Vision Restored in Penn Valley for $1.6M
This striking Midcentury Modern home on a hilltop has been restored to better-than-new condition.
1 Fairview Rd., Penn Valley, Pa. 19072 | TREND images via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors
The best Midcentury Modern architects sought to erase the boundary between indoors and outdoors in the homes they designed. Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut represents the logical conclusion of this quest.
Of course, a house you can see out of completely is also one everyone else can see into, which is why you don’t find these sorts of homes on small lots. And sure enough, this recently restored Main Line Midcentury Modern beauty turns its glass-walled face towards the protected woodlands of Rolling Hill Park. And it sits on a two-acre hilltop lot, further ensuring no one will just look in.
Exterior front
Most Midcentury Modern architects also preferred to use materials besides glass and steel. George Smith, who designed this home in 1959, used brick, wood and stone to give this home warmth.
Living and dining room
Living room
Wood beams, a matching wood wall, and a full-height stone fireplace, for instance, make the open-plan living/dining room a comfortable and welcoming space while the walls of windows on both sides fill it with natural light.
Kitchen and breakfast room
Family room
Family room
Master bedroom
Brick, wood and glass work their magic together in this home’s other main living spaces: the totally rebuilt kitchen and adjoining breakfast area, the family room with its brick fireplace, and the master bedroom, whose fireplace is now purely decorative.
In the rest of the house, clerestory windows let light pour in from above.
Pool
The outside has likewise been completely renewed with plantings, rebuilt retaining walls, a fence around the property and a restored keystone-shaped swimming pool.
And while you won’t have to worry about anyone throwing stones at your mostly-glass house, you will still enjoy convenient access to the city and the rest of the Main Line.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 4
BATHS: 4
SQUARE FEET: 4,216
SALE PRICE: $1,600,000
1 Fairview Rd., Penn Valley, Pa. 19072 [Craig Wakefield | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]
