The National Trust selling a house museum?
Upsala, which used to be owned by a foundation of some sort, and then was sold to the National Trust, is now for sale on the open market.
The house was the site of the Revolutionary Battle of Germantown (1777, I think).
It is in very good condition, but it is not in an optimal neighborhood, and the sale includes several easements: you cannot alter the interior of the house (I am sure you could do something to the non-historic kitchen and bath, and paint and decorate), and you need to allow reenactments of the Battle of Germantown to be performed on your front lawn.
I would imagine the upkeep and utilities of the properties are costly. The house itself is inexpensive at $499,000, and the taxes are low.
http://www.foxroach.com/home-details/6430-germantown-ave-philadelphia-pa-19119/129-4-6861817/
Comments (11)
7 years ago- 7 years ago
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I am not sure that this house ever got a recent paint analysis, so the paint colors may be inaccurate. The picture below is from Mount Pleasant, which is an earlier house, Georgian, but similar. Upsala, above, is technically Federal period, but it's not Federal like Lemon Hill is Federal, I think Upsala has a lot of Georgian elements.
But this is the result of the latest paint analysis at Mount Pleasant: the thing to notice here is that the "whites" aren't really white and that there is a brown stripe of paint painted across the entire perimeter, that lines up with the base board but it is painted straight across the bottom of the doors and across other trim at a horizon line that cuts through various elements so that it lines up with the baseboard (But ignores the other details arbitrarily).
The floor still is not correct in Mt Pleasant as shown, it should have No finish on it.
These rooms were mopped and also sand was thrown on the floors and the rooms were swept out using the sand as a medium to dry up mud and such. The dark band was camouflage. As I understand it, they felt that taking the finish back off the floor for accuracy would be be more detrimental than leaving the finish on. I believe there are even some modern stains, paint can rings and such that they've left rather than touch the floor.
The floor in Upsala, below, is probably more accurate, but the paint is probably not. The white on the walls is Very white, for one thing. The lack of overdoors and dentil molding below, and a plaster cornice, are the things that poin to this house being more "modern" than the one above. However, I would consider this house a little transitional, compared to a house like Lemon Hill
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