Lakewood’s Mount Vernon estate featured in Wall Street Journal

This is one historic replica "you know you can't afford."

Mount Vernon replica is located at 4009 West Lawther Street and listed at $24.9 million.

LAKEWOOD — John and Teresa Amend’s Mount Vernon at 4009 West Lawther Drive was snapped up in this week’s second version of global real estate on steroids, a.k.a. “Mansion” in The Wall Street Journal. You see it on the second page of the special section, then you see it here on the online report.

“Dallas estate asks $24.9 million.” (Not sure if this is paywall or not, since I subscribe.)

They group it with "houses you know you can’t afford." Well, that’s for sure. But the story makes it sound like it’s just been listed — not true. Mount Vernon was first put in MLS last February at $29.5 million, as I reported. The price was reduced to $24.9 million in September. Here’s what the Journal editors wrote Friday:

“A historic Dallas estate has listed for $24.9 million. Completed in 1930, the 10-acre estate is a replica of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and was the home of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt and his children — including Lamar Hunt, creator of the Super Bowl — from 1930 to 2000. On White Rock Lake, eight miles from downtown, the property has a 10,500-square-foot Georgian Colonial with five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. There’s also a 4,800-square-foot air-conditioned car showroom that doubles as a ballroom, and a 5,000-square-foot bowling center with a four-lane bowling alley and a lighted tennis court. A 2,400-square-foot lower level has a 10,000 bottle cellar, accessible by elevator.

The current owners are John and Teresa Amend, who bought the home in 2000 and have since renovated and expanded it, including adding a four-bedroom guesthouse. Mr. Amend is a commercial-real-estate consultant. The home has been quietly shopped for about a year without an asking price.”

Even better, when I checked MLS, Mount Vernon had been listed with Allie Beth April 6, 2010 for a whopping $32,500,000. Seems they took a little break, then put her back on the market about a year later. How quiet is that shopping?