21st-century house within 1800s shell

Just past Pipersville's Cabin Run, with its rustic covered bridge in view, Don Tenenblatt has completely redone his historic Bucks County property, turning an 1800 William Penn farmhouse shell into a dream home.

A professional pianist who played for the Pennsylvania Ballet and lived in New York City for years, Tenenblatt gutted the entire structure with his architect and contractor, then built "a house within a house," he said.

The 10-plus-acre farm has a small cottage that Tenenblatt had rented. By chance, his tenant had worked with architect Michael Jonn, who came on to redesign the farmhouse.

"We wanted to really highlight the views of the covered bridge while at the same time creating an open concept," Jonn said. Walls of windows were the answer on the north-facing side.

Though the house remains a comfortable 3,600 square feet even after renovation, "we needed to maximize the usable space first before putting on any additions," such as porches and balconies, Jonn said.

The original structure sagged, and the fieldstone needed masonry work.

Also, Tenenblatt wanted to switch from oil heat to geothermal. With the help of the Presnell Building Group of Carversville, "I priced it with three different companies. This only uses a little bit of electricity" to run the system's compressors, Tenenblatt said. "My power bills are a fraction of what they were."

Golden Bear Heating & Cooling installed the closed-loop system. Trane made the equipment for Tenenblatt's geothermal set-up, a five-ton unit in the basement and a two-ton unit in the attic that cost about $60,000 and qualified for a 30 percent federal tax credit plus rebates from Peco. It should pay for itself in about five years.

Tenenblatt installed energy-efficient Norwood windows and eco-friendly soybean insulation, as well.

"The Norwood windows work particularly well on the north-facing side of the house," he said. That's where he expanded the old kitchen into a sunroom and sitting area with full views of the rolling farmland.

Workers gutted the kitchen, upstairs master and guest bedrooms, and the living room while retaining historic features such as an original stone fireplace and a winding wooden staircase. A small powder room under the stairs was kept, too.

A family heirloom 1923 Steinway piano sits along the dwelling's south-facing side, which has deep custom bookshelves built to hold Tenenblatt's many volumes of musical scores.

After playing a few bars one recent afternoon, Tenenblatt said general contractor Taylor Presnell built the wooden bookshelves out into the living room to borrow space for the geothermal and other systems.

"In a stone house, you have to run ducts up from the basement, and some are behind the bookcases," Presnell said, as is plumbing and electrical infrastructure.

Beth Farquharson of BF Interior Design in Chalfont picked out the kitchen's mahogany island top and Brazilian granite counters, "which look just like marble but [are] not as porous," Tenenblatt said. They agreed on granite for the sunroom benches, too.

Farquharson recommended LED lighting in many rooms to save energy and halogen for accent lights.

Upstairs, Tenenblatt reclaimed wooden planks from the original farmhouse where possible for windowsills in the guest bathroom. "I still have some left, which I'm saving," he said.

Pumpkin pine floors were refinished, and fieldstone repointed. The original floor beams, with their beveled edges, were exposed. But a modern Sonos wireless audio speaker system was installed in this new old house.

With Sonos, Tenenblatt said, "you can hear any music using services like Spotify or Sirius radio via the system using a laptop or my phone." Digital hook-ups including antenna, cable, and television grace the rooms.

"I call the style a combination of old and new, Shaker but modern," he said. "It's a very 21st-century house."

Go to www.inquirer.com/tenenblatt for more photos of Don Tenenblatt's house. EndText