On the Market: Sculptor Steve Tobin’s Bucks County home for $750K

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Steve Tobin has spent the past 30 years in his Bucks County home creating sculptures that can be found all over: from the White House to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in other museums around the world.

The famed sculptor came to this Springfield Township residence in 1984 after he spent a year teaching in Japan – a move that would jumpstart his career.

"When I was living in Japan, I had an idea for how to make large-scale glass, which in 1,000 years of glass-blowing had never been done," Tobin said recently during an interview at his home. "I was looking for a studio space in the country because all of my work comes from nature."

When Tobin, a Villanova native, was making the move back to Pennsylvania, finding a house was his last priority. His focus was a place for his art, and an environment where he could follow his vision. "The house was a bonus," he said.

So when he saw this home in Upper Bucks County, close to the Lehigh County border, something clicked, and he knew he found the spot that he said "supported my philosophy."

The 200-year-old farmhouse on Chestnut Road came with a barn and 11 acres, which he found to be the perfect setting for his workspace.

When he moved in, he immediately began making the barn his studio. He added different levels and enlarged the space so that he could fit his glass sculptures – some standing 40 feet tall.

"We really changed the whole history of glass in this building," Tobin said.

In addition to transforming the barn, Tobin made many changes to the 2,500-square-foot farmhouse and to the outdoors as well.

Inside the house, which is filled with his work – many pieces of which have been featured in national publications and museums – he added more natural light and airiness.

"Ambience and atmosphere is what I create with my artwork," Tobin said. "I transform spaces with light, color, shadow, and sometimes sound, and that's what I had tried to do with every area of the house."

In the kitchen, for example, Tobin put antique prisms against the window, which cast rainbows all throughout the room when the sun rises.

He changed the layout of this room by tearing down a wall that separated the kitchen from the dining room, and put in an island made of walnut and maple.

The kitchen also includes doors from Africa, 4,500-year-old Chinese pots, and a hand-blown glass light installation that hangs above the island.

Tobin created a master suite on the top floor which he calls a "tree house."

The room was just an attic with ceilings less than 6 feet tall, but Tobin extended the height of the roof and the length of the room, and installed floor-to-ceiling windows, providing an abundance of natural light and great views of the grounds.

He cleaned up the property and planted bamboo throughout the grounds so that it's green all year-round.

Some of his sculptures – including a glass teepee and an igloo made from the windows of a M60 Patton tank – can be seen on the front lawn.

After many years of building a career and life in this home, Tobin has decided it is time to move. He has put the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home on the market for $750,000.

"There is nothing more I can do to improve this property," he said. "The land is perfect. I have three young kids now and it's time after 30 years to try a different approach."

Tobin is relocating to upgrade with his girlfriend and children within the same town.

While Tobin said he's sad to leave the place where much of his work was inspired, he believes it's time for someone else to take over.

"For me, it's finished," Tobin said. "I think someone else will do more with the house."

He said if the buyer is interested in purchasing any of his work in the home, he would be interested in working out a deal.

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