On the Market: French-Inspired Modern Colonial in Haverford
This custom home puts a classic Colonial layout inside a French shell, then adds several modern twists to the mix. (And check out that fridge in the kitchen.)
245 Valley Ridge Rd., Haverford, Pa. 19041 | Images courtesy Coldwell Banker Preferred
One of the more interesting developments in the building industry over the last 30 years or so is the rise of “mass customization.” This phenomenon raises the lowly tract house up to the level of a luxurious mansion, full of bells and whistles that become affordable to more people thanks to economies of scale.
And this lovely mashup of a French château and a center-hall Colonial in an eight-year-old Haverford subdivision is one of the best and most attractive examples of what mass customization has wrought that we’ve run across in a while.
In 2010, Guidi Homes, which built this house for sale, carved a 100-unit subdivision out of a plot of buildable land surrounded by protected open space, then drew up six model homes that buyers could trick out as they saw fit. This one’s a “Pembrey” model, and boy, is it tricked out.
Foyer
It greets you with a soaring two-story foyer with a crystal chandelier. Handsome dining and living rooms flank it, as they should in any self-respecting center-hall Colonial. If you don’t feel like taking the grand staircase up to the bedrooms, there’s an elevator at the back of the foyer that connects all three of this house’s levels.
Family room
Continue past the elevator and through a short cross-passage and you will find yourself in one of this home’s other more modern add-ons: a soaring two-story-high family room with wood-burning fireplace.
Kitchen and breakfast room
Large archways connect this room to the breakfast room and kitchen. Those archways also allow the light that streams through this house’s many large windows to fill the kitchen as well.
Kitchen
One thing in the kitchen you might find it harder to fill is its refrigerator-freezer, which is big enough for someone to take up residence in. The other appliances are similarly impressive if not on as large a scale, and they allow you to prepare a feast for a large crowd should you get the urge. The adjacent butler’s pantry in the dining room will help here too.
Master bedroom
Master bathroom
Upstairs, you’ll find a master suite whose bedroom boasts a high vaulted ceiling and a bathroom with a spa-like feel.
Rear terrace
Downstairs, you’ll find plenty of room for amusement, relaxation and entertaining, including a walkout terrace with spiral stairs leading up to a large deck off the main floor.
Pool
Next to this is a patio with a waterfall plunge pool. As Haverford Township has prohibited the construction of more of these, you will be one of a lucky few to own one with this house.
And thanks to that protected open space around its subdivision, you will enjoy quiet and tranquility on top of all this. Yet you will be within easy driving distance of both the Blue Route and Haverford’s town center and Regional Rail station.
Like the other 99 houses in this subdivision, this house for sale was built for one special buyer. You now have the opportunity to be its second.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 3
BATHS: 3 full, 1 half
SQUARE FEET: 5,600
SALE PRICE: $1,495,000
245 Valley Ridge Rd., Haverford, Pa. 19041 [Leigh Anne Ambrose | Coldwell Banker Global Luxury | Coldwell Banker Preferred]
