Countryside manor designed by Edmund Gilchrist lists for $1.5M

Influential Philly architect Edmund Gilchrist is known for many things, but chief among them was his work developing the Chestnut Hill and West Mount Airy neighborhoods in the early 1900s, and his love of creating grand rural homes, reminiscent Norman-style manors in the French countryside

The Harrington House in West Mt. Airy, brings both of these together.

At 5,443 square feet and three floors, the home—referred to as a “stately manor” in its listing—fits well into the design and style of the French countryside estate, which Gilchrist loved so much. It has the dramatic, sloping roof and brick facade as well as floor-to-ceiling windows that help to take in the surrounding landscape.

A living room on the first floor features glass doors, a wood-burning fireplace and an adjacent greenhouse. The spacious dining room features another fireplace—one of many throughout the home—and floor-to-ceiling windows. It opens via French doors into the kitchen and adjacent breakfast nook, which has all-glass walls to embrace the greenery outside.

On the second floor sits the master bedroom, which has—yes—another fireplace, as well as double doors that open to an iron walkway, allowing residents another chance to take in the surrounding countryside. The remaining bedrooms sit on the second and third floors.

The house was built in 1923 for H.M. Harrington, owner of a pulley company and at the time, had no trees or other homes surrounding it. The neighborhood has changed since then—thanks in part to Gilchrist’s fondness for building houses in the neighborhoods of Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and Germantown—but little has changed about its structure. The kitchen was moved during a renovation and central air was added, but apart from that, many of the details are the same as they were nearly a century ago.

The home has six bedrooms and three and a half baths, and asks $1,550,000.

• 1012 Westview Street [Kathy Krebs, Elfant Wissahickon Realtors]