Farmhouse Friday: A Great Retreat in Ottsville

With gobs of interior space, a guest house and 90 acres of land surrounding it, this converted barn could be the place where you could relive your outdoor-music-festival days. (Provided local officials approve, that is.)

629 Headquarters Rd., Ottsville, Pa. 18942 | Photos: Addison Wolfe Real Estate

629 Headquarters Rd., Ottsville, Pa. 18942 | Photos: Addison Wolfe Real Estate

We wonder whether we should feature this breathtakingly impressive Upper Bucks farm residence at all lest its buyer decide to ask the Philadelphia Folk Festival to move to the site.

After all, the festival’s current home near Schwenksville is a mere 80-acre farm. This one’s got 10 more acres than that, plus space for VIP lodging for a few lucky festival-goers in the guest house on the property.

That guest house, by the way, is the original 1840s stone farmhouse. Your living space is the much larger barn, which has been converted into a showstopper of a home.

The barn’s original stone walls, plank floors and timber framing have been preserved intact to great effect, nowhere more so than in the soaring great room with its two-story-high Palladian window. The room, one of only a few great rooms we’ve seen that’s truly worthy of the name, lends itself to any type of decor you might choose: traditional, rustic and modern all work well with the room’s simple architecture and features.

The room is also one with the open kitchen, which received a recent makeover that gave it granite countertops, new cabinetry and high-end appliances.

For more intimate relaxation and entertaining, there’s the family room, a newer addition that features a large flat-screen TV, a pool table, and wraparound walls of windows that flood the room with light.

Across from the family room is an elegant library with rich wood-paneled walls and a classic Colonial ambience.

Each of the four bedrooms has its own distinct character, as do the three bedrooms in the guest house, and there’s also room for casual or elegant outdoor activities on the home’s stone terraces, pond with gazebo and koi pond with waterfall. As recently as 25 years ago, this was an actual working farm, and some of the farm equipment and objects remain on the property as decorative items.

But about that Folk Festival stuff? We’d advise against it. There’s only parking for three cars in the garage bays on the barn’s lower level, you’d have a heckuva cleanup job afterwards, the local roads can’t handle the traffic, and you’d probably get complaints from your neighbors. Still, if you’re the type that likes to throw big parties, few places are as well equipped to handle them as this one is.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 7 (both structures)

BATHS: 4 full, 2 half (both structures)

SQUARE FEET: 10,116 (both structures)

SALE PRICE: $2,395,000

OTHER STUFF: This property has easements that restrict its use to farmland and open space, in particular a conservation easement under Act 515 and a reduced land assessment under Act 319. The guest house can be toured only on a second showing.

629 Headquarters Rd., Ottsville, Pa. 18942 [Art Mazzei | Addison Wolfe Real Estate]