A Manor of Survival : ‘Garish’ Home Rises Despite Owner’s Fall

Tucked into the moneyed hills of Rancho Santa Fe is Don Ray Dixon’s dream house.

It stands as a sprawling monument to the free-spending Texan, who many believe was responsible for one of the most disastrous savings-and-loan collapses in history.

As owner of Vernon Savings & Loan, a huge Texas thrift institution, Dixon had easy access to millions of dollars and apparently did not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity. He spent and traveled and bought and entertained on several continents before Vernon collapsed last year and a swarm of federal regulators brought an end to his spree.

Dixon is now the subject of a $540-million civil fraud suit brought by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., the agency’s largest ever.

End of Plan to Live in Luxury

The collapse ended Dixon’s plan to take up residence in one of the most lavish estates in one of the wealthiest communities in the country.

He left behind a half-finished vision of a 17-acre compound that was to feature one of everything--and sometimes more if the designers could squeeze it in.

Although Dixon is no longer allowed on the premises (guards have turned him away several times), his presence is almost palpable these days as workers lay the last imported tiles and fuss with the Jacuzzis, waterfalls and Roman baths that were part of Dixon’s vision.

Dixon may take some comfort in the knowledge that his dream has lived on without him and is now for sale to any captain of industry, foreign potentate or rock star who can come up with the asking price of $8.7 million.

That may not be the most money anyone ever paid for a spread in Rancho Santa Fe, but it’s right up there, according to Carol R. Hard, a real estate broker and co-owner of Plaza Properties & Investments of Rancho Santa Fe.

Plaza Properties is trying to sell the estate, called Las Torres, for Sandia Federal Savings & Loan Assn., the Albuquerque, N. M., thrift that made the original construction loan for Dixon and later foreclosed on the property when Dixon’s financial difficulties became apparent.

In a world where amenities do the talking, Hard and her colleagues need only point.

The 10,000-square-foot main house is a celebration of appliances, gadgets, party rooms, rooms with no name and, most particularly, bathrooms.

A visitor can scarcely stumble 20 feet in any direction without encountering a bathroom (there are nine in the main house) or, for that matter, one of the many wet bars (which may explain the proliferation of bathrooms).

The precise number of wet bars is a little more difficult to pin down.

“Depending on how you want to count them, there are probably, say, six wet bars,” Hard said. “There’s really more if you want to be real technical about it.”

“To the best of my knowledge, there’s five wet bars,” said Ray Schooley, the builder who has been in charge of the project from its beginning about three years ago. Maybe he forgot to count the one in the 11-car garage.

But, back to the subject of bathrooms, which also is a topic of some controversy.

Dixon’s original vision put only one bathroom in the 2,000-square-foot “master wing,” the expanse of rooms that includes the master bedroom. “This,” Hard said pointing to a small suite, “originally was an exercise room. They changed their minds several months back because there was criticism that there weren’t two baths in the master.”

Schooley says he thought from the beginning that Dixon was wrong in calling for only one bathroom in the master suite.

‘A Great Addition’

“The addition of the men’s bathroom in the master suite was a great addition, and that was all my own idea,” Schooley said. “From Day One, I considered it to be a must in terms of the quality, design and price range of the house.”

Schooley suggested that part of the cavernous, 3,200-square-foot garage be turned into a gymnasium. The structure was to have housed Dixon’s collection of antique cars. It features a grease pit, heating, air-conditioning and, naturally, a wet bar.

Whoever ends up buying the estate is now in no danger of encountering a spouse with a mouthful of toothpaste. The female half has her own designated bathroom, designed in Roman splendor with a huge circular tub surrounded by four white columns that reach to the skylights.

“It was his wife who designed that,” said Wayne Walker, a senior vice president of Sandia S&L; who is in charge of selling the property. Sandia has spent more than $1.5 million to finish the estate since the institution foreclosed last year.

“I’m not sure she was as good a designer as she thought she was,” Walker said. “Unfortunately, the bathroom was too far along.”

Dixon’s wife, Dana Dene Dixon, owned a design shop in Rancho Santa Fe until the two left the area and moved to Laguna Beach.

‘Building Party House’

“All he was doing was building a party house,” Walker said. “The height of his glory was entertaining big.”

Schooley, too, has few kind words for the Dixons.

“It was my interpretation that the house was a gift to his wife,” Schooley said. “He was more or less doing it for her as well as to have a place to show off for his friends.”

Schooley, who has built many high-priced estates in Rancho Santa Fe, says that he is satisfied with the final toned-down state of the project but that his tastes are not in tune with the more “garish” requests of the Dixons. “They had an ungodly taste for pinks and salmons,” he said.

“Dixon and his wife from Day One made changes that went on and on. The would go to Europe and see something they liked, and come back and want to add it onto the house.”

One such request was the three-story entry tower reminiscent of a Moorish castle. “They thought that up during a trip to Spain,” Schooley said.

Other unusual elements of the estate are $1.5 million in landscaping that includes three “Maui” waterfalls, exotic plants and $100,000 worth of hand-picked boulders chosen for their flat surfaces, which are to contrast with the towering palm trees.

The house also has eight fireplaces, a 480-square-foot temperature-controlled wine cellar, a guest house, a 6,300-square-foot stable with a separate apartment and stalls for 10 horses, a pool, tennis court with viewing stands, three hot tubs, two built-in vacuum systems and servants’ quarters.

“It’s a party house,” Schooley said. “If you entertain a lot, the house cannot possibly be beat.”

Schooley said he and the subcontractors and suppliers who built the house spent $50,000 in legal fees over two years before they were paid for their work. “He hurt a lot of people,” Schooley said. “He left all the contractors holding the bag. He really hung us out to dry.”

Phone messages left for Dixon and his attorney Wednesday went unreturned.

Dixon himself has not been indicted on any criminal charges, but the investigation of Vernon’s collapse is continuing, said Stephen P. Learned, a Department of Justice lawyer in Washington who is handling the case.

Three senior officials of Vernon have pleaded guilty in Texas to federal charges stemming from their stewardship of the thrift, and at least one is said to be cooperating with investigators.