developers. Blair Pogue 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. Blair Pogue selected this site and built the home with this specific buyer in mind. The inspiration, design and process of building 4400 Belfort Place has a bespoke feel to it. The estate home at 4400 Belfort Place was designed for a specific type of buyer Blair Pogue knows so well.
While most home builders are continually trying to value engineer the construction of a home, Blair Pogue was just the opposite. If a detail, component or space did not look or feel just right, he would have that part of the home massaged so that it would better resonate with the enchanting craftsmanship and design of the rest of the home. The result of Blair Pogue’s vision and approach has culminated in an architecturally significant home that is refined, timeless, and has the characteristics of a home that makes us happy.
Having grown up in Highland Park, I was surrounded by beautiful architecturally significant homes. It is wonderful to see 4400 Belfort Place now draw on this architectural past and tradition of excellence and perpetuate great architecture in Highland Park.
– Mary Peyton Burgher, Texas Coordinator for Institute of Classical Architecture and Art
This Spanish Revival style home is affectionately admired by its neighbors, those who were raised in Highland Park, and those with a keen interest in architecture, neighborhoods, history and design, like Mary Peyton Burgher.
Architectural Significance is Created by a Great Site, Architect, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect and Builder
What I have learned is most important is assembling the best team – I certainly did this with 4400 Belfort Place.
– Blair Pogue
Blair Pogue selected architect Larry Boerder to design the home at 4400 Belfort Place. He is the Dallas architect with the strongest interest and knowledge of historic architecture in Europe, across the country, and in Dallas. This passion has propelled him to design the most significant traditional homes in Dallas over the last several decades.
Margaret Chambers is the interior designer Blair Pogue selected for this Spanish Revival style home. She also has great experience, vast credentials and a good eye, allowing her to bring fresh design to traditional architecture. Margaret Chambers has worked with Larry Boerder in the past and this previous experience and collaborations benefited the project at 4400 Belfort Place.
This is more than a beautiful home – it is a masterpiece of unmatched historic authenticity, artisanship, and fresh design.
– Margaret Chambers, Interior Designer
Harold Leidner was chosen as the landscape architect to create the landscape environment for 4400 Belfort Place. Harold Leidner is unquestionably the finest landscape architect in Dallas for estate homes. He has the ability to accentuate the architecture of the home while simultaneously creating an exterior environment that people naturally gravitate to.
An Architecturally Significant Home Starts with a Great Site
Every once in a great while, a property comes along that offers a truly rare opportunity–and this Highland Park estate was just that. A rare one-acre Highland Park lot, a majestic tree anchoring the landscape, and a magnificent home designed by Larry Boerder created a once-in-a-career canvas.
– Harold Leidner, Landscape Architect
I am known for my interest and work with architecturally significant homes, but I always emphasize the site over the home. Homes come and go, they get remodeled or expanded, but a great site is forever. If an architecturally significant home starts with a great site, then what a great site this is.
The land on which 4400 Belfort Place sits is almost one acre, but it is not just the one acre of land that makes this site so attractive and desirable. This is one of the most prominent sites in Highland Park as it has a prestigious presence on Armstrong Parkway, one of the five iconic streets in Dallas, and also enjoys the privacy of the curving street of Belfort Place.
How many homes are simultaneously prominent and hidden? A ceremonial entrance drive is seen from Armstrong Parkway and yet the giant live oak tree on the front corner of the property feels like an extension of the mature parkway trees that veil this Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style home in nature.
This is the last natural one-acre lot in Highland Park that can be realistically built on as all the other Highland Park lots already have very large homes on them or have homes that have undergone very expensive renovations. There are only 36 one-acre or larger lots in Highland Park. Sure, two or three or four smaller lots might be cobbled together to provide room for a monstrously large home that overshadows those around it, however, to have a wide, graceful, natural nearly one-acre lot that is proportional to the home is a joy to see and even a greater joy to own. When one starts with a site as large and gracious as the one at 4400 Belfort Place, it begs for a Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style home, evoking the best of Highland Park and its timeless design.
Armstrong Parkway is a Ceremonial Boulevard and a Friendly Neighborhood Street
There is Nothing Chimerical About the Appeal of a Spanish Revival Style Home in Highland Park
There are exemplary homes of almost every architectural style in Highland Park, but there is a reason the Spanish Revival style evokes the best in Highland Park. From the 1920s when 70% of the homes in Highland Park were designed in either a Georgian or Colonial Revival style, the fewer Spanish Revival style homes in Highland Park appealed to the affluent and avant-garde. The homeowners of Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style homes did not feel compelled to conform to the generic norms of the Midwest and the East Coast and the more traditional Georgian and Colonial homes they favored.
The Avant-Garde Have Always Appreciated How Modern and Adaptable Spanish Revival Homes Are
The Highland Park Spanish Revival style homeowners were well-traveled and were also influenced by the architectural style found in the wealthiest communities of California including San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe and Santa Barbara. The affluent and avant-garde Highland Park homeowners appreciated how modern and adaptable these homes were to the Texas heat because of their deep barrel roofs, thick stucco walls and open loggias, which also made them inviting for the long springs and autumns that Dallas enjoys.
