The Most Expensive House In Texas Hits the Market For $64 Million
Past House Guests of The Crespi Estate Include Coco Chanel and The Duke and Duchess of Windsor
BY Melissa Smrekar // 03.06.25
Listed for $64 million, 5619 Walnut Hill Lane trumps every other house on the market. (Photo by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty)
Wake up, babe. The Crespi Estate just dropped on MLS. Last month, I lamented that there simply aren’t enough homes for sale in Dallas in the $20-million-and-up category. Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty heard my plea.
Listed for $64 million, 5619 Walnut Hill Lane trumps every other house on the market. It’s the single most expensive home on MLS in the entire state of Texas, located right in the heart of the Big D’s Preston Hollow.
“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!” Known also as Villa Fiorenza (and sometimes Villa Fiorenzia with the additional vowel), the Crespi Estate just makes you want to quote a little Fitzgerald.
Designed in 1938 by Swiss architect Maurice Fatio for Italian Count Pio Crespi, the magnificent 27,000-square-foot mansion served as a party house for the ages. The globetrotting Crespis loved to host galas; Mr. Crespi supposedly threw “a party a week!” The distinguished roster of past house guests includes everyone from former presidents to Coco Chanel. Renowned American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas visited; surely her voice still echoes through the home’s hallowed halls? The Duke and Duchess of Windsor (Edward and Wallis to me) even rested their heads at the Crespi Estate.
The Crespi family owned the estate until 1997 when investor Tom Hicks bought it, later trading ownership amongst a few other notable Dallasites.
My favorite tidbit about the estate? The elevator was put in not for people — but for all the steamer trunks. Obsessed. My second favorite detail is the fact that the primary suite is 3,000 square feet — bigger than my entire home.
I don’t know about you, but I love a home with a ballroom. (“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties, there isn’t any privacy.”) The Crespi Estate obviously contains a ballroom, as well as other Gatsby-adjacent amenities I desire: swimming pool, spa, tennis court, bocce ball court, garden, greenhouse, creek, yada yada yada. And a heliport, of course.
Fitting, Slim Aarons even photographed Crespi in front of his estate for a Holiday magazine article on Texas millionaires.
According to the listing, the French-style chateau “blends intimacy with grandeur.” Grandeur abounds in the form of 10 bedrooms and 12.5 baths, as well as an Art Deco bar, two wine cellars, “a library imported from France,” and a conservatory. (What does “a library imported from France” mean? A library in Europe with 1820s paneling was purchased, shipped to America, and reassembled on site.)
Architect Peter Marino added modern enhancements, including a heavenly guest house and a magnanimous 4,800-square-foot entertainment pavilion that houses a 19-seat theatre.
Because the listing price includes three adjacent lots, the total estate exceeds 15 acres in the heart of Dallas.
Indubitably, the Crespi Estate will outlive us all, and I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Dallas’ “most legendary estate.” One thing’s for sure — the parties will be epic.
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