On the Market: Transitional Midcentury House in Wyndmoor
This modest-looking house shows how designers made the jump from the Moderne to the Modern in the 1940s. Inside, it's a 21st-century update of midcentury style with an unusually medieval twist.
8104 MacArthur Rd., Wyndmoor, Pa. 19038 | Photos: HomeJab via Copper Hill Real Estate
In the Wyndmoor section of Springfield Township in Montgomery County, you’ll find a cluster of subdivisions where the houses look like few others you run across in the Philly ‘burbs, or the city for that matter.
What sets them apart is their architecture. All of them were designed in the Moderne style, a streamlined version of Art Deco that paved the way for Midcentury Modernism in the 1940s.
The house for sale you see above dates to the end of the Moderne period. Built in 1947, it already foreshadows the Midcentury Modern style that would follow in its wake.
Yet one of its most prominent interior design elements actually reaches all the way back to the medieval era and sets it apart from every other modernist house we’ve run across to date.
Living room
That element, which you see in the living room photo above, is the coffered ceiling.
Living room
You’ll find one in every single room in this house save the bathrooms and the light-filled dining room. They give this house an unusually classical sensibility that the owners played off of in updating it for modern times.
Dining room
The update made this house a vision in white, with the furniture providing splashes of color.
Kitchen
Starburst chandeliers in both the kitchen and dining room also add visual drama and appeal.
Master bedroom
Master bathroom
That kitchen and both bathrooms have been updated in a style that pays homage to this house’s pedigree while bringing it in line with 21st-century demands and desires.
Side patio
It sits like a small gem in the middle of its ample lot. A simple concrete side terrace off the living room gives you a space for outdoor relaxation or grilling.
Front elevation
This house for sale also sits in a very convenient location. Willow Grove and Cheltenham avenues cross about a block and a half away. A short drive to the south on Willow Grove Avenue takes you to an Acme supermarket, Wyndmoor Regional Rail station and the sophisticated shops, boutiques and restaurants of Chestnut Hill. An even shorter drive east on Cheltenham takes you to a Walmart, a FreshGrocer supermarket and several off-price clothiers at Cedarbrook Plaza.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQUARE FEET: 1,390
SALE PRICE: $399,500
OTHER STUFF: This house also has a one-car attached garage.
8104 MacArthur Rd., Wyndmoor, Pa. 19038 [Timothy Garrity | Copper Hill Real Estate]