Highland Park Has a Deep History and Long Relationship with Spanish Revival Architecture
Highland Park Town Hall was designed by Dallas’s most important architectural firm, Lang and Witchell, in 1924 in the Spanish Revival style with Mediterranean detail. The original Highland Park developers, Edgar Flippen and Hugh Prather, sent their architects, Fooshee and Cheek, on a three-month tour of Europe and California to become well-versed in the Spanish Revival style in preparation for designing the Highland Park Village shopping center in 1931. The Spanish Revival architecture of Highland Park Village plays a large part in why this is the most successful village shopping center in the country. Spanish Revival style homes continue to reverberate architecturally with Highland Park as they best connote their sense of place and historic roots. The Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style homes are also more programmatically modern and they allow more sunlight than most builder modern homes. As a result, these homes appeal to families that have both legacy furniture and modern art. A Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style home allows a homeowner to celebrate a mix of styles that those with ample resources and sophistication often exhibit.
The home at 4400 Belfort Place would have been magnificent in Highland Park in 1925 and is a magnificent Highland Park home in 2025. It looks like it has been in place 100 years and yet it continues to elevate our admiration for the architecture in Highland Park today.
Successful Collaboration of Architect, Interior Designer and Landscape Architect
An architecturally significant home like the home at 4400 Belfort Place requires a successful collaboration of talented architects, interior design, landscape architect, and contractor. An architect can have a great vision for a home on a beautiful site; however, the home becomes much greater with expertise and influence of a talented interior designer and landscape architect exploring design, ideas, details, and finding ways to accentuate the architectural vision of the home and its environment. This dynamic exchange and collaboration creates an even more inspired home with a greater aesthetic impact.
A talented and experienced contractor is able to execute the plans from the complex engineering of the structure to the precision of minute detail. A great contractor can also help the design team massage the plans to create an even more impactful and pleasing solution when the opportunity arises.
The Highland Park home at 4400 Belfort Place had the advantage of this design team of architect Larry Boerder, interior designer Margaret Chambers, landscape architect Harold Leidner, and construction manager Dan van der Zee.
Margaret Chambers Influenced the Design of the Home and Accentuated the Architectural Style with a Visually Enticing Continuity of Design
Every room has as very specific point of view, look, feel and function. And yet, Margaret Chambers has selected patterns, textures and colors that build on each other. One quickly acclimates to the excellence of this stimulating design found throughout the home and enjoys the calm this balanced design provides.
An Octagonal Star Pattern in Various Forms and Interpretations is Found Throughout the Home
This interesting design is used in multiple ways. I found myself looking at the pattern in some places to count the sides or points of these octagonal shapes to discover the theme permeates the house in both subtle and bold ways.
In the formal dining room under the lacquered walls is the wainscoting with an octagonal star-patterned relief. One also sees this design used on the living room ceiling, the backsplash of the bar that opens to the living room, and the marble mosaic on the primary bathroom floors and other rooms and spaces throughout the home.
Grand Hall Visually Connects Width of the Home
I love standing in the Zebrawood library with a carved limestone fireplace and dark-stained white oak floors, looking down the entire width of the home until my eyes rest on the lacquered walls of the dining room, with its dark-stained white oak floors, on the other end of the wonderful architectural sequence of this home.
Sunlight, Sightlines and Nature
Sunlight, sightlines and nature are key elements of a home that makes one happy living in a home. These characteristics are more prevalent in homes like 4400 Belfort Place that are only two rooms deep, as this makes it easier for sunlight to flow through the home.
One Can See Through Depth of Home
Entering the front door, one can look across the grand entry hall through the living room and see sunlight and views of the rear lawn. From the living room, one can see through the family room to the keeping room and to the vestibule connecting the grand hall, and through the arched opening of the living room through the grand hall foyer to the front door.
Living Room Opens to Grand Hall and Vestibule Leading to Library
The formal living room has pocket doors that open to reveal the walk-in bar, and an arched opening to the grand hall that leads to the vaulted beam ceiling vestibule, introducing the library at the end of the grand hall.
Elaborate Arches Define the Vestibule Between Family Room and Grand Hall
Ample rooms with large openings and passageways allow distinct and defined rooms to be visually connected as one can see into four or five rooms from one place. Walls of windows and glass-paned doors wrapping around the home, allow views of nature throughout the home.
Reve bleu marble floors connect the rooms between the living room and dining room. Each has a distinct and defined design. The home becomes proportionally more elegant and polished as one moves through this grand corridor. Dark-stained vaulted ceiling beams and stained glass introduce the library. A walk-in bar with a pocket view to the living room is discovered. Entry vestibules with different, elaborate designed arches lead to the formal living room or family room. Illuminated by the sunlight streaming through two stories of windows is the marble staircase, with the Reve Bleu marble continuing to ascend to the second floor, a dazzling powder bath with a vanity created from a slab of fluted marble, and then one arrives at the dining room with its lacquered walls reflecting the light off the cove ceiling with a backdrop of the front lawn and nature through the windows.
