Our
'new' house on Horseshoe Trail in Malvern
We found this house online 6+ months before we ended up seeing and then
buying it in May 2002.
It was built as a log-sided hunting lodge around 1930; expanded into a
2-bedroom cottage in the 40's by the Andalucci's (a pair of doctors
from Philadelphia), and then in the late 60's through 73 had two modern
additions added by an engineering VP at GE (Otto Klyma), and the main
part of the house was remodelled (kitchen, rustic hardwood floors,
deck, etc). After
that an artist (Connie Foos (sp)) lived in the house, and then the
Holdens from 1984-2002. It was on the market for 3 years before
we bought it.
There's an in-ground pool about 75 or 100 feet (vertically) below the
house on a 1/2 acre ledge, with a small pool house and changing
room. It has a free-stone patio, stone benches, and there's a
switchback stone walkway that goes down to the pool. Oh, and a
monorail sled that can be used to carry heavy items down and up.
(An oak came down across the monorail track in the hurricane this year,
so we have some repairs to do).
It's on Horseshoe Trail, an equestrian trail that starts in Valley Forge National Park,
and ends near Harrisburg 120 miles away at the Appalachian Trail.
The trail was laid out by, among other people, some of the Woolman
clan. Our section of the trail is unpaved, a 1-lane gravel
road. We're about a mile or two from the edge of the park - a
real problem when it comes to deer.
One thing this house is: it's unusual. It reminds people of a
Pocono Lake "camp", but it's only 12 minutes from the biggest mall on the East Coast
and 5-6 minutes from the Paoli train station.
Here are some pictures of the new wood floors we put into the bedroom
wing:
master_bedroom 1
master_bedroom 2
master_bedroom 3
stairs
handrail - getting this done in the
style we wanted caused a massive delay; the lumber yard delivered a
colonial handrail in walnut...
guest_bedroom and hallway
guest_bedroom 2
guest_bedroom 3
These pictures are mostly from Christmas of 2002; many improvements
have been made since then.
Kitchen area:
built-in
buffet
kitchen
1
kitchen
2
kitchen
3
kitchen
desk
kitchen
door view
kitchen
tools 1 -- these came with the house, and are mounted on a wall
above the opening to the family room.
kitchen
tools 2
kitchen
tools 3
kitchen
windows
Bedroom wing:
foyer between bedroom wing and main house
master bath
huge
sunken tub
master
bath view
master
bedroom
master
bedroom 2
pool
view from master bedroom
(original)
master bedroom stairs (now moved to great room to access the
reading loft, and replaced
by conventional stairs)
monorail
to the pool area
Outdoors:
garage
path 1
garage
path 2
garage
path 3
deck
deck in the rain
Center section (the oldest part of the house):
sunroom
sunroom
2
den 1
den 2
den 3
family room -- between kitchen and
sunroom, open to both - the original central room of the house
fireplace -- this fireplace has been
renovated and the old woodstove insert removed, and a new one installed
in the sunroom
fireplace 2
study
-- or a small bedroom - lots of northern light
study
bath -- a Japanese soaking tub... :-)
study
randell -- a picture of me before I lost most of my extra weight
Great room wing - added in 1973 by Otto Klyma, a VP of engineering at
GE:
great room 1
great room 2
great room 3
great room 4
great room 5
great room 6
great room from loft 1 --
there's a 10x10 open reading loft with bookshelves in the great room
great room from loft 2
loft_books
wetbar
-- this is near the entrance of great room wing
wetbar 2
powder room -- this is behind the wet bar
powder room 2
septic -- lots of stone in the ground around
here! View of where the new septic tanks are buried
st_francis -- This old statue from the
1940's was restored, and the great room wraps around it