It says pretentious.

Since it doesn't look like we can move into The Biltmore, this home just might have to do. :)

Gorgeous. Seriously, the music room, the pool hall, and the bowling alley remind me of The Biltmore.

This house is nice! I'd buy it but it doesn't have an indoor pool and did I miss the movie theater room?. Guess I'll have to keep looking lol. The thing about looking at houses in this price range is that your wants increase.

Sniff! Who doesn't have a 3-bedroom carriage house these days?

I like the yoga room. But will the moving van actually fit through that entrance gate?

A bargain at $220/sq.ft. In my neck of the woods it would be listed at around $600/sq.ft and would come with a much smaller lot. At least it has no tacky wallpaper or mauve carpets to rip out!

One of my favorite styles. The paneling is gorgeous as are the fireplaces. I'd love to live in that house.

"It says pretentious"

I beg to differ. This house says lots of things, including perhaps, that it is a symbol of an excessive period that ended as this house was built, but pretending to be more than it is is not one of them.

I think it's beautiful. Here in OK you just don't see many stone houses.

If I had the money I could easily live there providing I had a large family and a couple of housekeepers! Imagine how beautiful it could be with the right furnishings?

No picture of the pool or the new guest quarters. :( I would move into the carriage house! It reminds me of a home described in a book I read last summer. I find it curious to think of the filthy rich bowling. There is a media room the description says..just no picture. I don't comprehend the "pretentious" comment either. For the class it is in, it seems appropriate to me.

Looks really nice - not my style though, but I still enjoyed looking at the pics. Looks like a really nice lot too. I'm curious though when you look out the entrance you see what looks like a regular ranch house. Is this a property that originally was out in the country and then a neighborhood sprung up around it or??

This like alot of homes in Chestnut Hill are anything but pretentious. Beautiful.

I love driving thru the stone entrance. My active imagination thinks of the many types of vehicles that have come thru there. The tales that entrance could tell!

Beautiful house, Pal.

As far as the furnishings, they could have used a tad of help.

"It says pretentious"

I disagree, for a hse of that size...it's very understated.

Great bones to work with, but it needs somebody like Ralph Lauren to give it the proper finishing decor.

So there is a media room! I'll take it! I like this house.

One of my favorite syles -- LOVE this house! :)

Perhaps a reason to buy a lottery ticket? LOL! :)

Like Chispa said, the price per square foot including the gorgeous lot is surprisingly inexpensive. It's only slightly more per square foot than some of the outdated, poorly maintained 80's messes on mediocre lots that I have been looking at in my town.

Can you imagine trying to do that millwork at today's prices? Insane.

yes!! i like!

Truly beautiful home & not in the least pretentious.

Makes you realize how much craftsmanship has been lost since the 20s.

Mine if I win lotto!

Thanks for the glimpse into another era! It would be interesting to know the history of this house. Can you imagine the staff one would need to maintain it! An elevator... wow!

Do these properties sell quickly in this recession? I'm sure there are lots of wealthy people who could afford it but I would think many would have a house built to their own specs.

cooperbailey, be sure to invite us to your house warming, LOL!

You only need to make $800,000 a year to qualify for this house. It would take much more Wealth to build a house of this caliber. I don't know if you could build it for $40M, (10X purchase price) if at all.

I know "only" $800K sounds silly but that actually encompasses a group of non-wealthy double income people, since "wealth" has to be self sustaining, meaning a lot of capital.

To me "pretentious" is the Jumped-up tract house that is puffed up to look bigger, more important, and less cheaply constructed than it is...the one in the "no comment" thread. Thats $1M less but with much higher taxes, and a real piece of junk compared to this place.

I think it's beautiful. I liked the way it was decorated-- kind of understated. The lot must be gorgeous when it's in bloom!

My computer only supports Flash 9, so I couldn't view the pics. (weep) But I can imagine how incredible it must be. If it was built in the 20's it's from the era of income tax, when people really scaled back from what they had built before 1919, like The Breakers, etc.
Casey

It's amazing!