Formal Powder Room off Grand Hall
Fresh Interpretation of a Revered Style
Spanish Revival is a time-honored and revered style that has been developed over several centuries. A fresh interpretation by the design team or an architect, interior designer, and landscape architect have created a home that accentuates its natural tenets of Modernism, its historical precedence in Highland Park, and its eye towards a current and fresh design.
Rather than the 14,000 square feet home feeling enormous or unwieldy, each space invites you to spend a moment. Every room is appealing to be in or just look at. An architectural grandiosity and detail is tempered by a consistency in design. A Spanish Revival style home allows this range of design and enjoyment. Through several centuries of cultural and regional influences interpreted in many ways, Spanish Revival architecture includes Spanish Colonial Revival which provides a hacienda style warmth. Spanish Revival also allows the honest design and materials that are adaptable to our Texas environment. This includes hand-troweled stucco, deep barrel-vaulted roof tile, wrought iron ornamentation, and a liberal use of brick and hand-fired tile. Spanish Revival also includes Mediterranean influences, and this is seen with the polished refinement in the entrance hall where there is a liberal use of marble and carved stone. Regardless of the different influences, Spanish Revival is fundamentally and programmatically modern. Rooms and spaces are often as elegant as the interior spaces. Continuous walls, beams, and design continue into loggias, courtyards, porches, balconies, walkways – all creating a compound in the rear and enhancing the visibly endless lawn in the front of the home.
Library Anchors the Grand Hall
The library anchors the grand hall and provides another intimate space for the primary bedroom suite. The library is one of my favorite rooms with its herringbone pattern stained white oak floors, zebrawood bookshelves and beam ceilings, a more informal carved limestone fireplace, and arched windows looking over the front lawn. A view from this warm and inspired room looks down the grand hall, as the elegance of the home ascends.
Formal Dining Room Exudes Glamour
The formal dining room draws one’s attention from anywhere in the grand hall. The lacquered walls reflecting sunlight can be seen from several rooms away. The cove ceiling accentuates this effect and draws attention to the exuberant and elegant wallpaper on the dining room ceiling. The Art Nouveau glass-blown chandelier confirms the timeless elegance of this room. The octagonal star relief pattern on the wainscoting add an additional elegant design element. The windows overlooking the expanse of lawn and beautiful Highland Park homes in the background is a reminder of the tranquil setting of this room and this home.
Open, Connected and Delineated Rooms
Here is a floor plan that is programmatically more modern than many modern homes. Sightlines from one spot in the home allow views into four or five other rooms. Sunlight can be seen in several directions. Rooms are delineated by design elements and function that open to each other, inviting an additional experience.
From the living room one can look back at the marble staircase and grand horizontal hall running the width of the home. One can also see into the less formal family room with its massive dark-stained beams and look into the loggia that runs behind both of these rooms, and see beyond the loggia to the rear garden and pool. One can also see into the kitchen and breakfast room with its marble fireplace.
The Kitchen Sets the Tone for this Home
We all know how important a kitchen is to the home. The colors, patterns, materials and textures found in the kitchen and keeping room almost serve as the inspiration board for the entire home. You will see the seventh generation Moroccan artisan handmade glazed terra cotta tile, quartzite countertops, and carved Calacatta marble, materials you will see throughout the home. Variations of an octagonal star proliferate in the kitchen and keeping room. This design pattern is sometimes subtle and sometimes bold. Its clever use creates visual interest and continuity throughout the home. The stained wood floors and beams also reoccur in the home. From the kitchen, you are able to see into six other interior rooms, two loggias, gardens, terraces and the pool. From virtually every room on the first floor, you can see multiple other rooms and sunlight from several directions. The black and polished brass stovetop and oven of the La Cornue range reminds us of the quality of all the appliances and fixtures in this kitchen. The porte-cochere side entrance suite including the lockers, powder bathroom, service kitchen, pantry, staff stairs to the second floor, and estate office around the corner extend the utility and appeal of the kitchen.
Keeping Room Opens to Kitchen
The keeping room at 4400 Belfort Place continues the design and sightlines of the kitchen with glass doors and windows that wrap around it, providing views out onto the loggia and across the pool and even into the family room. One might enjoy breakfast in the keeping room or sitting by the fire in the carved marble fireplace. This delightful room for many purposes is close to several activities that might be taking place in the home and is an extension of the kitchen.
Formal Living Room is at the Center of this Home
The formal living room is quickly seen when one enters the front door and looks across the grand hall through the living room vestibule into the living room. The living room, with its elaborately cut Calacatta marble fireplace and visually striking beam ceiling, also connects one to nature through its wall of glass doors and windows, and the warmth of the family room with its dark-stained beam ceiling and views all the way to the kitchen and keeping room. A pocket door can close off the walk-in bar or it can be opened to add a grandness or informality to the living room, depending on the occasion. The size of the formal living room is ample; however, the proportions are pleasing and the connections to the rest of the home increase its welcoming ambience.
