Huge House With Larger Price Tag

The Early Show's co-anchor Rene Syler took a Texas trip to one of the most expensive houses on the market in the United States, with an asking price of $45 million.

One thing I know from my days in Texas is that they really do things bigger there.

And we found what real estate agents call the biggest house in Texas. It is a French styled chateau of about 48,000 square feet in Hickory Creek. It's on the market for an asking price of $45 million.

It has a name worthy of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." It's called Champ D'or, which is French for "field of gold." It is a dream house come true for owners Shirley and Allen Goldfield.

A dome, 78 feet above the main entrance, is decorated with a French flavored mural with an American eagle, doves and petals. It took contractor Sterling Kenty five years to build the house.

"The thing I like the most about the living room is all of the trim work," says Kenty. "It pretty much represents the house as a whole, subtle elegance, it's big, it's massive, but it's very tasteful."

Special detail can be seen everywhere in the house, such as lalique glass, imported chandeliers, hand scraped wood and stone.

Kenty used marble from his own special collection and gold faucets in all 22 of the bathrooms.
The house also has two elevators, the kitchen has three dishwashers, a stove from France and refrigerated drawers.

In the bathroom, drawers heat the towels. You can take a steam bath and shaving is no excuse to miss The Early Show because there's a television in the mirror.

No French chateau would be complete without its own ballroom, but the house even has a tearoom fashioned after New York's Tavern on the Green.

Champ D'or also has an herb garden, floor-to-ceiling windows, a bathroom fireplace, his and hers closets (two-stories high), a replica of the Chanel room in Paris, a 15 car garage, indoor and outdoor pools, a tennis court and a bowling alley.

That's not all. There's also a racquetball court, a rodeo arena and the lake.

The theater might be Kenty's favorite room.

"The theater's kind of interesting," says Kenty. "This particular one … the owner decided they wanted to go nuts."

Painters lying on their backs to finished the ceiling of the theater, but Michelangelo couldn't have imagine Loge boxes with high definition television as part of his own masterpieces.

Joan Eleazer has been in real estate for 18 years, and she knows it's not an easy sell. In the meantime, Champ D'or will be home to benefit affairs and the Goldfields.

Sotheby's International is listing the house and says its attracted interest at home and in Europe. While there are bigger homes in the United States, this one is probably the biggest one currently on the market. It takes 16 full-time employees to keep the house working during the busier summer months.

The owners expect to move back across the street to their old home, a cozier 28,000 square foot house.