Denton County mansion known as Champ d'Or has been for sale since 2003

This week's news about an uptick in home sales may not be much solace to Alan and Shirley Goldfield. They own Champ d'Or, an impressive mansion that sits on a nondescript piece of prairie just east of Interstate 35 in the Denton County town of Hickory Creek. The Goldfields patterned the 35,000-square-foot home after a magnificent 17th-century chateau near Paris. The English translation of the name is field of gold. The Goldfields' dream house – if house is the right word for something with a 15-car garage – has been on the market since 2003.

BACKGROUND: Alan Goldfield made his money in the cellphone business and is now retired. He and wife Shirley oversaw construction of Champ d'Or from 1998 to 2002. They lived in it a short while, decided it was too much house for them and put it on the market. And there it sits unsold – a palatial behemoth even by Preston Hollow or Plano McMansion standards.

Features include a central dome that soars to 78 feet, three kitchens, a two-lane bowling alley, a racquetball court, tennis court, two reflecting pools with waterfalls, a pool, a pool house, a black-lacquered two-story closet inspired by Chanel, a powder room with 18-karat gold fixtures and a gift-wrap room.

WHAT'S NEW: Briggs Freeman, a real estate sales company, is back on the account. The house and 25 acres are priced at $25 million. And the company appears to be no longer marketing Champ d'Or to rich families as a private residence. Judging by the Web site, www.champdorestate.com, Briggs Freeman hopes a commercial buyer will remake the Goldfields' dream into a health spa, a retirement center, an equestrian center or a medical facility "for patients recovering from plastic surgery."

WHY THE SECRECY: Ellen Sedeño, a spokeswoman for Briggs Freeman, declined to take a reporter on a tour of the property. Qualified buyers still get tours, of course. After six years of unsuccessful attempts to sell Champ d'Or, the Goldfields are no longer granting interviews on the subject, Sedeño said. They were none too happy about a story that appeared in the May-June issue of D CEO that wondered whether the house would become "The Biggest Little Teardown in Texas?"

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