Family Room Expresses Essence of 4400 Belfort Place
On a Spanish Revival style spectrum of Mediterranean to Spanish Colonial Revival, this family room has elements of both with its carved stone Calacatta marble fireplace. However, it leans more towards hacienda-style warmth with its dark-stained white oak floors, wrought iron hanging chandeliers, massive dark-stained vaulted ceiling beams, an entire wall of accordion doors that open to the loggia with arched openings and a light-stained beam ceiling, and a multicolored patterned floor of soft hues. Sightlines into the kitchen, keeping room, formal living room, family room vestibule, and grand hall remind one of how open this house is to the other rooms and views of nature in two different directions.
Porte-Cochere Side Entrance Suite Accommodates the Family
Entering the side or back entrance from the porte-cochere brings one into the home surrounded by a suite of convenience, utility, and still refined design. This suite of rooms includes lockers and everyday family storage, a powder bath, a service kitchen, a large walk-in pantry, staff stairs to the second floor, and an estate office.
Architect Larry Boerder Has Designed His Best Highland Park Home at 4400 Belfort Place
The estate home at 4400 Belfort Place is my favorite Highland Park home that Larry Boerder has designed. Here are some reasons I think this home is so successful.
Larry Boerder is a very talented architect who keeps getting better. Most architects in their careers design as many residences as an artist will paint for one show. Larry Boerder has been prolific over his 50-year career. He has designed more substantial homes in the Park Cities than any other architect. These homes have ranged from very large and complicated to relatively simple and lovely. However, one thing is constant: Larry Boerder’s early work is inspired by classicism, European traditions and early 20th century Dallas homes. Even his master’s thesis for his architecture degree was on the Swiss Avenue homes designed by the finest early 20th century Dallas architects. Architect Larry Boerder keeps refining his designs, improving their scale, perfecting the proportions, and balancing architectural detail. The European precedence of his homes becomes more inspired and evolved to blend in with the 21st century interpretation of a specific style. Further, a Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style home hits both the architectural sweet spots of Larry Boerder and Highland Park.
As I have written, Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style represent the best of Highland Park. Larry Boerder was the architect the township of Highland Park retained to expand Highland Park Town Hall by 15,000 square feet in a Spanish Revival style. Now, on a site almost as prominent as the site of Highland Park Town Hall, Larry Boerder has designed a home that reinforces Highland Park’s affection for the Spanish Revival style. Here, at 4400 Belfort Place, Larry Boerder has designed a Spanish Revival style home that draws from Highland Park’s architectural past and perpetuates its much-loved architectural style into the future.
Subtle Architectural Details Dramatically Differentiate 4400 Belfort Place from Other Highland Park Homes
Larry Boerder selects a subtle hand-troweled hard plaster that provides a deft difference from the typical stucco surface of other homes. It reflects the historic and architectural integrity of a Spanish Revival style home. The artisan-carved and cut decorative stone found at 4400 Belfort Place accentuates the Mediterranean Revival architectural influences of the home.
I appreciate how Larry Boerder has aligned the home to capture the breadth of the site and the sightlines of the front and rear gardens, pool and loggias, anchored by the most majestic tree in Highland Park. One sees the subtle symmetry of the home as each component is delineated for a separate function. I also love the geometric shapes of the Spanish revival composition that fit together like a Jigsaw puzzle.
The ceremonial wood gates at the porte-cochere give the home a formal look from Belfort Place and the ceremonial gates on Armstrong Parkway convey the important presence of an estate home. The subtle details of the home only subliminally register, but add to the magic and appeal of the home. For instance, the slight convex curvature of entasis creates a pleasing vertical tapering that adds an elegant perspective found on the chimneys, towers and columns of this home. These robust forms are seen as having graceful lines. The entasis effect of the supporting front columns enhance the carved Lueders buff limestone pavilion surrounding the front entrance.
When one enters the home, the Spanish Revival and Mediterranean style continues while conveying a new era of architecturally significant homes. The entire home at 4400 Belfort Place embodies technological advancements in construction techniques and materials along with the historic design that has gradually evolved over the last several centuries. The home at 4400 Belfort Place is the best iteration of an over a century old Highland Park architectural style that has become a new visual landmark of Highland Park and its architectural excellence.
The Primary Bedroom Suite on the First Floor is Hidden but Adjacent to the Library and Living Spaces
The primary bedroom suite is beautifully located and hidden between the library and living room, reached from a private entry corridor off the grand hall. The primary bedroom suite consists of the bedroom, a sitting room, with a carved marble fireplace, overlooking the garden, a gorgeous bathroom, and two primary bedroom closets. The library, a few steps away, is shielded from the street by the stained-glass windows in the library entrance vestibule at the end of the grand hall. The proximity of the library makes the library feel like it could be part of the primary bedroom suite at the conclusion of the day.
