On the Market (Again): Edward Smith Estate in Gwynedd Valley
The house the Smith of Smith Barney built is still looking for a buyer. You might want to consider it if you're looking to run the guest house of your dreams.
1336 Gypsy Hill Rd., Gwynedd Valley, Pa. 19002 | Photos: Gary Schemp via DeSantis & Crowl Estates & Homes, Coldwell Banker Preferred
Have a hankering to run an elegant yet charming bed-and-breakfast inn? How about a one-of-a-kind venue for weddings or banquets?
Maybe you’d like to do these things while living in the house as well?
This expansive estate house for sale in Gwynedd Valley is just the place you’re looking for, and you probably didn’t know it.
The agents who are now marketing this house, Nicole DeSantis and Rachel Crowl of Coldwell Banker Preferred, offer these ideas as possible new uses for this elegant, well-equipped, well-maintained house.
Apparently, whoever submitted bids when the house was auctioned just before Christmas last year didn’t bid high enough to satisfy the owner, who has relisted it at a slightly higher asking price than the auction literature requested.
With more than 13,000 square feet of space, eight bedrooms and two kitchens, this house for sale has what you need to mix business and pleasure.
The house has now been cleared of most of its furniture, but the photos of the furnished residence that appeared in our previous feature on this place give you an idea of what many of its public living spaces looked like, so I will refer you to that article if you want to see those rooms.
Here you will see some of the spaces we didn’t feature last time around.
To recap: Edward Smith, the Smith of Smith Barney, built “Second Tamora” in 1898 to serve as his summer retreat in the country. Additions and renovations over the 121 years since then have kept it in tune with the times.
Foyer/sitting room; second foyer at left
As noted before, this house has two foyers, one in the hinge of the L-shaped main house and the other right next to it. This marble-floored space would make a great “lobby lounge” for your bed-and-breakfast inn.
Den
In addition to the mahogany-paneled study, it also has a den decked out in the same material.
Indoor breakfast room
Breakfast room balcony
The chef’s kitchen has two breakfast rooms: one in a sunny bay-windowed alcove and the other in a covered balcony just off that alcove. This way, you can accommodate your guests in good weather and bad.
Bedroom
Bathroom
With five bedrooms on the second floor and three more on the third, you will have plenty of room to welcome travelers and put them up for the night. Extra space on the second floor of the four-car attached garage wing could be put to all sorts of uses.
Catering kitchen
And if entertaining in the elegant formal dining room isn’t enough, or if you’d like to throw a larger party, consider the 1,800-square-foot basement. It includes a catering kitchen (pictured above), wine cellar, sauna and indoor pool.
Rear terrace and outdoor pool
There’s an outdoor pool, rear terrace and 3.5 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds to go with all this as well.
“The home has had several significant visitors, including Princess Grace Kelly and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, to name a few,” DeSantis says in a news release. Buy it and you can add more distinguished names to that list as this house’s seventh owner if you wish.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 8
BATHS: 7 full, 2 half
SQUARE FEET: 13,924 (including the basement)
SALE PRICE: $3,795,000
OTHER STUFF: Local zoning regulations also permit you to divide this house into two separate residences. But I for one would hate to see you do that.
1336 Gypsy Hill Rd., Gwynedd Valley, Pa. 19002 [Nicole Miller and Rachel Crowl | DeSantis & Crowl Homes & Estates | Coldwell Banker Preferred]
