River Oaks Georgian, Houston, Texas

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Offered at $9,950,000

By the 1930s River Oaks, created in 1924 to adjoin River Oaks Country Club, had become the elite neighborhood of Houston. It was during this time that architect John F. Staub was approached by General Crude Oil Company president George S. Heyer and his wife, Jane, to build an estate to house their collection of 18th-century English antiques. The result of their vision is a harmonious interweaving of Georgian and Regency themes with a cubic composition and ironwork inspired by a Lafayette Square home in Washington, D.C. Landscape architects C.C. Fleming and Albert E. Sheppard suffused a sense of wealth and power into the landscape of the double corner lot by installing an allée of oaks and a swimming pool. A magnificent two-story limestone-and-brick pavilion inspired by London’s?Claridge’s was added in 2007. Distinguished by reception rooms adorned with marble and parquet floors, the landmark retains its original charm, aglow with tastefully updated interiors by New York’s Mario Buatta and handpainted murals by Robert Jackson. To pay tribute to its beauty, plans for the house and gardens have been submitted as part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute as examples of excellent design.

Estate Gallery