On the Market: Active Lifestyle Resort in Huntingdon Valley
This house for sale looks like a typical Colonial when you approach it. It's anything but.
We’d been looking far and wide for our Best House for Sale Drag Performance of 2018, and finally, we’ve found it.
It’s this prim-and-proper Colonial on Washington Lane in Huntingdon Valley.
Built in 1914, its front facade displays the classic proportions of this most popular house type.
Almost. See that nested gable enveloping the front entrance? That’s your tipoff that you should expect something more modern once you enter.
And that’s what you get, thanks to a spectacular, more contemporary expansion added onto this house’s back.
Those huge windows you see in the rear elevation photo above flood some of the most extraordinary interior spaces we’ve ever seen in a Colonial with light.
Yet these spaces really aren’t Colonial. The two-story-high casual living room may have traditional detailing, but those huge windows and that soaring height give it a contemporary sensibility.
The great room next to it has an even more contemporary feel, thanks in large part to its three-sided, full-height stone fireplace. That serves as the focal point of two seating areas, one sunken, and a full wet bar.
You can still find plenty of traditional style in this house for sale, however. The formal dining room, for instance, retains all of its Colonial charm, as well as the Mercer tiles on its fireplace surround. There’s also a Mercer tile fireplace in the formal living room and a brick-faced one in one of the bedrooms.
And the kitchen, while boasting all those features modern cooks prize, also retains a traditional feel.
This sort of blending takes place in just about every room of this house, which is part of an estate built for entertaining and exercise.
That great room is one of those entertaining spaces. The home theater in its basement is another. (And you can put your visiting friends and guests up in the basement guest suite.)
So is its pool, which has a poolside cabana with outdoor kitchen, big-screen TV and wet bar.
That pool, in turn, is also one of this house’s outstanding exercise facilities. The showcase one is its indoor basketball/tennis court. This climate-controlled building can also be used for a number of other activities such as classic car shows.
The other noteworthy exercise facility is its gym, located on the upper floor of this cottage on the property. You’ll also find a full bathroom downstairs.
And even though its 2.5-acre lot offers you plenty of privacy, this house is convenient to lots of places, including Abington, Jenkintown, SEPTA Regional Rail and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
If you’ve been looking for a modern home built for an active lifestyle, this old house has everything you’ve been looking for.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 6
BATHS: 6 full, 1 half
SQUARE FEET: 7,769
SALE PRICE: $2,250,000
2205 Washington Lane, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. 19006 [Cary Simons Nelson | Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty]