A former home of legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry and his wife Alicia, located near the moneyed intersection of Bluffview and Preston Hollow, is on the market.
The house was built in 1952 and is at the end of a small, heavily wooded, secluded cul de sac off Inwood Road. It has 5,408 square feet, and is one-and-a-half stories, with a lower level that looks out over an intensely verdant backdrop that features a creek with a footbridge, wildlife, and loads of privacy.
Located at 5336 Rock Cliff Place, the home has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a swanky pool, and sits on 1.72 acres. The asking price is $2,999,000.
First posted by People Newspapers, the listing is by Allie Beth Allman, which describes the property as "Land / Lots for Sale." Meaning, they assume buyers want it for the land, not the house.
The agency hosted an open house on June 13, so we went in hopes of spotting a pink-tiled bathroom or two, but little '50s kitsch could be found.
Instead it has a kind of understated modesty for which Landry was known, including a utilitarian kitchen, "normal" size bathrooms, and cozy bedrooms — the elegance of non-excess.
That might actually make a stronger case for renovating the house, which overlooks the Straight Branch creek, an extension of Bachman Lake. The entire back of the house consists of floor-to-ceiling glass, placing the focus on the pastoral setting.
The property is dense with mature trees, some ringed with climbing vines for a kind of woodland fairy tale vibe, with a pair of treehouses and a footbridge that crosses over the creek. Some of that can be seen in this video.
During our visit, we saw an adorable four-legged critter — a baby hog, maybe? — scuttle into the brush. The space was otherwise so quiet, the ultimate luxury.
Inside, the house had an extended ranch-style layout, with a hallway across the middle, with expansive spaces for the dining room and family room to the left, and bedrooms clustered to the right.
The lower level consisted of a large bedroom and en suite bathroom with its own separate entrance, but it could also be reached via a secret stairway of sorts, accessible through a closet in one of the bedrooms.
When the Landrys bought the land, they bought three parcels, both to guarantee privacy and to ensure that the space would remain green. Tom Landry died in 2000, and Alicia Landry died in January 2021.
It's near-impossible to find an undeveloped oasis of nature, left to its own device, like this in the middle of North Dallas. But how many masters of the universe who can afford such a property have the self-control to leave the space alone?
There've been no shortage of Landry homes that have been sold in recent years, including his original ranch-style home at 4510 Hallmark in Dallas in 2015 (and then again in 2017), lakefront property in Spicewood in 2016, his golf-course getaway in The Hills in 2019, and his Hill Country hideaway in Austin in 2019.
The front of the house features a gravel driveway surrounding an island with a majestic old tree.
The small town of Fate has grown by 172 percent since 2014, StorageCafe says.fatetx.gov/