Just Listed: Renovated Stone Victorian in Chestnut Hill
In giving this house a total refresh, its owners lovingly preserved its original details while adding up-to-date amenities.
This handsome stone Victorian at 115 W. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118, dates to 1888, and its interior has plenty of period detail and style. But at the same time, it’s totally 21st century. | Bright MLS images via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors
To start off this week, we have a stone lovely, er, lovely stone Victorian home right at the top of Chestnut Hill.
Chestnut Hill Avenue, on which this Chestnut Hill stone Victorian house for sale sits, is only a foot or two lower in elevation than Summit Street, the street laid out at the city’s highest point, 446 feet above sea level.
The houses that line it were all designed by some of the city’s most prominent architects of the time. William H. Decker designed this one for A. N. Elliott in 1888.
Exterior rear showing back of porch
Compared to other Victorian houses, this one is fairly reserved on the outside. Yes, there’s plenty of gingerbread on its wraparound porch, but it lacks the gables and turrets of the exuberant Queen Anne houses of the period. And its stone exterior gives it the air of an English country home, in sharp contrast to the brick and wood houses more commonly associated with Victorian style here.
But on the inside, this house is plenty exuberant. You’ll find that exuberance in its inlaid hardwood floors, coffered ceilings and Mercer-tiled fireplaces.
All of these got lovingly preserved as part of the total makeover this house got recently — a makeover that made this house more like itself while adding all the latest amenities to it.
Front parlor
One enters this house via a small vestibule at one end of the front porch. French doors with filigree wrought-iron decorative grates lead from that vestibule into the front parlor, where you will find an intimate seating area next to its bay window, a coffered ceiling, a brick fireplace with an elaborately carved mantel, an antique hand-blown glass chandelier and an intricately patterned parquet floor.
Living room
Next to the parlor, the living room currently serves as a game room. It has a more elaborate coffered ceiling and a newer vintage-style light fixture. Its hardwood floor is less intricately detailed than the one in the parlor, but it too has a patterned border.
Dining room
So does the one in the dining room behind the parlor, the most elaborately detailed of all three. Mercer tiles frame its fireplace and glazed brick comprises its hearth. Again, neo-retro lights hang over its dining table. A butler’s pantry next to the dining room contains two beverage fridges and plenty of storage space for dinnerware and glassware.
Sunroom
Both the butler’s pantry and the living room sit next to a window-filled sunroom in the back part of the porch. A floor-to-ceiling window in the living room gives access to it.
Breakfast room
The kitchen and breakfast room span the back of the main floor, behind the dining room and butler’s pantry (from which you enter the breakfast nook).
Kitchen
Kitchen
Its total makeover gave it a top-quality eight-burner Wolf range, a large Sub-Zero refrigerator, a granite-topped prep area with a peninsula, lots of Shaker-style cabinets and Mercer accent tiles on the exposed brick backsplash. The back stairs and a powder room are also located here.
Primary bedroom
Delft tiles grace the fireplace in the upstairs primary bedroom, which also has a bay-windowed seating area, a coffered ceiling and a large walk-in closet.
Primary bathroom
Primary bathroom
The primary bedroom got upgraded with a modern soaking tub and a large bench-equipped stall shower lined with marble tile.
Bedroom (home office)
One of the two second-floor bedrooms currently serves as a home office.
Bedroom (sitting room)
The other functions as a sitting room. Its fireplace and hearth are made of Mercer tile as well.
A hall bath and laundry room complete the second floor, and the third floor contains three more bedrooms and another hall bath.
Since Chestnut Hill Avenue is just one block beyond the junction of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike, this Chestnut Hill stone Victorian house for sale is close to absolutely everything in the heart of Chestnut Hill. A left turn onto Germantown Avenue takes you to Chestnut Hill Hospital and the Woodmere Art Museum, and a right turn takes you to the Top of the Hill Shopping Center and the SEPTA bus loop.
Chestnut Hill West Regional Rail station is right at the junction of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike, and the Chestnut Hill shopping district extends down the hill from there. Continue up Chestnut Hill Avenue to reach Chestnut Hill East Regional Rail station one block past Germantown Avenue. A block and a half in the other direction on Chestnut Hill Avenue puts you at the head of the Lavender Trail in Wissahickon Park.
Simply put, this Chestnut Hill stone Victorian house for sale offers a combination of style, amenities, comfort and convenience that can’t be beat.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 6
BATHS: 3 full, 1 half
SQUARE FEET: 4,438
SALE PRICE: $1,449,000
OTHER STUFF: This listing was active this morning, but a pending offer has been accepted since then.
115 W. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118 [Michael Sivel and Jennifer Rinella | The Sivel Group | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]
