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Houston's 10 most expensive homes sold in 2016 include two $10 million stunners

Despite falling oil prices and energy industry layoffs in 2016, the Houston housing market held steady and set a new record for home sales. While homes over $500,000 and up experienced declining sales through October, they ticked up with double-digit sales increases in the final two months of the year, the Houston Association of Realtors reports. Two mansions sold for more than $10 million and the cheapest home in the Top 10 sold for more than $5 million.

The Top 10 most expensive homes sold over the year were located, not surprisingly, in the exclusive areas of River Oaks, The Woodlands and Memorial. They include the following (with descriptions from the HAR listings for each):

1) 527 Buckingham Drive, Houston, 77024

Sold for: $10,000,001 or greater

Sold by: Timothy Shanahan, Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

Description: This impressive Norman French-style estate, clad in Leuders Shasta-Blend stone, offers exceptional style, gorgeous rare finishes, and comprehensive cutting-edge Crestron whole-house technology that makes living in this 17,500-plus sq/ft home exceptionally luxurious. Separate 1,123 sq/ft full guest quarters located above garage. Designed by Ed Eubanks and constructed by Texana Builders on 1.3 acres, the residence was built to exacting requirements and required four years to reach completion in 2014.

2) 3688 Willowick Road, Houston, 77019

Sold for: $10,000,001 or greater

Sold by: Pene Moore, Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

Description: Bayou Breeze, an exceptional River Oaks estate on a 3.7 acre bayou lot. This magnificent English country home designed by Curtis & Windham must be seen to be believed. The interiors were superbly appointed by New York interior designer Bunny Williams. This home has it all — antique wood floors, elevator to all three floors, wine cellar with dining area, media room, separate guest house, 2-bedroom apartment over garage, pool and pool cabana, putting green, and stunning garden views from every window.

3) 88 Grand Regency Circle, The Woodlands, 77382

Sold for: $6,767,001 - $7,805,000

Sold by: Debbie Coleman Ratcliff, Coleman Realty

Description: Designed for Grand Scale entertaining and family living, 21/bedroom, full kitchen apartments, pool house, 3 elevators, 12 fireplaces, 18 baths, catering kitchen w/walk in cooler & much more. Carlton Woods is an exclusive gated golf course community.

4) 15 Grand Regency Circle, The Woodlands, 77382

Price: $6,767,001 - $7,805,000

Sold by: Beth Ferester, Beth Ferester & Company, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors- The Woodlands

Description: One of the most revered signature estates in Carlton Woods is on the ninth hole of the Nicklaus Course at 15 Grand Regency. This spectacular home features the amenities of a fine resort. It has full views of the 9th and 18th holes, the lake and the CW Clubhouse. Other amenities include a two story guest house, a golf house, and over 17,000 square feet of amazing spaces and over 3000 square feet of outdoor spaces. Surrounded by a stone wall and gated.

5) 3311 Del Monte, Houston, 77019

Sold for: $6,767,001 - $7,805,000

Sold by: Cathy Blum, Greenwood King Properties - Kirby office

Description: Understated elegance best describes this magnificent Country French home on beautifully landscaped grounds. Sitting pretty on 1+ acres (HCAD) on the corner of River Oaks Blvd., this home was designed by Joseph Finger in 1937 (HCAD) and has been lovingly restored* by the current owners. High ceilings/limestone and wood flooring, metal windows and doors, crown molding/terraces/gardens/guest house/pool. A warm family home that entertains beautifully. *=Per Seller

6) 5442 Tupper Lake Drive, Houston, 77056

Price: $5,864,001 - $6,767,000

Sold by: Ruth Porterfield, Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

Description: Refined Santa Barbara-style home custom-built with Segreto plaster and hand-scraped mahogany floors, moldings, doors, beams throughout; hand- chiseled, honed limestone floors; soaring ceilings; trompe l oeil; professionally-equipped open kitchen; 5 fireplaces; 1st-floor master with library, bedroom with fireplace, bathroom with zero-edge sinks, Jason tub, steam shower, custom closets; guest/staff apt.; pool + large yard. En suite bedrooms, gameroom, finished 3rd floor, Crestron/Lutron systems.

7) 59 Tiel Way, Houston, 77019

Sold for: $5,864,001 - $6,767,000

Sold by: Clayton Katz, John Daugherty Realtors

Description: Robert Dame-designed French traditional on a Tiel Way ravine lot. Soaring ceilings and beautiful wooded views from towering iron windows. This private estate features 5 bedrooms, separate traditional and catering kitchens, lofty master retreat with a vaulted beamed ceiling, wine room, elegant library and dining spaces, loggia, elevator capable, and theatre amongst other amenities. The home is designed with the outdoors in mind and offers some of the most private and breathtaking views.

8) 3744 Willowick Road, Houston, 77019

Sold for: $5,081,001 - $5,864,000

Sold by: Maxine Davis, Maxine Davis Properties

Description: This very remarkable River Oaks home that features fabulous room sizes and a family room with a beautiful view of the outside that makes you feel you are in the woods. The master bedroom has a fireplace and a large walk-in closet. There are five more bedrooms and a beautiful backyard. This home also features a gated motor-court with three car garage and quarters. Truly a very special home in a unique location that is great for entertaining!

