[angie013]

I was wondering if parts of this house are still standing? Aren't there apartments where the house used to be? I should know this being a FTW native, but don't. Any ideas?

[seurto]

The house is still there in its entirety, but after many different incarnations, is now a church (go figure). All or at least most of the land surrounding it has been filled, tho, with apartments, shopping, Calloway's nursery, a nursing home and maybe some houses. So, you really can't even see it from Hulen any more. So completely different than that white monster all by itself in the middle of the field.

[Willy1]

The house is still there in its entirety, but after many different incarnations, is now a church (go figure). All or at least most of the land surrounding it has been filled, tho, with apartments, shopping, Calloway's nursery, a nursing home and maybe some houses. So, you really can't even see it from Hulen any more. So completely different than that white monster all by itself in the middle of the field.

The house was amazing when the Davis' lived there. I went swimming there when I was in elementary school - in the indoor pool. I went back years later when it was a restaurant.... It was weird to have seen it again after so many years. Much of it was unchanged. I wonder if the church still has the pool.

[seurto]

I think I read where they covered the pool or something like that. I don't think they filled it in, but don't think they use it as a pool. Now, were it a Baptist church, that would be a heck of a baptismal pool!

[angie013]

I drove by there and it looks like the church is for sale? The house is so commercialized now, it is hard to believe it was ever a house. I am a ghost hunter, so I would love an opportunity to look inside.

[seurto]

Hey angie013 - get permission to go inside and I'll ghost hunt with you in that house, especially 8/2 (30 years since the incident).

[1963Parade_of_Homes]

Where is it located? I've only been here since 1994.

-Jim

[seurto]

The house is on Hulen right before the bridge over the UP tracks. I don't think you can see it from Hulen any more; there are so many apartments, a Calloway's nursery, etc. right there. There area is called Stonegate something. Anyway, if you are, say going N on Hulen (is that correct) from the intersection of Hulen and Bellaire, past the Tom Thumb, past Bistro Louise, past Texadelphia and there is an intersection with the Calloways and what used to be Ronnie's on the corner; anyway turn up that street and go straight and you pretty much run into it. Those may not be good directions; I'm not really good with directions.

[heathPS]

Those are great directions.
The street next to Calloways that you turn onto is actually Stonegate Blvd.

[seurto]

Ya just gotta wonder what Cullen is doing today, here 30 years later.

[hooked]

From crimelibrary.com (2005):

"By the mid-1980s, Cullen was flat broke. Kendavis Industries had taken a dive during the recession of the early 1980s and Cullen had blown some $40 million in bad real estate deals. In 1986, he filed for personal bankruptcy, listing assets of $600,000 and debts of more than $230 million.

The former Forbes 400 member took a job on his brother's payroll for $25,000 a year and Karen Davis, his alibi-turned-wife, returned to school teaching to make ends meet.

"The Lord has sustained me through this," he said. "I am not worried about the outcome. He can make it go, and He can make it come back."

Priscilla also hit on hard times and when she died in 2001 from breast cancer, she was living in a one-bedroom apartment far from the limelight. She was 59 years old. She had never remarried and as a persona non grata on the celebrity circuit, she lived a relatively quiet, if not despondent, life. Priscilla was mourned by many who came to know her during the trials, most of whom remembered her as a much grander lady than she had been portrayed at the time. Friends also said she never fully recovered her sense of self-worth that was dashed in the first trial. Her surviving daughter, Dee, told the press that even in the painful last stages of cancer, Priscilla refused to take pain medication because of the claims made by Haynes.

Now in his late 60s, T. Cullen Davis could still be tried for the death of Stan Farr and the assaults on Bev Bass and Bubba Gavrel. From time-to-time a newspaper columnist will recall the trial, still one of the most expensive in Texas history, and call on justice to be done.

To date no prosecutor has stepped forward to take on T. Cullen Davis, money or no money.

People on all sides of the issue have often speculated about whether the outcome would have been different had Cullen not been one of the richest men in Texas. Cullen himself admits that it might.

"I was able to pay for what I needed to be found not guilty," he said in 2000. "If I had not had the money to hire the people I hired to investigate what went on and everything that we used and needed, I might have been sitting in prison right now."

[JBB]

From crimelibrary.com (2005):

"I was able to pay for what I needed to be found not guilty," he said in 2000.

That shockingly careful choice of words is damn near a confession. "Prove my innocence" might have sounded a bit better.

[seurto]

From crimelibrary.com (2005):

"I was able to pay for what I needed to be found not guilty," he said in 2000.

That shockingly careful choice of words is damn near a confession. "Prove my innocence" might have sounded a bit better.

Ain't it the truth!

