Attention, Texas secessionists. Have we got a deal for you.
If you ever get your way and there’s a Texit, which is quite doubtful but this is Texas, you’re gonna need your own White House.
As luck would have it, a White House replica is on the market in the Houston area for a mere $5,995,000, according to chron.com.
The 20,689-square-foot mansion at La Porte was commissioned by Ross Sterling, the former Texas governor and founder of Humble Oil and Refining Co., now known as Exxon, and was completed in 1927, chron.com says. About 25 miles outside Houston, it overlooks Galveston Bay and was once the largest private residence in the state.
It’s a bit smaller than the White House in D.C., which measures about 55,000 square feet, and the interior bears little resemblance to the real thing. But we’re a little different in Texas anyway.
The 9-bedroom, 11-bath home has been renovated and updated, according to Lin Neese, real estate agent for John Daugherty Realtors. Among other amenities: two staircases, a grand salon-ballroom, parlors, a library, an elevator, island kitchen with gas range and oven, six wood-burning fireplaces, floors of marble, stone, tile and wood, granite countertops, patio deck, porch, rooftop deck, rotunda portico on the second floor, and a game room in the basement with fireplace, pull-down movie screen and projector, gym, men’s and women’s locker rooms, and a billiard room with vintage walk-in bar.
‘Course, if you’re looking for something farther north, the quasi-White House on Strait Lane in Dallas has been on the market recently for a more hefty $15 million (down from $19.5 million in 2014). It’s roughly 16,000 square feet with only four large bedrooms and five big baths (and four halves).
It’s owned by Cathy and Ralph Oats, owners of the nutrition company Wellness International Network, and is clearly designed for entertaining. Built in 1996, it features a grand foyer, elegant staircase modeled after a similar one in a Paris museum, library, multiple galleries, a wine grotto accessible from nearly every room, according to candysdirt.com, home theater, koi pond, swimming pools, tennis court and pavillion, guest house, antique fireplaces imported from France, you get the idea.
It was delisted in July. Here’s a virtual tour posted on YouTube by Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s in 2014:
Tom Uhler: 817-390-7832, @tomuh
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