How One Woman’s ‘Collection of Dreams’ Became a White-Elephant Mansion

The outrageously huge and incongruous Champ d’Or mansion in rural Denton County is on the market again, and this time it’s a real bargain. As little as $5.5 million is being asked—as opposed to the $72 million price tag the manse once commanded. Back in 2009, writer Mark Vamos—a former editor-in-chief of Fast Company, now an SMU business-journalism prof—wrote an amazing story for D CEO about the gargantuan white elephant, which he called an “ornate examplar of the Great American Real Estate Boom and Bust.” Vamos’ article involves a Carrollton cellphone magnate and his wife; her eccentric “collection of dreams,” including a mirrored ballroom inspired by the Chateau de Versailles; and a monthly mortgage payment of $314,164. You really ought to read it.