Delightfully Proportioned Primary Bedroom
The primary bedroom suite is a delightfully proportioned bedroom with vaulted beam ceilings and a series of tall windows looking into the garden.
Sitting Room in the Primary Bedroom Suite
The library with a limestone fireplace can be enjoyed around the corner from the primary bedroom suite. The sitting room with its marble fireplace can be enjoyed just a few steps away from the primary bedroom. The tranquility of the sitting room is also enhanced by views over the rear lawn and garden.
Primary Bathroom is the Most Lavish Room in the Home
By design, the primary bathroom is the most lavish room in the home. However, it is at the same time sleek, convenient, and visually alluring. Mosaic marble floors, marble countertops, a freestanding soaking bathtub, a marble-walled shower, marble wainscoting edged with a patterned mosaic marble chair rail, and barrel-vaulted ceilings, direct one’s eye towards sunlight at each end of a glorious series of spaces. And what respectable bathroom would not have a Miele coffee system coffee bar?
Primary Bedroom Closets
There are two very large closets in the primary bedroom suite. The women’s closet is 358 square feet and the men’s closet is almost as large. They both have ample short and long hanging rails, closet drawers, open shoe compartments and shelves, display tie and scarf rails, and niche storage for fashion accessories.
Primary Bedroom Suite Becomes a Private Sanctuary
The primary bedroom suite is hidden in the heart of the home but shares easy access to the rest of the home. This bedroom suite becomes a private sanctuary within an already warm and comfortable home.
Four Bedrooms on Second Floor
Three of the four bedrooms on the second floor enjoy balconies. The fourth bedroom is the grandest bedroom on the second floor. An intricate lighting pendant hangs from the high groin ceiling. An additional level of windows and a stained glass quatrefoil enhances the sunlight in the room. The smallest of the second-floor bedrooms might be the most charming. This bedroom also enjoys the sunlight coming through the stained-glass quatrefoil, and it has double doors that open to a small wrought iron balcony. The two largest second-floor bedrooms are located in the rear of the home with the playroom for the bedrooms located between these two. Every one of these second-floor bedrooms has a beautiful bathroom lined with marble.
Balconies Define the Second-Floor Bedrooms at 4400 Belfort Place
They are separated by the playroom and the playroom half bathroom between them that gives both of these rear bedrooms privacy. Spanish Revival architecture is more than an architectural style, it is a lifestyle. How many children or guests are able to swing open glass double doors and enjoy the breezes and beautiful views of nature or go onto the balcony and look down at the pool, garden and courtyard structures. With an expansive balcony, a bedroom becomes more than just a bedroom.
Second-Floor Bedroom Overlooking the Pool
This bedroom overlooking the pool is the largest of the four bedrooms on the second level of the home. The bathroom of this bedroom has both a large marble bathtub and a large marble wall shower.
Bedroom on the Second Floor Overlooking the Garden
This large bedroom on the second floor overlooking the garden also has a large balcony extending the space and enjoyment of nature. Here there are stained white oak floors in the bedroom with marble being the predominant material in the bathroom.
Bedroom Overlooking the Front Lawn
Few neighborhood views are as nice as this one from the second-floor bedroom of 4400 Belfort Place. One can open the double doors to the balcony, with wrought iron balustrades, and see a seemingly endless front lawn and beautiful Highland Park homes in the distance.
Second-Floor Bedroom with a Barrel-Vaulted Groin Ceiling
This dramatic second-floor bedroom with a tall ceiling and dramatic lighting pendant, two levels of windows, and a stained-glass quatrefoil is the most elegant of the four second-floor bedrooms. It also has a luxury bathroom lined with marble.
Second-Floor Playroom for Bedrooms
The playroom on the second level is positioned between the two rear bedrooms with large bathrooms. All four bedrooms have access to this playroom and half bathroom.
Half Bathroom for Playroom
The half bathroom for the playroom on the second floor is as elegant as the other bathrooms found in the home. This bathroom on the second floor is in addition to the private bathrooms for each of the second-floor bedrooms.
Balconies Look Into Nature and Over the Architecture of the Home
Five Carved Stone Fireplaces are Found on the First Floor
Details of Fireplaces
Wine Room, Bar, Recreational Spaces, Exercise Room
First Level Half Bathroom
Elegant Convenience
The great houses have a continuity of elegance that incorporates details that are designed for the convenience of the homeowner. A good example is a discreet delivery door found in the front carved stone portico that opens to a secure marble-lined package and mail room, also accessible from inside the home. Safety, security and convenience are facilitated by a subtle architectural feature within grand interior and exterior spaces.
Inspired Materials for Spanish Revival Style Home
Natural Lighting Enhanced by Pendants and Chandeliers
Staff Quarters Announce the Motor Court
Motor Court Connects Structures of Spanish Revival Estate
Pool House, Pool, and Lawn
The exterior living spaces are as inviting as the interior living spaces at 4400 Belfort Place. They are all well connected from the loggia wrapping around the rear of the home, to the curved covered walkway, to the open pool house and kitchen. Views from inside the home, the loggias and balconies of the garden and pool, continue from inside the pool house. From the pool house, you will be overlooking the pool, the patterned parterre surrounding the pool, the terraced lawn and the layered garden and trees.
Landscape architect Harold Leidner makes the pool house and garden feel as if it has been in place 100 years. As the garden matures, it will become even more lush.
Parterre Surrounds Pool
The ornamental design of the parterre surrounds the pool and connects to the loggia. Beyond the parterre is the terraced lawn.
Terraced Lawn is Surrounded by Layered Garden and Trees
Open Air Pool House and Kitchen
This beautiful open-air covered space has its own defined elegance – a patterned hacienda Normandy cream stone floor, a wood ceiling, a Brazilian Blue Deep quartzite countertop, stainless steel oven and stove, a large wood-burning fireplace, a brown-vein stone sink countertop, a pool bathroom with a shower surround and vanities of Rojo Alicante Spanish marble known for its warm red tones. The pool house overlooks the pool, parterre, terraced lawn and surrounding gardens.
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 that 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 gate that leads to the motor court and four garage bays. This area is also connected to the front entrance drive on Belfort Place that passes through a porte-cochère.
Profile of Developer of 4400 Belfort Place – Blair Pogue
Esteemed Home Developer – Blair Pogue
An architecturally significant home that exudes the best qualities of Highland Park begins with a vision. The estate home at 4400 Belfort Place is the vision of developer Blair Pogue, who set out to create a Highland Park home of great aesthetic value that would contribute to the architectural landscape of Highland Park and the happiness of the family that purchases it.
Blair Pogue is a Highland Park Home Developer Who Knows Highland Park
An exquisite estate home produced by Blair Pogue is one that will grow in value. His passion and commitment for the best led him to create Blantyre Homes, a company dedicated exclusively to the type of Highland Park homes his family, friends and business colleagues would love to live in. Blair Pogue’s experience, integrity and aesthetics drive his mission to produce the finest homes in Highland Park that reflect the quality of Highland Park.
Blair Pogue knows exactly what makes Highland Park such a desirable community. He was raised in Highland Park, educated in Highland Park and at SMU, and has enjoyed the Dallas Country Club his entire life. He is personal and business friends with many who have just moved to Highland Park as well as those who have lived there their entire lives. In creating a Highland Park home, he starts with the selection of the best site, architect, interior designer, landscape architect, general contractor, and construction manager, as well as the best specialists and the finest materials. Blair Pogue knows that families move to Highland Park because they appreciate quality. In turn, Blair Pogue and Blantyre Homes reflect the Highland Park quality that he understands so well.
The Elements of a Successful Highland Park Home in Contrast to a “Spec Home”
The elements of successful Highland Park homes, like the one created by Blair Pogue, are in stark contrast to those of “spec homes.” Most speculative homes in any price range start with a builder who rounds up investors with promises value engineering and a tight building schedule. To reassure investors and make them feel comfortable with their investment, a spec home is built with a proven generic design, derived from trade shows or other spec homes in the neighborhood
Blair Pogue Brings to Blantyre Homes Control Over the Vision and Quality of the Home
Many factors determine the quality of a developer. But Blair Pogue stands out for a number of reasons. When he develops an exquisite estate home in Highland Park, his personal investment, experience, integrity and generosity benefit the project and the future purchaser of the home.
Funding for the Land to the Finishes of the Home are Solely Underwritten by Blair Pogue of Blantyre Homes
In contrast to investor funded homes, Blair Pogue is in control of the entire process of creating the home at 4400 Belfort Place. Here, he is satisfying his own demands for excellence, not the demands of outside investors. No corners were cut. At each stage of the building process, the quality of the home was enhanced. Any delays in construction only provided more time for Blair Pogue to enhance the project.
Experience of Blair Pogue
Blair Pogue was raised in a tradition and in an environment of business excellence. His father, Mack Pogue, founded Lincoln Properties, one of the most successful development companies in the world. What I find most remarkable is that the Village Apartments, an iconic Dallas multifamily residential development, has been a phenomenal success since it was first developed over 50 years ago. Most apartment developments are cycled downward. In contrast, The Village Apartments in Dallas have cycled upwards, becoming more and more desirable over the years. Blair Pogue has a breadth of development experience from international development projects early in his career to successfully developing luxury homes in California. Blair Pogue understands construction and development and quality. This knowledge is now focused on a high-quality estate home in Highland Park.
Blair Pogue Brings Out the Best in People and His Projects
As a realtor representing Blair Pogue on the acquisition of the land and the sale of the estate home, I have had an up-close look at the approach Blair Pogue has taken to develop the estate home at 4400 Belfort Place. From the beginning, he would assemble his talented team to review ideas, vet plans and suggest modifications or potential improvements. Ideas from everyone rooted in their respective disciplines and experience were discussed. He was always open and excited about the exchange of ideas that resulted in a rewarding consensus. These meetings continued as the home kept becoming more refined.
