Main Line Monday: A Touch of Class in Haverford

This updated Colonial Revival home is what every McMansion wants to be when it grows up: a nicely proportioned, dignified home with lots of room and features that fit a modern lifestyle.

830 Buck Lane, Haverford, Pa. 19041 |TREND Images via Coldwell Banker Preferred - Wayne

830 Buck Lane, Haverford, Pa. 19041 |TREND Images via Coldwell Banker Preferred – Wayne

Somewhere out there is a website that explains to the layman why McMansions are so hideous. The reasons why have to do with classic principles of traditional architectural design, such as balance, symmetry and proportionality.

Today’s builders would do well to study this week’s featured home as an example of how to build for the ages as well as the right now, for this 116-year-old Colonial Revival home near Haverford College both shows what a truly picturesque traditional home looks like and shows how you can keep a classic up to date with changing times and tastes.

In contrast to many Main Line Colonials, this home has an informal layout that made it easy to expand and adapt its interior space. The evolution of the home is more evident in the rear elevation, where one can see the additions that enlarged the size of one third-floor bedroom and added the sunny family room that’s attached to the updated kitchen.

In front, this home presents a dignified yet welcoming face to passers-by. It boasts a brick entrance terrace whose partial canopy offers protection from the elements and even a shaded place to sit.

Just inside the front door is a simple, unfussy foyer that connects the home’s huge living room and its formal dining room and den.

That sunken living room boasts a marble fireplace, one of three in this home, a granite-topped bar with wine fridge and ice maker, and large French doors that open out onto the flagstone-paved rear patio.

French doors also connect the patio to the sunny family room, which is connected to the updated chef-quality kitchen by a peninsula with bar seating. The kitchen is equipped for you to cook up a storm, with double ovens, a five-burner range and a built-in breakfront with glass doors, and its location next to both the family room and the formal dining room means that you can entertain both formally and casually as you choose.

In front of the dining room is a handsome den/study with its own fireplace.

The master suite on the second floor includes that third fireplace in the bedroom, a renewed master bathroom featuring a full tile shower stall with rain shower head and glass enclosure, and a sunny sitting area. Two more bedrooms and a hall bath round out this floor.

On the third floor are two more bedrooms and another full bath, offering space for you to put up visiting friends or live-in help.

The detached two-car garage offers additional space that could become guest quarters or a home office.

All of this sits on a nicely landscaped 3/4-acre lot that backs up onto a large community park with tennis courts. Haverford College and the Haverford College Trail, a duck pond, SEPTA’s Haverford Regional Rail station, and shopping and dining in the heart of Haverford are all just a short walk away to boot.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 5

BATHS: 3 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 4,111

SALE PRICE: $875,000

OTHER STUFF: This home’s price was reduced by $24,900 on Sept. 1.

830 Buck Lane, Haverford, Pa. 19041 [Sarah Forti | Coldwell Banker Preferred – Wayne]