
Upper Makefield Township, Pa. | $2.975 Million
An expanded and updated 1840s farmhouse with four bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, on a 4.49-acre lot with a barn and swimming pool
This late Federal house is in a luxury subdivision in Upper Makefield Township, a historic community in Bucks County in which 40 percent of the picturesque land is preserved. Most of the single-family homes in the enclave were constructed in the last 15 years by a custom builder, who also worked with a local architect on the renovation of this property, from 2006 to 2009. All of the systems were upgraded, and an interior designer made substantial additional contributions to “lighten” the home, the listing agent said.
The property is about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia, 70 miles southwest of New York City and three miles west of Washington Crossing, where George Washington traversed the Delaware River on his way to winning the Battle of Trenton. A knot of shops, restaurants and inns in Newtown, the area’s commercial center, is about five miles south.
Size: 5,185 square feet
Price per square foot: $574
Indoors: The stone farmhouse has a perpendicular frame extension, creating an ell, and there are entrances from both parts of the buildings. The principal entrance is now at the end of a bluestone path at the side. It opens into a large, tiled foyer that flows into a huge eat-in kitchen through one doorway and a long butler’s pantry lined in cabinets, with a powder room at one end, through another.
The kitchen has vintage floorboards, a stone fireplace wall, traditional-style cabinetry with granite countertops, and contemporary lighting. Among the appliances are a Wolf six-burner gas range, three dishwashers and a pizza oven. A lineup of French doors along a rear wall opens to a covered flagstone patio looking out to the pool, and there is a breakfast banquette in a corner.
louisewilliamson.kw.com
the Fray, bought this house in 2009 for $950,000, and did some badly needed renovations. It is in West Highland, a tree-lined residential enclave about three miles northwest of downtown, with Victorian hulks and Craftsman bungalows, highly regarded schools and a commercial district called Highlands Square.
Size: 5,285 square feet
Price per square foot: $558
Indoors: A foyer with hardwood flooring and trim leads through pocket doors to a double parlor. The front part of the parlor is wallpapered in a Western-themed pattern with what appear to be Native American dwellings; it is hung with a teardrop-shaped, glass-and-wrought-metal pendant light. The fireplace has a stamped-metal cover surrounded by reclaimed tiles. Wood doors with a lacy, carved header open to a small reading room at the base of the tower.
At the other end of the parlors, through pocket doors, is a dining room. Beyond that is a living room with built-in, glass-front bookcases and red walls described by the listing as exactly matching “the vintage cover” of “Crime and Punishment.” (No mention of the edition, or even century.) The inspiration for the room’s dark green ceiling is also mysterious. (Possibly an 1877 copy of “Black Beauty”?)