The Integrity of Blair Pogue Can Be Best Seen Through the Lens of His Generous Spirit
Blair Pogue has a genuine desire for those around him to contribute and succeed. While working with Blair Pogue, it has occurred to me that maybe integrity is rooted in generosity. I have seen Blair Pogue’s generous spirit on many levels. Beyond the generous way I see Blair Pogue treat the people he works with, it is heartwarming to see his approach to philanthropy.
I was aware that Blair Pogue took many trips to countries I would have trouble identifying on a map in support of international orphans. However, I had not realized the extent of his efforts and impact until he received the Orphan Outreach Children’s Hope Award. Blair Pogue had quietly but effectively developed a personal relationship with more than 200 orphans, providing mentorship, hope, friendship and inspiration for living a great life ahead.
Blair Pogue and his family have also been dedicated to children in Dallas. They have quietly given enormous amounts to Children’s Medical Center and recently committed $100 million gift to support the Children’s Health plan for a new 33-acre pediatric health campus as part of the UT Southwestern Medical District.
Dallas is a City of Contributors
Here’s what I think makes Dallas a great city: We are a city of contributors. Blair Pogue and his family continue to represent the best of the personality and vibrancy of Dallas.
Blair Pogue Fosters Conversation and Collaboration on the Highland Park Homes He Develops
In my experience, the best architecturally significant homes are the result of close collaboration among the owner, architect, interior designer, landscape architect, contractor and subcontractors. Often good homes are designed but with too much reliance on the architect’s preconceived idea or a builder’s template or the naive fantasy of a homeowner. A vigorous conversation with professionals of different disciplines and those responsible for the construction create the most significant homes. Blair Pogue fosters these successful conversations.
Blair Pogue Assembled a Distinguished Team for 4400 Belfort Place
Blair Pogue assembled a team of the best professionals and experts in their field to acquire the finest Highland Park estate home site and to design and build an inspired and admired home. The goal for the home at 4400 Belfort Place has remained unchanged: How can the best quality and design be achieved from the broad architectural strokes to the nuanced details of a home and site? He did this with a kind authority that encourages open discussion and the exchange of ideas. This approach ensured inspired design that was further refined and enhanced through the lens of the entire team of designers, construction managers and Blair Pogue himself. One can have a goal to build the finest home and have a vision, but that vision only becomes a reality as it evolves and comes into clear focus. Here is a home that comes into focus, that elevates the architectural landscape and is a home that one will love living in.
A Blantyre Home Inspired and Developed by Blair Pogue is Bound to be the Best
Blair Pogue is the first to attribute the success of 4400 Belfort Place to the team he assembled. Just being around the group provoked awe and admiration. These professionals have the greatest experience, talent and dedication ever assembled in Dallas. They include architect Larry Boerder, who has designed more homes in Highland Park than any other architect; interior designer Margaret Chambers and her colleague, senior interior designer Allen Keith, who have created the interior design for many of the most important homes in Dallas; Dan van der Zee, the general contractor, who has specialized in estate homes and has worked on some of the most elaborate homes in Dallas (including the Muse Estate located on Lakeside Drive and designed by British architect Quinlan Terry and Dallas architect Larry Boerder); preeminent landscape architect Harold Leidner, who has created the landscape design for many of the most significant homes in Dallas; and the subcontractors who have been specifically selected for doing the best work in Dallas.
You will enjoy the results of this Highland Park estate home at 4400 Belfort Place intellectually, emotionally and subliminally. An architecturally significant home that Blair Pogue devoted three years to designing and nurturing is a home that a family will be proud of and will love living in.
Profile of Architect of 4400 Belfort Place – Larry Boerder
Larry Boerder is the first Dallas architect one thinks of when an architecturally significant home in a historic style comes to mind. His architectural impact on Highland Park, University Park and Dallas has been profound. A student of architecture designed through the centuries, and its historical influences and contributions influence his current interpretation of these classical estate and city homes.
Architect Larry Boerder has designed the most luxury homes with a historic inspiration in the Park Cities. He also has been the Dallas architect involved with the most locally and nationally celebrated traditional homes in Highland Park. Collaborating with the finest interior designers and landscape architects, and working with the best contractors and artisans allow Larry Boerder to design homes with current appeal that look as if they could have been original homes in their prestigious neighborhoods.
Profile of Interior Designer of 4400 Belfort Place – Margaret Chambers
There is a reason Margaret Chambers is celebrated as one of the best interior designers in Dallas, Highland Park and University Park. She has an aesthetic rooted in art, history and cultural awareness. Interior designer Margaret Chambers is a student of interior design and architecture and also of her clients. She is always listening and exploring with her clients their design preferences and how their preferences can be best interpreted to culminate in a successful classical and current design for their homes.
The consistency in Margaret Chambers’ interior design is the fresh interpretation of traditional and modern applications that enhance the architecture of the home and the personality of her clients, not a template of go-to layers of decorative design.
