On the Market: Pennsylvania Bank House in Wayne
The oldest part of this hillside house for sale dates to 1840. Like many houses of its type, it's grown over the years, and it's outfitted for the way we live now.
555 Hollow Rd., Wayne, Pa. 19087 | Bright MLS images via James A. Cochrane, Inc.
Surely you’ve run across many listings of houses for sale in the more countrified parts of the area that include a “bank barn” on the property.
What you see here is a bank house.
Both the barn and the house get their names from the fact that they are built into hillsides. According to the Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, these structures have their roots in the Pennsylvania German building traditions of the 18th century, when German-speaking immigrants — the misnamed “Pennsylvania Dutch” — settled in the southeastern part of the state. (Philly’s second-oldest neighborhood, Germantown, gets its name from these people, who were its first European inhabitants.)
One reason these houses were built this way was to help keep their basements cool. Oftentimes, this was where the kitchen would be located, while the main living areas were located up a set of winding stairs.
This well-maintained house for sale follows this pattern to a T. The oldest part of this house dates to 1840, and you can see where ells and additional stories were added to it over the years. Because it sits on a hillside, what you see from the street appears in the photo above.
Maybe you’ll use the formal front door to welcome guests. More likely, you and your guests both will enter the house one floor down, using the slate patio as the “front yard”:
Rear elevation and patio
The main entrance is in the ell on the right, while the door on the left leads into the family room.
Kitchen
Once you pass through the tile foyer with its full bath, an immediate left takes you into the kitchen. The presence of the winding staircase in one corner suggests that the back wall of the kitchen was also the outer wall of this house.
Family room
Beyond that wall today lies the family room. You will note that both of the rooms on this floor have beamed ceilings. The family room also has tongue-and-groove paneling and a handsome stone fireplace.
Living room
Dining room
The living and dining rooms split the original main floor while the master bedroom and an updated full bath occupy the ell over the basement family room.
Master bedroom
On the top floor are two more bedrooms, one of which currently serves as a home office.
This house for sale has not only been impeccably maintained, it sits on an attractively landscaped lot with huge shade trees in front.
And while it has a Wayne mailing address, it actually sits in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County. The school district Tredyffrin shares with neighboring Easttown has been the top-ranked school district in the state for the past several years.
Here you get to enjoy life in a historic house in a rural setting, off the beaten path yet convenient to King of Prussia and Conshohocken as well as downtown Wayne. You ought to be able to make bank on that.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQUARE FEET: 2,085
SALE PRICE: $543,500
OTHER STUFF: A detached garage on the property can hold two cars.
555 Hollow Rd., Wayne, Pa. 19087 [Michael Wallacavage | James A. Cochrane, Inc.]
Updated Oct. 25th, 2:51 p.m., to correct the address.
