So it was no wonder that she settled in Munger Place, where she fell in love with a 2,700-square-foot classic colonial built in 1922. The home, like most in this historic Dallas neighborhood, needed work, so Karen jumped in with all her musical heart. She reinforced the foundation, replaced piers, and sanded the nearly 100-year-old hardwoods. She put in her dream kitchen, with custom white cabinets, white granite counters, tile back splash, Wolf range, convection oven, and wine cooler. She enclosed the back porch where, a century ago, laundry was wrung out in washtubs. Now enclosed, she popped in modern laundry equipment.
While she was bringing this grand dame into the 21st century, she kept a careful eye on the home’s heritage. So you can see the original 6-inch floor base trim, thick ceiling and crown moldings, and the original claw foot tub in the main upstairs bath. There are three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and some bonus attic square footage (only recently finished out) that we don’t want the tax man to know about.
So why is she selling her dream castle? Because a little more than a year ago, Karen suffered a stroke that nearly killed her, and it’s almost impossible to make house payments when you are recovering from a stroke and unable to work. Friends say she is recovering beautifully and will return to the Dallas music world. The sales price has been reduced to $355,000 from $370,000. Karen is currently in an assisted living center for her recovery; friends have moved her belongings to storage where they await her new home, which she hopes to buy with some of the equity from the sale of 5025 Junius, her dream home.
I wish more than anything that she could just go back there and live.
Her bank is waiting patiently, not wanting to foreclose, but it won’t wait forever. So I want to get the word out about this fabulous home, which has been loved and cherished. The seller needs to move on for reasons more serious than wanting a change of pace. The house has great vibes: before Karen, the home was owned by a host of happy people, including the Little Flower Missionary Society Organization in the 1960s. From 1937 to 1959, it was owned by Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Schoolfield, and it was built in 1921 by owner/architect S.C. Skielvig, who worked at M.M. Mayfield and the T&P Railway. I’m not making any guarantees here, but there’s enough intellectual spirit in those walls to inspire anything.
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