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The Champ d'Or estate is a pseudo-French Baroque residential building located in Hickory Creek, Texas. Inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte[a] near Paris, France.[citation needed] The building situated at 1851 Turbeville Road, in Denton County, Champ d'Or—literally, "Field of Gold," from the surname of Alan and Shirley Goldfield, who built the house in 2002s 17th century architecture and design.[citation needed]
Champ d'Or was one of the more unusual architectural works in North Texas, featured not only in countless news articles,[1][2] most notably being Forbes Magazine,[3] but also gaining notoriety through its appearance in at least one book on French architecture and interior design.[4] Champ d'Or's dominance of the Hickory Creek landscape[citation needed] has made the place of a tourist attraction.[citation needed] The estate has been re branded as "The Olana" and is now a wedding venue under Walters Wedding Estates.[5]
The building
editChamp d'Or took five years to plan and construct,[6] using materials from all over the nation.[citation needed] The 25-acre (100,000 m2) estate[citation needed] includes the 48,000-square-foot (4,500 m2) mansion,[6] an adjacent one-and-a-half-acre lake,[citation needed] formal gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming area,[citation needed] a tennis court, a tennis house[citation needed] and two small and symmetrical guard buildings.[citation needed] The sprawling house features a dome with a ceiling height of 78 feet (24 m);[citation needed] a ballroom with Versailles-style mirrors;[citation needed] a garden room with windows which descend electronically,[citation needed] opening to a veranda which seats 450 for dinner;[citation needed] a two-story Chanel-styled closet in the master;[citation needed] a theater;[citation needed] a bowling alley,[citation needed] and a racquetball court.[citation needed]
Controversy
editBecause of its size, soaring price tag (The home has been listed for sale multiple times, with prices ranging between 60 million and 27.5 million},[7] and what critics see as a gaudy interior, Champ d'Or has been depicted as one of the region's most glaring displays of wealth-driven foppery. In April 2009, D Magazine named the property "The Biggest Little Teardown in Texas",[7] scathingly writing:
In the distance, you’ll see something so huge and so incongruous in its French-baroque-meets-Plano-McMansion mashup that it seems more hallucination than house.
The chateau's ornate design, including marble floors, gold plated elevator, and hand-carved spiral staircase did not appeal to prospective buyers for several years. The house passed from listing agent to listing agent, from 2003 to 2009, with no serious offers.[8]
History
editIn April 2012, Champ d'Or Estate sold to the highest bidder through a luxury real estate auction by Concierge Auctions, a national luxury real estate auction firm.[9] Following 433 auction inquiries,[citation needed] over 500 showings and over 10,000 website visitors,[citation needed] the estate, named Champ d'Or, which translates to "Field of Gold", was sold in cooperation with listing agent Joan Eleazer[citation needed] of Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty[citation needed] and the buyer's agent, Clay Stapp.[citation needed]
Notes
edit- ^ The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a famous French Château located in Maincy, in the Seine-et-Marne département of France. It was built from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle-Isle (Belle-Ile-en-Mer), Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ Deidre Woollard (Oct 15, 2004). "Champ d'Or". Luxist. Archived from the original on 2009-04-22.
- ^ "Denton County mansion known as Champ d'Or has been for sale since 2003". WFAA.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-08-04. and
- ^ Clemence, Sara (Jan 20, 2006). "The Champ Is Back". Forbes.
- ^ The book of Betty Lou Phillip; "Unmistakably French," in which the author devoted 10 pages to Champ d'Or "Betty Lou Phillips, renown interior designer and best-selling author". Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ "The Olana | Hickory Creek". waltersweddingestates.com.
- ^ a b Deidre Woollard (May 11, 2007). "A New Look at Champ D'Or, Estate of the Day". Luxist. Archived from the original on 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ a b Mark N. Vamos (Apr 22, 2009). "The Biggest Little Teardown in Texas?". D Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ Candy Evans (Jun 5, 2009). "Champ D'Or Changes Agents, Now On Market For Only $27 Million". D Magazine. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
- ^ "Dallas, Texas". www.conciergeauctions.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2022-01-25.