A North Texas landmark is being reduced to rubble and memories.
The former mansion of deceased Dallas oilman Edwin L. Cox, at 4101 Beverly Drive in Highland Park, is being demolished. After he died in November 2020, many of his estate’s assets, such as an art collection worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and his opulent mansion were sold off.
In the case of the mansion, it was sold to to billionaire banker Andrew Beal in 2021. Though details of the deal weren’t shared at the time, Beal reportedly took a $41 million loan to acquire the property. Since then, he’s been allegedly working on renovations to the building valued at an unknown amount.
The demolition of the property is a huge loss to preservationists such as Larry Good. He’s a former architect who now leads Preservation Park Cities.
Though he never stepped in the home, to lose such a historic property that once hosted a former president and was notorious for its lavish parties, is a big letdown for Highland Park and Dallas, he said.
“[I feel] frustration, anger and sadness,” Good said. “The combination of its former owners, beautiful architecture and its prominence looking over Lakeside Park for the Christmas lights made it a joy for everyone. The house had an aura for a number of years. People knew about it, and they treasured it. It makes it all the more tragic that we’ve lost it.”
It’s unclear why Beal is tearing down the property; he’s yet to release a statement on it. But it’s not his first time demolishing an iconic North Texas location. He purchased Margaret & Trammell Crow’s former estate at 4500 Preston Road in 2016 for nearly $60 million.
Beal tore it down and later sold the vacant lot to Dallas attorney Leslie Ware.
Though preservationists such as Good are left befuddled and distraught by the loss of the property, there’s not much he or anyone else can do about it because of a lack of protection on historic landmarks in Highland Park, said Ron Siebler, director at Preservation Dallas.
“Highland Park does not have any ordinances or protections for historic buildings,” he said. “It’s frustrating that there aren’t more significant protections. But, on the other hand, if you’ve got the money and you’ve owned the property, by and large with a few exceptions, you can do with it what you want.”
Though Highland Park wants to see historic properties remain standing, city laws don’t allow it to enforce any rules to protect them, a representative from Highland Park told The Dallas Morning News over email Friday.
“The Town has a longstanding commitment to upholding individual property rights,” they said. “It’s the Towns desire to keep historically established homes intact but decisions regarding property preservation remain at the discretion of the property owner.”
The sight of bulldozers was a shock to Good when he initially saw them on social media, he said. But he’s known for over a year and a half that the once-luxurious mansion was slipping through the city’s hands.
Good was among many who was keenly watching Beal’s renovations, but with lots of skepticism. According to Good and his latest book, The Houses of the Park Cities, Beal’s renovations included stripping the mansion of select terracotta, brick and stone details, replacing windows, and adding a dome-like structure along with additions on the Preston roadside.
When Good saw the direction the property was heading, he feared the end was near, he said.
“The changes that were being made already stripped the house of its historic character. We had already lost it through incongruous additions and renovations,” Good said. “I have no knowledge of what motivated him to tear it down, but I cannot imagine there’s an economic reality to it. It wouldn’t make sense to me.”
Cox’s mansion now joins a growing list of iconic Dallas and Highland Park properties that have been torn down, including homes such as a Hal Thomson-designed mansion at 4908 Lakeside. It stood for over a century before before demolition in 2022.
Good knows the time for Highland Park to act is now and, if there is at least one positive from the demise of Cox’s mansion, it’s the hope that citizens will recognize that, too, he said.
“We’ve got to cause the citizenry, by and large, to be fed up with this. I hope people will see this and write their city council members, appear in meetings and create an atmosphere and an attitude where no one would dare tear that house down,” he said. “A lot of these demolitions are coming from people not from the state, and we need to send a message that it won’t fly in Texas.”
But he’s facing an uphill battle. Demolition of high-profile properties in Highland Park has been ongoing for years and is not likely to stop any time soon, potentially crushing the morale of inspired citizens, Siebler said.
“I’ve just seen this happen over and over and over, particularly in Highland Park,” he said. “It’s certainly going to bring more awareness to the need for preservation and such. But I don’t know that there’s the political capital to make anything happen right now.”
For Good, a Dallas resident since he was 2 years old, if change doesn’t come to Highland Park soon, he fears the city will be left without the homes that helped shape it into what it is today, he said.
“Unless somebody teaches people about it, and unless it’s ingrained in the community, then we’re going to keep seeing demolition of important homes,” he said. “I just hope that this is a straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