Profile of Landscape Architect of 4400 Belfort Place – Harold Leidner
Landscape architect Harold Leidner apprenticed and trained with the most famous and finest Dallas landscape architects of a previous generation. Over the last 30 years, Harold Leidner has distinguished himself as a landscape architect by the grace and ease with which he can design the landscape of an estate home on acreage in Preston Hollow or on an estate lot in Highland Park. The residential landscapes he designs include beautiful vistas, intimate spaces and the integration and connection of primary and secondary buildings with exterior features that often include swimming pools, tennis courts and other landscape elements. Harold Leidner structures his landscape design to enhance the architecture and formality of a classical home and to create a softness that allows one to relax in nature.
Harold Leidner, a Dallas landscape architect, apprenticed with Boyd & Heidrich and trained with Naud Burnett and Howard Garrett, and was the principal landscape architect with Lambert’s before he founded Harold Leidner Company in 1990. Harold Leidner deliberately established a small landscape design firm with a major presence for important projects. His design team is dedicated to what their clients value most in landscape design. Harold Leidner is known for his contribution to significant Dallas estate homes designed by Dallas architects.
Harold Leidner, Landscape Architect, Discusses the Home 4400 Belfort Place
“Every once in a great while, a property comes along that offers a truly rare opportunity — and this Highland Park estate was just that. A one-acre Highland Park lot — a rarity — a majestic tree anchoring the landscape, and a magnificent home designed by Larry Boerder created a once-in-a-career canvas. A visionary owner and the collaboration of an extraordinary team, including premier Dallas architect Larry Boerder, talented interior designer Margaret Chambers, and the extraordinary Dan van der Zee of Pencil Point Construction, allowed us to deliver a project that reflects a seamless integration of architecture, landscape and design, and to design and build a landscape environment that feels as timeless and inspired as the architecture itself.” It is easy for one to see that every element, from the grand setbacks to the smallest garden detail, was crafted with the graceful inspiration that only comes from Harold Leidner’s decades of experience and an unwavering commitment to design excellence.
Harold Leidner further mentions, “From the outset, the owner, offering minimal but meaningful input, entrusted each member of the design and construction team to do what they do best. This trust allowed us to fully draw on our over 35 years experience crafting every inch of the exterior environment with complete vision and precision. Unique elements of this project included the magnificent existing live oak tree, a generous front setback, and the flow of architecture and landscape across the property. The collaborative spirit between the architect, builder and designers ensured that every design-sensitive decision was respected and prioritized, creating a final result that was effortless, natural and timeless. It is a rare privilege to be part of a team and a project of this caliber.”
Inspiration and Construction of 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 with that specific buyer in mind. The inspiration, design and process of building 4400 Belfort Place is reminiscent of a bespoke approach to 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, one sees 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 and sited on an acre of land draws from the early Highland Park Spanish Colonial architectural influences seen in many Highland Park homes, at Highland Park Village and at 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.
Kitchen Opening to Family Rooms and Loggia
The kitchen at 4400 Belfort Place is open to the breakfast room featuring a Calacatta marble fireplace on one wall and two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows and doors looking onto the loggia that wraps around the breakfast room and family room. The kitchen and breakfast room also have a view of the family room which also has a spectacular carved Calacatta fireplace and a dark, deep beamed ceiling that runs to the wall of nine-foot glass windows and doors that look onto the loggia, which also boasts beamed ceilings. The kitchen is elegant as is the breakfast room and family room. These rooms also preserve the warmth of the informal spaces enjoyed by family and friends.
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. One 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 architrave 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. In addition to 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 convenient access to the kitchen and the informal rooms of the home.
Calacatta Gold Marble Mantels and Surrounds Being Installed at 4400 Belfort Place
The statement fireplace mantels and surrounds at 4400 Belfort Place make an opulent statement as they convey warmth and elegance. The Calacatta gold marble is mined near the town of Carrara in northern Italy, but it is rarer and more exclusive than Carrara marble. The creamy white background with dramatic soft gold and grey veining is associated with the most luxurious and refined projects.
Variation of Design Detail Provides Continuity to Sequence of Rooms
The Spanish and Mediterranean Revival octagonal star detail from the 14th century is incorporated into the design of the home at 4400 Belfort Place in many different ways. A perforated pattern of octagonal stars are found in the kitchen cabinets. The living room ceiling beams display this octagonal star. The pattern of the wainscoting relief also includes this octagonal star design in the dining room of 4400 Belfort Place. The marble mosaic seen on the primary bedroom and bathroom floor is comprised of a pattern of octagonal stars that dramatically reflects off the bathtub.
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 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.
Construction of an Architecturally Significant Home
For over 40 years Dan van der Zee has built many of the best homes in Dallas. From D Magazine’s list of the 50 most expensive Dallas homes, almost half of them were built or worked on by Dan van der Zee. These homes include the Muse home at 4800 Preston Road designed by British architect Sir Quinlan Terry and Dallas architect Larry Boerder. This Spanish Colonial Revival style home built by Dan van der Zee and Pencil Point Construction reflects his extraordinary level of work.
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.
