Hot House: 206 Goodwood Gardens, Baltimore, 21210
Stucco Colonial-Revival home with wrap-around porch behind, circa 1907. Five bedrooms, 7 baths, 6,940 sq. ft. over three levels with three wine cellars in full finished basement. Original architectural details and custom finishes. Patrick Sutton interiors. Custom kitchen with double islands, Viking apppliances. Master suite with his/hers dressing rooms, sep. glass shower. Games and fitness rooms also in basement. Professionally landscaped gardens, two-car garage on .44 acres.
What: A city mansion built for Daniel Willard, longtime president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1910-1941), also trustee and board chairman of Johns Hopkins University (1926-1941). Willard was born in 1861 in Hartland, Vermont, and worked his way up from a job as track laborer on the Vermont Central Railroad. By the time he built this house, he had arrived, and it shows. All the fine original moldings, the French polished mahogany doors with brass hardware, the marble fireplaces, the cabinetry, are intact, thanks to a respectful renovation of the house by decorator Henry Johnson. Not only are they intact, they are perfect. No chipped paint in the entire house, no cheap light fixtures, no cheap nothing. The house flows easily from room-to-room, although it’s too formal to be open plan, with unique discoveries around every corner. A niche in the library has hand-embossed wallpaper and decorated ceiling. A small, sunny, totally charming breakfast nook has a window bench facing into the kitchen, so you can talk to the chef, who can look out to the garden. Upstairs, it only gets better. Master suite is luxurious and stylish. Two other bedrooms are big, with custom closets. There is a large third floor guest suite, plus office/playroom and further bedrooms. Downstairs in the man cave, it’s the perfect set up: games room, theater, fitness room … loads of fun to be had …. if you can take your eyes off the bottles.
Where: Goodwood Gardens runs west of and parallel to Roland Avenue, from Oakdale Road to Kenwood Road. It vies with Blythewood Road for the honor of ‘best street in Roland Park’, and the ten or so houses here are among the finest in the city. Just as important, they are very much “of a piece” thanks to the New York architect Charles A. Platt, known for his landscape and country house designs, and architect of the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. The street itself is stately and tree-lined, and the effect is impressive, evoking the days of an American aristocracy pre-dating Duck Dynasty. This is prime real estate, Baltimore-wise. You can walk to Petit Louis and Johnny’s restaurants on Roland Avenue, many private schools are within a mile of here, and it’s just a quick trip downtown. Although the houses are formal, lifestyle is casual, there are plenty of children around and some fun neighbors.
Why: Because you’ve arrived.
Why Not: No pool.
NB: Yard is private. Porch is big.
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