Home: Preserving a Modern Legend

An iconic home in Bucks County teaches one couple the joy of living simply — and enjoying the view

Just off Washington Crossing Road in Newtown sits an architectural gem—a breathtaking, U-shaped, yellow-paneled Bauhaus-ian house that appears to be floating atop a lush green hill. The home is all wooden eaves and poured concrete, low roofs and airy living spaces, dramatic cantilevers and expansive panes of glass—a thoroughly modern structure that seamlessly, simply, elegantly connects interiors to exteriors.

Just off Washington Crossing Road in Newtown sits an architectural gem—a breathtaking, U-shaped, yellow-paneled Bauhaus-ian house that appears to be floating atop a lush green hill. The home is all wooden eaves and poured concrete, low roofs and airy living spaces, dramatic cantilevers and expansive panes of glass—a thoroughly modern structure that seamlessly, simply, elegantly connects interiors to exteriors.

This is the circa-1963 work of renowned Washington Crossing-based modernist architect Thaddeus Longstreth, colleague to Richard Neutra, who was a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright. A year after its construction, the home was described as a “radical modern” in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser. And early last summer the place was for sale.

Bob and Robin Freed weren’t in the market for a new house. It had been only three years since they’d built their conservative Bucks County spread, the sixth in their series of homes. Plus, the Longstreth building was nothing like the signature stone houses of the area. Nonetheless, when the couple—owners of the nearby Yardley Inn—caught a glimpse, it was real estate love-at-first-sight. Four hours after their first tour, they placed a bid.

There was just one catch. Original owner Monica Cook, 92 and as sharp as ever, wouldn’t sell to just anyone. Monica and her husband had custom designed the home with Longstreth — a process that essentially involved requesting five bedrooms and letting him do as he pleased. The Cooks’ children had grown up there, finding Lenape arrowheads in the yard, watching deer and wild turkeys pass through, going to bed as moonlight beamed through the skylights. It was a tough place to leave—and didn’t deserve to become a tear-down. Robin and Bob had to convince Monica that they appreciated the home’s architectural significance — and that they certainly weren’t buying it for the land alone. “It was almost like going into a marriage,” says Robin. “Something like, ‘What are your intentions?’”

he Freeds pledged to maintain Longstreth’s work. Bob even sealed the deal with an unorthodox bit of wooing — “I don’t know what came over me, but I just leaned over and kissed [Monica] on the cheek,” he says. The gesture worked. The next day, the six hilltop acres, the pool and the still “radical modern” 3,600-square-foot house of concrete and wood were theirs.

True to their promise, the Freeds spent an exceptional amount of money on careful restoration—“all to make it look like we didn’t do anything,” says Robin. They installed a new roof. They rehabbed, resealed and re-stained the concrete floors. They replaced nearly a hundred single-paned, odd-dimensioned windows with custom cuts of glass—except for the mitered windows in the living room and kitchen, so rare and intricate that no contractors would touch them.
Only the kitchen and bathrooms underwent structural changes. Bob, the house cook, oversaw the kitchen’s expansion from its galley layout and chose new cabinets, soapstone countertops, appliances and wall tile. In the main wing, a closet and two small bathrooms were combined into a spa-like bathroom for Robin, with light green and blue glass tiles. The handsome master bathroom now incorporates intricate, difficult-to-install tiling that resembles stacked stone. The Freeds also upgraded to air-conditioning. For 44 years, the Cooks had made do without AC: Longstreth’s sliding windows and clerestory transoms opened up to cool the home naturally.

When it came to decorating, “Most of our decisions were easy,” says Robin. “The house told us what to do.” The structure itself seemed to whisper one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s tenets: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” In other words, pare down, live simply and appreciate what’s right outside your window.

This philosophy made color selection easy. “It wasn’t hard to figure out that green would be appropriate,” says Robin. “The way the house is, it’s like having landscaping inside, too.” They chose subtle lime with orange and brown earth tones to complement.

Picking furnishings and textiles, however, was an adventure. The Freeds had decorated their previous homes conservatively. For this task, they relied on interior designer Susan Taylor, owner of Black-eyed Susan in Yardley, who’d helped them in the past. Says Taylor, “The last house was very European Old World, with dark colors and heavy woodwork. Here, we wanted to keep it natural, light and airy.” The furnishings are sparse — just a few essential pieces per room — to create spaces that Taylor describes as “clean and uncluttered, but functional.” Geometric shapes are incorporated into the carpets, curtains, and sofa and chair fabrics: some square or rectangular like the house, others with circles for contrast. “Sometimes you have to break up the square a little,” says Robin.

But the most serendipitous decorative addition came from the cellar. For years, local artist Ethel Bowen had taught art classes in the home. Bowen had bequeathed half of her life’s work to Monica, who stored the unframed art in the basement. When the Freeds stumbled upon stacks of black-and-white sketches and watercolors, they asked if the pieces were for sale. Monica offered them for free, and the couple picked out more than 80 pieces. The collection, now in frames, hangs throughout the house. Narrow hallways make an especially gallerylike display, and there are series of Bowen’s works in nearly every room. “It’s amazing how they work together and add to the levity of the house,” says Bob.

Apart from their new art collection, the Freeds have pared down their lifestyle to fit into the modernist space. “It doesn’t seem as though we’re so connected to our tchotchkes and memorabilia now,” says Robin. “Our memories, we have those. Now it’s a lot more fun to just look out and see what goes by.” Today, a flock of wild turkeys bob their heads in the yard. Yesterday, it was two foxes playing in the grass, followed by a herd of deer.

Monica says she feels at peace knowing her home and her friend’s artwork have caretakers. Bob says the house has made him feel 10 years younger. Robin says, “We feel like we did something good. For the foreseeable future, the work of one of Pennsylvania’s great architects can still be seen, without much change. We did our best to get into his mind-set, and we think Thad would be pleased.”

Robin and Bob Freed, left, who also own the Yardley Inn, placed
a bid on their modern, hilltop home just hours after touring it.

Low roofs, dramatic cantilevers, expansive panes of glass and airy living spaces are signatures of the home’s modern architecture.

Original to the home are several mitered corner windows. They’re so rare that no contractor wanted to risk replacing the old panes with new ones.

The natural aesthetic of the living room includes sculptures of birds from Yardley’s Black-eyed Susan perched on the fireplace mantel, and a palette that works with the greenery outside. “It’s like having landscaping inside, too,” says Robin.

Narrow hallways make for gallerylike displays of artwork by Ethel Bowen, a friend of the home’s original owner, Monica Cook.

Intricate tiling in the master bath echoes the stone fireplace in the adjoining bedroom.