However, I'm still holding out for this sweet little cottage in the Cotswolds ....
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Wouldn't it be a dream job to stage the place? $49,000 worth of decor would still keep the price under 4 million...

Unfortunately I think trying to furnish it for $500,000 wouldn't be enough.

I swear I saw that house on one of those voyeuristic HGTV shows...the real estate agent set up a jousting tournament and some other corny stuff to get agents to the open house.

I thought the linked house was lovely.

You mean we can't use CL? :)

Yumaroo! I'd hate to have to mow the lawn with a push mower.

The picture in the living room above the fireplace is beautiful. I had to go back and look at it again.

Beautiful home! Built in 1929 - one year before the federal income tax was enacted. I'm surprised it's still a private residence. Mansions from that era tend to end up as tourist destinations, like in Newport, RI.

Pal, that is a lovely house. Reminds me of many on the Main Line and I have to agree that none is pretentious. Newer ones built to scream "I have money"-probably, but the old estates-no way. The owners who built those didn't have to prove or pretend anything. I would buy it in a heartbeat. Thanks for sharing.

gwbr, many homes like this one in the Philadelphia area are private, although most don't have as much land as they used to have.

I much prefer Zuckerberg's new digs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mark Zuckerberg's new house

I should have googled my 1919 statement, the fed income tax was established in the year 1913, not 1919.
Casey

Funny, Casey -- and you're right at 1913. But the 1932 top tax rate rose from 25% to 63%, and in 1936 the top rate rose to 79%. From what I've been told, it had a big effect on the very wealthy of that era.

Here is a link that might be useful: federal tax rates over time

Mark Zuckerberg's house is very nice and tasteful. Not what I would expect of the young billionaire!

Just a note: Abraham Lincoln imposed the first Federal personal income tax in 1861 to help pay for the Civil War.

I think it is incredibly grand. It looks like a convention center on the outside but the inside feels like a large expensive home. Way out of my league. I'd have trouble paying for the heat and electric, lol.....

I work in this area and for years have enjoyed lunchtime walks past the big stone houses. They are right on the edge of the city, or actually in it, and you would find the lots surprsingly small. Many are quite near the road and the sidewalk almost goes past the front door, well much closer than houses in the burbs. It amazes me that many do not have garages, and actually park on the street.

Often think what I would do to each one, and which ones I would want to live in! :) A new sale sign always has to be investigated to see if it's a nice inside as I imagine. Some are, and some are surprising un-updated (like with an 80's kitchen or something).

I do have to say that some of them look more like private schools than 'homes' too.

Pal - almost bought you a book the other weekend. If I knew how to get it to you... Was in an antiques Mall up in Allentown and there was this huge old book propped up on an easel..."Pal's Cabin". :D

She's a beauty

I had to scroll a number of times -

I feel like the kitchen,while nice, was not in the same league as the detailed custom work as the rest of the home.

Yeah, the kitchen is nice, but somehow could be a bit more interesting.

But, this house probably only had a serviceable kitchen to begin with. The last house (and I think only house) of this caliber that I was in (at a real estate open house) had a basement kitchen that was clearly for the help. It had everything that was needed but the decorative aspect was zero. That particular house appeared to have the owners using the kitchen at this point, rather than a cook, so I am surprised they hadn't spiffed it up a little bit. However, I think they were in their 80s+.

This house appears to have last belonged to a young family who probably used the kitchen themselves. I would have liked to see something that looked more of the period, but that would really be kind of not genuine either...

I also prefer Mark Zuckerberg's new house. But, that's just because I prefer painted millwork. I appreciate the beauty of all that woodwork in Pal's Norman house, but I just know I couldn't live with it. I would constantly be thinking about painting it. Even I would never paint that beautiful wood (and I'd paint almost any wall!), but it would get to me after a while.

The picture entitled 'Piano' in Zuckerberg's house (the 4th picture) just makes me swoon...the coffered ceiling, the painted millwork, the windows....the inlay in the wood floor...I am in love.