It is one of the most written-about homes in Dallas, and everyone south of the Mason-Dixon has certainly heard about it. It is Champ D’Or, the 36,000 square foot mansion north of Dallas/Fort Worth that closed on April 30 with 30 acres to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price. (I, of course, have my sources.) The home had been on the market for about ten years, or almost as soon as it was complete. In fact, Joan Eleazer, the first and last Realtor – there have been five, told me she was contacted by the sellers before the home was even complete.

“Robbie Briggs and I drove up here one day, 18 miles north of Dallas, and were blown away,” she says. “Had no idea this existed!”

Champ d’Or sold at auction by Concierge Auction on March 30, 2012. Frankly, many real estate experts agree this was the only way the home would ever, could ever have sold. If the owners had contacted an auction house nine years prior, they might have saved close to a million dollars in real estate marketing fees, fees paid for collectively by each of the five brokers who tried to sell the home; Joan had it three times. Try they did: there were parties, videos, brochures, glossy photos, events, even a regional barbecue and hoe-down for 300 leading international Realtors when Ebby Halliday had it listed. Briggs Freeman Sothebys even had the mansion on display at the toney Concourse D’Elegance in Pebble Beach, where the wealthy spend more on collection autos than most people do primary homes.

Champ was the dream home of CellStar Corp. founder Alan H. Goldfield and his wife, Shirley. He is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of a Carrollton, Texas-based distributor of cellphones and related accessories. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Goldfield founded the company in 1969 and rode the tech and telecom boom until, by 1997, his 34.7 percent stake in the company was worth a little more than $500 million. At this point I believe Champ was conceived and plans underway to build a “field of gold”, a home based on Vaux le Vicomte, a  17th century French château  35 miles southeast of Paris that WAS Mrs. Goldfield’s dream.

Meantime, as tech and telecom bubbles burst all over the U.S., Mr. Goldfield fought for his company and staved off bankruptcy, a reverse stock split, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, and delayed financial filings. He also staved off a crook, Stanford Financial Group. That’s Stanford as in Sir R. Allen Stanford, the alleged perpetrator of an $8 billion fraud now serving time.

This background is important because I believe that as the Goldfield’s struggled to maintain control of their company, building the house, importing elegance idea-by-idea, voyage-by-voyage, took on a life of it’s own and BECAME their life. Many times building homes of this magnitude is done for the experience. Shirley Goldfield said in one of many marketing videos: “I’ve traveled all over the world for a lot of years, and I’ve seen a lot of beautiful, wonderful things and places. So it was just a collection of all the things that I like.”

And that is what the wealthy do when they build a great home. They build not for shelter or the den psychologists tell us we need, but for a statement, a brand, a tribute in effect, to themselves and their life.

The Château de Versailles, particularly its Hall of Mirrors, inspired the mirrored ballroom in Champ d’Or. Other travel inspirations include the Palace of Fontainebleau, Napoleon’s home, which inspired the plates in the dining hallway, which sold with the home.

The Chanel store in Paris was the inspiration for Champ d’Or’s two-story, all-black-lacquered “closet of everyone’s dreams”; New York’s Tavern on the Green, the source for the Goldfields’ tea room; and the rooftop pool at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, inspired the couple’s pool room. The renovation of Vaux le Vicomte itself prompted Champ d’Or’s most distinctive feature, a 78-foot central dome. But there is much, much more: a cedar-lined, tiled garage for 15 cars with a panic/safe room; a custom-built La Cornue range; three kitchens (main, catering, and staff); a Butler’s pantry whose cabinetry required the purchase of an entire jewelry store in Paris, Texas – there is a cabinet where you can roll in a large tea cart; a French-silk-covered women’s powder room with 18-carat gold Sherle Wagner fixtures, a gas fireplace in another of the eight powder rooms; a two-lane bowling alley complete with ; a racquetball court; two reflecting pools with waterfalls; two swimming pools, one exterior with poolhouse, one off the master bedroom suite; a hair salon; an exercise room; a sauna for twenty; numerous beverage centers throughout in case you get thirsty while finding your way; a tennis court; ball room; theater; Hall of Plates; gift wrap room.

Actually, in terms of bedrooms, the home has merely six.

The Goldfields spent four years building the house, which was finished in 2002—and promptly put it on the market at $45 million. Rumors abound as to why they sold it – did they argue too much over who would get out of bed and go to the kitchen for cream? Doubtful on that, the kitchen was on the first floor and there was a complete coffee bar with freezer right off the master suite, en route to the pool. Terry Bates, the Nashville architect who designed Champ d’Or, told the media that the Goldfields eventually decided it wasn’t necessary to have that much space. Besides, they had a home across the street where Shirley told me she used to schlep her clothes from closet to closet in shopping bags.

One of the Realtors told me that Mr. Goldfield turned down a $44 million offer at the onset. Selling agent Joan Eleazer said that during the long sales tenure, there were actually not that many showings because, after all, who could qualify for a home of this price magnitude? Many high-profile Dallas families looked at it, none nibbled. It took the excitement and energy of a time-deadlined auction to get the job done. I predict more auctions for properties like Champ in the near future.
 

Guest Blogger Candy Evans is the founder and sole contributor at CandysDirt.com, a website for the truly real-estate obsessed in Dallas and North Texas. She is the former editor of D Magazine’s DallasDirt, where she broke the news on where former president George W. Bush bought his Dallas home. She does it all from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where she loves to report the Dallas Dirt. Make no mistake: Candy Evans tells it like it is. Updated daily, reported accurately for the real estate consumer, and always spiced with dish from readers and local experts, CandysDirt.com is a daily fix for anyone who wants to know about real estate in Dallas/Fort Worth not just from the ground up, but from the dirt.