Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/660802
B Y R E B E C C A S H E R M A N . P H OTO G R A P H Y M I C H A E L H U N T E R . DIG THIS: AN ARCHITECTURALLY SIGNIFICANT FORMER CHURCH, BUILT IN 1910, HITS THE MARKET FOR $8.4 MILLION — WITH A FEW SURPRISES INSIDE. GREAT The 1910 renovated church that's home to T. rex and friends B ryan Crawford is waiting on the steps when I arrive. A senior vice president with Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty, he offers to walk me through one of his listings: a resplendent former Presbyterian church built in 1910 by architects Herbert Miller Greene and James P. Hubbell, designers of some of Dallas' greatest landmarks including Old Parkland, the Dallas Morning News building and the Neiman Marcus flagship downtown. Ushering me through massive iron- and-glass front doors, he waits for my reaction. All I can do was put my hand over my mouth and shake my head in amazement. "Pretty awesome, isn't it?" he says, smiling. Sunlight streams through the two-story rafters into the sanctuary in front of us, sparkling off the polished hardwood floors, crisp white plaster moldings and columns. Crawford runs a hand over a wall of 106-year-old exposed brick, which had been uncovered during renovation. "All of the bricks in the building are stamped with "Texas" on them," he says. "Most of the oldest buildings in Dallas have [them], and it's the bee's knees when you find it." Over the decades, the red-tile-roof church had become a funky space for an art gallery and temporary offices. In the 1980s, the large open areas had been divided and the beautiful architectural details covered over. The current owner, who bought it in 2013, spent two years bringing the dilapidated building back to its original glory, Crawford says. Carefully preserved, the former church has been converted to include stunning offices perched high above the sanctuary, enclosed in glass. The bell tower has been turned into a five-story one- bedroom apartment, and the back of the building houses 14 additional office suites and a sound studio. A backup generator keeps computer servers running should the need arise. With an $8.4 million price tag, the owner is willing to split the 16,800-square-foot space in half. It's zoned for both residential and commercial use. "Let me give you a tour," Crawford says, sensing my distraction. But it's no use, and he knows it; the tour will have to wait. After all, it's impossible to ignore the 38–foot-long, 12– foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex in the room. M ost people walking by 2700 Fairmount Street have no clue as to the extraordinary natural-history cache hidden behind its elegant Beaux Arts façade. It's an exceedingly rare private collection that includes a mounted composite T. rex skeleton named Roosevelt, a mounted Triceratops prorsus skeleton, T. rex skulls and teeth, along with other specimens. The pieces date to the Cretaceous period, 65 to 80 million years ago. Dinosaur bones, skulls and other fossils and specimens are famously collected by billionaires such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, movie moguls Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicolas Cage. But with their scarcity, size and multi-million-dollar price tags, mounted T. rex skeletons are rarely found outside museums. So the big question is: How did Roosevelt end up in Dallas, of all places — and inside a church? It turns out the king lizard tyrant belongs to Theropoda Expeditions (theropodaexpeditions.com), a 4-year-old commercial excavation company whose website lists an Allen, Texas, address. Wooden crates stamped Theropoda are stacked against the walls of the sanctuary, ready to be unpacked. Crawford tells me the company is owned by the same man who owns the church: an eccentric entrepreneur who dabbles in real estate, retail, tech startups and, lately, paleontology. I'm dying to find out more. "I don't know if he'll talk to you," Crawford says. "He's pretty reclusive — sort of a Howard Hughes type." Later, I realize that the mysterious owner and I have already met. He introduced himself as an employee of Theropoda while I was taking notes at the church and offered to answer questions about the dinosaurs. In his early 40s, he has a mop of blond curls framing a sunburned face, giving him the roguish appeal of an outdoor adventurer — more Indiana Jones than Howard Hughes. After weeks of trying to track him down again, he calls me from his house in the Caribbean. He agrees to an interview as long as I don't use his name. Originally from Georgia, Theropoda's owner moved to Dallas after buying a handful of retail furniture stores. On a buying trip to a gem-and-mineral show five years ago, he first became enamored with fossils. "When I realized I could actually buy dinosaur bones, I fell in love with it," he says. "Like any hobby, I took it to the next step, and that next step led me into the field." He put together a crew of BONES