9) 2 East Rivercrest Drive, Houston, 77042

Sold for: $5,081,001 - $5,864,000

Sold by: Diane Kingshill, Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

Description: Secluded within 3.5+ acres in exclusive Rivercrest Estates,this ultra-luxurious Mediterranean-style estate offers living on a palatial scale. The walled compound includes a 7 bedroom main house, 4 bedroom guest house, and a professional sports complex with indoor basketball court, pro-equipped gym, and hydrotherapy immersion tanks. Outdoor amenities include a putting/chipping green, water well, motor court, resort pool. Interiors by Reihl Designs, Palm Beach.

10) 3725 Del Monte Drive, Houston, 77019

Sold for: $5,081,001 - $5,864,000

Sold by: Jay Monroe, Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty

Description: Mirador Builders' Jennifer Hamelet brings you her finest River Oaks work yet. This light filled, idyllic home, set just off Del Monte Park, artfully weds American vernacular architecture with clean simple lines to produce striking and inspirational spaces. The timeless quality of her finishes include walnut floors, iron and glass doors and windows, reclaimed brick fireplaces, antique and modern iron chandeliers and mirrors, Calacatta and leathered soapstone counters. Walnut elevator. Beautifully landscaped.

This Woodlands home at 15 Grand Regency Circle sold for between $6,767,001 - $7,805,000.

Photo courtesy of HAR

This Woodlands home at 15 Grand Regency Circle sold for between $6,767,001 - $7,805,000.

home-for-sale

gold pony club

Inside the creation of the rodeo cook-off’s most over-the-top tent

Courtesy of Cotton Holdings

The Gold Pony is the ultra-private VIP lounge behind the stage.

The Cotton Q Club is arguably the glitziest and most exclusive tent at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s annual World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Hosting nearly 800 invited guests-per-night, the 5,000-square-foot space includes a 50-foot bar, a new pop-up martini bar by Sophie Cocktail & Terrace Bar called “The Stirrup,” the ultra-exclusive “Gold Pony Club,” and a full stage for private concerts. This season, county music acts include Gabby Barrett, Sammy Kershaw, Josh Turner and Braxton Keith.

Aside from the obvious, what sets the club apart from the rest is the sheer magnitude of its operation. Once inside, guests are encapsulated by velvet-draped ceilings illuminated by crystal chandeliers, three-layer tartan-topped carpeting, richly-colored wooden-paneled walls, plus thousands of red roses swathed acrobatically throughout.

To coincide with the year of the horse, five enormous ponies made entirely of red roses have been suspended from the ceilings. The second additions this year hang on either side of the bar in The Gold Pony, the club’s even more exclusive VIP area. The kinetic artworks were created by Houston artist Sneha Merchant —all for a three day fête. This begs the question: how do they do it?

Cotton Holdings and its subsidiaries are well positioned to carry out the entire project themselves — so they do. Never bothered or besmirched by the possibility of running into issues with rental companies, everything at The Cotton Q Club is procured, purchased, and stored in-house. As one would expect from a company that provides disaster relief around the world.

“There is a lot of love and care put into this because we’re not in a hotel, we’re not in someone’s home,” Cotton Holdings chief marketing officer Zinat Ahmed tells CultureMap. “So for us to be able to create this entire infrastructure under a tent — down to the walls and chandeliers — it is much more than throwing a party. It’s about the details that make people feel that they are at a hotel, they are in an extravagant room, they are at The Polo Bar.”

Ahmed notes that a lot of the company’s culture is mixed into the tent, such as what Cotton does as a disaster relief company (including providing food by Cotton Culinary).

“Cotton Logistics puts up tents during a natural disaster. Seeing the Cotton team, whether it’s cleaning or moving things around, welcoming everyone, that’s part of our Cotton GDS — we restore communities after natural disasters. Our synergies in different parts of our day-to-day are here,” she says.

Ahmed’s team has complete creative control over the interior aesthetics of the club. Always sourcing anything that cannot be made in-house to local vendors is something she feels is important. Nothing is rented, not even the furniture or accessories.

“Every single thing, unless it was done by a local vendor, was done in-house: design, signage, execution — even the embroidery,” she explains

Everything is checked over during the summer months so there won’t be any surprises when the cook-off comes back around. Every item is organized, labeled, and stored either in Cotton’s warehouses, Conex boxes, or in special climate-controlled safes — down to the matchboxes.

“We are always prepared and ready to go,” explains Ahmed. “It’s not chaotic at all because we’re used to it — it’s a normal day at Cotton.”

When asked for her favorite parts of the tent this year, Ahmed readily answered that it has to be the five rose ponies in the main area of the club. Secondly, the two commissioned works by Sneha Merchant. Sprinkled in diamond dust, one is a female mallard wrapped in a boa, champagne flute in hand, while the other is a smartly-suited jackalope complete with cowboy hat and martini.

Both pieces are lit by antique sconces Ahmed sourced from Round Top, while the taxidermy Zebra heads are on loan from the Columbus, Texas ranch of Cotton Holdings’ Chairman Pete Bell.

“Every detail, down to the swatches of velvet has been thought of with a lot of love and care,” says Ahmed. “You use that mindset with something like this. So, if you have a mindset like before you deploy to a hurricane, you can do it for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.”

Courtesy of Cotton Holdings

The Gold Pony is the ultra-private VIP lounge behind the stage.

houston livestock show and rodeo home-design cotton holdings

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gold pony club

Inside the creation of the rodeo cook-off’s most over-the-top tent