A charming Arts and Crafts home from 1910, set among mature, private gardens a short walk from the center of Bala Cynwyd. The owners raised a family here across nearly forty years, and the house still carries the qualities that made that possible: rooms that hold quiet and privacy as readily as they open for gathering, within an architecture rich in character and warmth.
The house reveals itself slowly. A flagstone walk leads through a front garden, with a magnificent Japanese maple to one side and layered plantings to the other, past rhododendrons and azaleas that come into bloom each spring, and up to a deep wrap-around covered porch. Above it, the facade rises in shingle and stone to a steep gabled roofline and dormer windows, the unmistakable lines of the period. The porch is one of the home’s best rooms in its own right, square-columned and open to the breeze, with a skylight overhead and the garden on every sides.. Outdoor lighting in both the front and rear creates warm ambiance for evenings on the deck and grounds.
Inside, the first floor was built for the way families actually live, and it is bright from morning on. Sun moves through the windows across hardwood floors laid with period detail, and original oak woodwork and divided-light glass carry the warmth of the era throughout. The living room is anchored by a wood-burning fireplace and has always been an inviting room to enter, and a memorable one with a fire going. It opens to the dining room and to an enlarged eat-in kitchen with new ovens, a large and light-filled room where a family cooks, works together, and plans out its days, with direct access to the deck and yard and a laundry area just behind. A passageway behind the dining room improved the flow of the main level and created a generous run of space for bookcases, cabinets, and art. The rooms connect so naturally that the owners have seated twenty-four for dinner and entertained larger crowds still, with tables extending from the living and dining rooms into the kitchen, the deck, and the yard.
Upstairs, the primary bedroom has its own bath and a very large walk-in closet, a room made for unwinding at the end of the day. A second bedroom, bright with windows on two exposures, is served by a hall bath. The third floor offers two more rooms with light from two exposures and an open central room that lends itself to a future bath, space that adapts easily to bedrooms, offices, or studios. A whole-house attic fan keeps the upper floors comfortable through the warm months. Below, the finished basement, where the children once played, has been excavated and fitted with a French drain and two window wells.
The grounds are the heart of the property. Beyond the house lies an enclosed rear yard with a broad, level lawn, framed by mature specimen trees and bordered by beds that flower in succession from spring through summer. A wisteria-draped pergola anchors one corner, reached through an iron garden gate; Japanese maples, rhododendrons, and azaleas give the beds structure and color; stone paths thread between seating areas, including a fire-pit circle set in the open lawn, and a stucco garden outbuilding sits tucked among the plantings. There is room here for children to run, for a vegetable garden in the sun the family long enjoyed, and for the kind of large gatherings the house was clearly meant to hold.
The major systems have all been addressed. The roof and composite siding are brand new. The sewer line has been replaced, the tankless water heater and sump pump are two to three years old, and the furnace is eight to ten years old. The basement walls have been recast, and the original knob-and-tube wiring has been disconnected. Floors have been refinished and the interior freshly painted. It is a home easily adapted for a family of any size.
The location is among the best Bala Cynwyd offers - an easy walk to the Bala Cynwyd playground, the shops of Bala Avenue, and the Cynwyd Heritage Trail.
