Slightly more than four months after Sam Wyly’s Highland Park estate hit the market, it has sold for $9.4 million. Though the sales price fell short of Wyly’s $12.5 million asking price, it significantly exceeded the $9,027,500 Dallas County appraisal according to Candy’s Dirt.

If this historic mansion could talk, it would have quite a story to tell.

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In 1920, Dallas businessman Fred Schoellkopf — whose family made a fortune in saddles — purchased the vacant 1.03-acre lot where the mansion sits for $17,000. Three years later, Schoellkopf hired legendary architect C.D. Hill and sank another $130,000 into making the Tudor-style mansion an exquisitely-designed showplace while nearby Tudors were going up in the $25,000 to $30,000 range.

Located across from Dallas Country Club, Sam Wyly paid $160,000 for the 7,579-square-foot mansion in 1965. And in the 52 years he called the estate home, he added several upgrades to the opulent residence that now contains five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a sunroom, study, and third-floor game room along with three fireplaces, a basement, three-car garage, and garage apartment. 

Photo by Shoot2Sell

At 83, Wyly has made and lost a fortune. A decade ago, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion after ranking him the 354th wealthiest American six months earlier. In recent years, however, federal courts ordered Wyly to sell his estate and other assets to settle a nearly $200 million judgment handed down from a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud suit.

Hopefully, the historic mansion will live to tell another story.

As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the new owner is a trust represented by Dallas mergers and acquisitions attorney Brian Lidji. Though he avoided divulging most information about the sale, Lidji did tell the News, "It's not going to be torn down. Someone is going to move in."

Photo by Shoot2Sell