Historic home by renowned Houston architect lists for just under $10 million

Cullinan was the original developer of Shadyside, and the site of 3 Remington was at first a park for the neighborhood. However, when Culinan’s daughter became engaged, the oil industrialist decided to commission Staub to design her a house on the property as a wedding present, according to Hedley Karpas, the property’s agent. Some of the original playground equipment even remains.

The current owners of the home, Robert and Emily Clay, purchased it several years ago and planned to remodel before moving in. Instead, after a gut renovation, they decided to sell, and put the property on the market last fall for $12.5 million.

“We’ve had offers on the house, we just haven’t come to terms,” Karpas said, adding that the house is most likely to appeal to a buyer who appreciates its history and “who really appreciates the architecture of John Staub — the perfect symmetry of the house.”

The Cullinans were in good company when they asked Staub to design the home; starting in the 1920s, the architect once deemed by Texas Monthly as “The Man Who Built River Oaks,” designed dwellings for some of Houston’s most prominent and influential citizens after arriving in the city just after World War I to run the local office of a New York architecture firm. Those properties include what was the home of Ima Hogg and is now the Bayou Bend Collection and Garden, part of MFAH, and the Rice University president’s home, which originally belonged to Harry and Olga Wiess.

“[Staub] talked about designing homes that would be an expression of the people who lived in them,” architectural historian Steven Fox told The Houston Chronicle in 2016. “You have to look at his houses not only as a record of his design work, but also his interpretation of the character and personality of his clients.”

However, 3 Remington’s pedigree doesn’t end there—it was later owned and occupied by Mark White, who was governor of Texas between 1983 and 1987, and the estate is currently is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A plaque on the property notes that Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt have all visited.

While the brick exterior points to the home’s history, the 2021 renovation changed just about everything about the interior, Karpas said. There are modern finishes that include quartzite countertops in the kitchen, upgraded appliances and a wine closet, and the renovation completely redid the upstairs floorplan, creating a spacious primary suite with “huge closets,” Karpas said.  Downstairs, the layout remains the same, with two wings of the home extending away from a central reception hall, with one housing the living room, powder room and aforementioned wine closet and the other a great room, walk-in bar, kitchen and breakfast area.

The 7,823-square-foot home also sits on a large lot of about 1.36 acres and includes brick patios, gardens, fountains, heritage trees and pool.