dick's retreat

Legendary Houston defense attorney's sprawling Texas ranch offered at $1.2 million

Houstonians who want land — lots of land — can delight in a parcel just about an hour (and a whole world) away from the Bayou City. The lush space is owned by legendary local attorney Dick DeGuerin and is now for sale.

DeGuerin, who made a name for himself as a defense attorney to the likes of Tom DeLay, Robert Durst, and David Koresh, bought a sprawling, 120-acre ranch tucked into the gently rolling hills of Carmine, Texas (colloquially known as Burton), dotted with lakes and endless vistas of blue sky back in 1982. The ranch was his retreat from the hustle of Houston city life, and a place where he could leave behind the frenzied pace of courthouse life to tend cattle, ride horses, and unwind with family.

Now, he's selling off 40 acres of the property at 11022 Wildlife Circle. The country retreat is on the market for $1.2 million and is offered by Jeanine Kaminski-Ditzel of John Daugherty, Realtors.

The parcel comes with two lakes, one of them 40 feet deep. Both are fully stocked for fishing and provide a gorgeous setting from which to watch the sun sink from the Texas sky. Live oak trees, expansive grassy areas, and riding paths add to the property's rustic chic. (An added perk: one of the nation's best criminal defense minds as a neighbor.)

Along with the acreage comes the main house, a converted stationmaster's depot from Burton's days as a railroad stop. This is the kind of home country ranch fantasies are made of; natural light showers sunshine on the long-lead pine floors. There's a massive stone fireplace in the living room, perfect for warding off chilly nights on the edge of the Hill Country.

The master bedroom boasts high ceilings, intricate truss work and its own screened-in porch. Upstairs, a second bedroom overlooks the property's lakes and endless meadows. There's also a bunk room that'll sleep six, which will come in handy for family and friend gatherings. Also included is a guesthouse with a private bath that can serve as additional accommodations or living quarters for a ranch foreman. There's a barn with ample space for all the needs of ranch life: tack room, tinkering space, storage, setting for rustic events.

“I just hate to let this place go,” DeGuerin said in a statement. “This land is part of me and my family, but with most of our children living out of state, it doesn’t make sense for us now."

While the DeGuerins will keep the rest of their acreage, and DeGeurin will continue to raise chickens, horses, and cattle, this opportunity can be a dream come true for someone else. It's the kind of spread that beckons to just the right someone, the kind of person who feels the love of land deeply in their DNA, who cherishes the sound of the wind through the grass and trees, the sight of a hawk in a lazy flight overhead, the feel of a cool evening breeze that makes ripples on the water as dusk descends. It's a private spot, one where serenity reigns.

"I hope the new owner will take the same chance at happiness as I did on this land," added DeGuerin.

Some 40 acres of the massive ranch are for sale.

Photos by John Deans, Deans Imaging

Some 40 acres of the massive ranch are for sale.

texas 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