House of the week: A restored 1702 farmhouse in Collegeville for $629,000
Additions include a carriage house and garage, a large family room, a new kitchen, and a spa room.
It has been a long relationship between Len Fesi and the 18th-century farmhouse in Collegeville.
When he bought it in 1974, it was “pretty hideous” and “unlivable.” But he had been living in a 19th-century converted schoolhouse in Bucks County, sealing his attachment to older homes.
Over the decades, as he raised his family there, Fesi slowly brought it back to life, putting on a carriage house and garage, adding a large family room, a new kitchen, a spa room.
Even when he moved his permanent residence to Delaware in 2010, he kept improving the four-bedroom, three-bath house that dates to 1702.
But now Fesi, retired human resources director for a publishing company, is ready to pass on the project to someone else.
“You’ve got to keep up with an old house,” said Fesi. “And now I’m too old to keep up with it.”
The house is in a quiet, maturely landscaped setting at the end of a long driveway.
The living room has deep window sills, wide-plank wood floors, and a stone fireplace converted to electric.
The formal dining room has built-in cabinetry, a fireplace with a wood-burning stove, and a decorative period wood mantel.
The step-down family room has a cathedral ceiling, open beams, an exposed brick wall, wood-burning stove, and French doors.
The kitchen has an exposed fieldstone wall, a large center island, and ample counter space, and adjoins a breakfast room with French doors leading to a multilevel deck.
The atrium/spa is a second family room with a hot tub and sliding doors with a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape.
The bedrooms are on the second floor, including a primary bedroom with cathedral ceilings, a large walk-in closet, and a bathroom with double sinks and an adjoining office or exercise room.
There is a walk-up attic and a detached garage with room for two cars and a workshop.
The basement is unfinished, with a cement floor, and a walk-in fireplace dating from its earlier use as a kitchen.
The 3,284-square-foot house is in the Methacton School District and has easy access to downtown Collegeville and Routes 29, 422 and 113.
It is listed by Jane Douglass of BHHS Fox & Roach-Blue Bell for $629,000.