Unless I've missed, I don't happen to see ANYTHING in the paper about it today.

[Yossarian]

From crimelibrary.com (2005):

"I was able to pay for what I needed to be found not guilty," he said in 2000.

That shockingly careful choice of words is damn near a confession. "Prove my innocence" might have sounded a bit better.

Not completely. Juries do not judge "innocense". Only "guilt" or lack thereof. So, his statement is accurate; albeit a little questionable. Then again, he could come right out and say that he "did it" with respect to that particular charge and nothing could be done about it (in criminal court).

Interestingly, I ran into Cullen about a year ago at Kinkaid's while having lunch with my father. He is a surprisingly pleasant and fairly soft spoken individual - at least today.

[JulieM]

From the Startle-Gram

Davis mansion back on the marketBy MATT FRAZIER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - The curse of the Cullen Davis mansion continues.

After trying for a year to turn something negative into a positive, the Power Church is putting up for sale the mansion made infamous in 1976 when two people were killed there.

The reason? Declining church attendance.

“I blame it half on the location and half on myself,” said Lance McCune, pastor of the Power Church. “It is in an older neighborhood, and I spent a lot of my time helping people deal with Hurricane Katrina and Rita.”

In 1972, wealthy oilman Cullen Davis spent $6 million to build the five-bedroom, 11-bath mansion with an indoor pool and a 2,000-square-foot master bedroom.

In its prime, the luxurious, contemporary home of courtyards, tunnels and balconies at 4100 Stonegate Drive was decorated with more than 100 oil paintings.

But in 1976 a man in black, wearing a black wig, killed two people there.

Three witnesses described Davis as the shooter. But in a trial in Amarillo he was acquitted of the killing of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Andrea Wilborn.

Prosecutors later dismissed charges related to the killing of former Texas Christian University basketball player Stan Farr and the wounding of Davis’ estranged wife, Priscilla, and her friend Bubba Gavrel.

Davis’ oil-based business empire later crumbled. He moved out of the mansion in 1983 and declared bankruptcy in 1987.

Alamo Partners bought the property in 1992. Alamo sold it to Don Bowden, one of the founders of the Mercado Juarez restaurants and president of Mercado’s parent firm.

Bowden’s dream to turn the mansion into a restaurant failed three times, most recently with the Mercado Juarez Stonegate Hacienda. He said the site never drew the traffic needed to generate a consistent profit.

Power Church bought the property in 2003 and made several renovations, including filling in the indoor pool. But attendance has dropped from about 125 to about 100, McCune said. The church will remain in the mansion until it is sold.

“It’s a beautiful piece of property,” McCune said. “It just hasn’t been a good place for our church. It’s in a good location for a business.”

The Tarrant Appraisal District lists the value of the mansion and property at $1.64 million.

[seurto]

Hey! - We could all pool our nickles and dimes and buy the house and make it our BMOC Club House!! That would probably be the most appropriate use for it, don't ya think???

[Prairie Pup]

Hey! - We could all pool our nickles and dimes and buy the house and make it our BMOC Club House!! That would probably be the most appropriate use for it, don't ya think???

Forumansion

[seurto]

Hey! - We could all pool our nickles and dimes and buy the house and make it our BMOC Club House!! That would probably be the most appropriate use for it, don't ya think???

Forumansion

There ya go!! - John, just what kinda resources ya got!!

[hooked]

Ya just gotta wonder what Cullen is doing today, here 30 years later.

From today's Star Telegram (edited slightly, to keep from violating the Forum Guidelines):

COLLEYVILLE - About 25 firefighters from five cities battled a fire Tuesday at what is believed to be the home of famed oilman Cullen Davis.

The fire was reported about 9 a.m. in the ___________ block of Ballantrae Drive.

"The roof was billowing smoke through every vent possible, without fire breaking through," Colleyville Fire Chief Mike Johnston said.

No injuries were reported and the fire was extinguished quickly, the chief said.

Damage to the 3,600-square-foot home was estimated at $150,000, mostly from smoke and water, but a full assessment had not been made, Johnston said Tuesday evening..

The cause also had not been determined, he said.

Nbc5i.com reported Tuesday night that the home belongs to Davis, who according to news reports lives in Colleyville with his wife, Karen.

Johnston said he had been told it was Davis' home but could not confirm it.

A home on that block, which is just _________ of Texas 26 (Colleyville Boulevard) and Hall-Johnson Road, belongs to the Ken Davis Revocable Trust, Tarrant Appraisal District records show.

In 1976, Cullen Davis was accused of killing of two people, including his 12-year-old stepdaughter, at his mansion in west Fort Worth. He was acquitted, but the case shed light on an era of oil fortunes and excess.