Andre Golsorkhi grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and always admired the houses along the Rock Creek Road lined with trees. “It's a fairytale road,” said Mr. Golsorkhi, now 45 years old. He would get in the houses and gardens. “From the day on which I received my driver's license, I drove up and down this road.” For years he lived in the urban heart of Philadelphia, where he worked as an executive of Tech -Startups, but never forgot the Rock Creek Road. Even when he was autumn Oser, an interior designer who worked on physical rooms and experiences on Google, he met her for a trip.
“When we met for the first time, he brought me back to where he grew up,” said Ms. Oser, now 38. “We drove along this street and he told me that he always wanted to live there.”
But for many years it was hardly more than wishful thinking. After getting married in 2014, wife Golsorkhi and Ms. Oser bought and renovated a number of houses in Philadelphia and realized that they were good in it. Every time they ended a home, someone wanted to buy it.
“People actually knock on the door,” said Golsorkhi, offering prices that they couldn't resist.
When they found that they enjoyed the process of designing and building homes, the couple became a developer to be fleeing. And after completing a few successful projects together, they left their work in technology to concentrate on their design and development company Haldon House.
They had just started getting children – Oliver, now 5, and Jack, 3 – when they saw a rare list for a house in Rock Creek Road in 2022.
“We spared an open day here,” said Golsorkhi. “It was so flooded with people that it felt like a concert on the lawn.”
The house was built in 1950 – it needed extensive work or had to be torn down – was “How is” for 1.2 million US dollars listed. This did not take off Mr. Golsorkhi and Mrs. Oser, many other buyers, and there was a bidding war.
The couple won and closed on the property, which marched and planned for 1.5 million US dollars to rebuild both the house and the landscape around them to make it their dream house.
“We fell in love with him,” said Ms. Oser.
In the following months they showed plans for a new 8,500 square meter stone house with guidance of the architectural company Moto. Although they plan to largely use the old house and only keep the foundation and a few walls, they wanted his replacement to look like it had been there for decades.
“It was so important that the house did not feel like new construction and that it had this old charm,” said Ms. Oser.
In order to give the external timeless appearance, they provided natural stone in different sizes and colors for the outside of the house. They showed their building contractor, MD contractor, to transfer the walls by pressing as much mortar between stones as possible for a rustic appearance.
Inside, they wanted to give the interior a similar feeling of age and at the same time add practical elements for a busy family and luxurious details for parents who sometimes only need a break.
“We are a young couple with young children, but we love to travel and spend time to travel in Boutique hotels and send bars,” said Ms. Oser. “We wanted a balance in our house, where it feels really good to have a cocktail when the children go down, and it almost feels like a retreat.”
The contemporary details include a great room with a frequented fireplace, which is supplied in Venetian plaster, and a sculptural metallic work of art by the artist GBemi and a moist bar that has penetrated from the dining area into a wall.
A feeling of the art of craftsmanship in the old world leads through individual furniture and cupboards that the couple had made for the house, as well as antiques that they found in the nearby Lancaster, PA.
For example, the Showpiece kitchen has an island and a work table that looks like they have been pulled out of an English estate and a Hutch stop plate that rests on the Calacatta Vintage Viola worktop.
On the upper floor they wanted to do the main suite like a luxurious hotel suite. They not only built a Spalike bathroom with a double shower with a window and a separate bathtub, but also in a separate lounge a deep eggplant and equipped with a leather armchair and a bar.
“Here we hope to start and end every day,” said Ms. Oser, who painted a work of art for the room. “We do our cappuccinos here in the morning and drink our drink at the end of the night.”
After the construction of the house and a newly defined landscape that was designed with Jonathan Alderson Landscape Architects in autumn 2022, you completed the project last May. The total costs, including everything from earth and stone to furniture and accessories, were around 7 million US dollars.
Although they have sold many houses over the years, Ms. Oser said that this time they plan to stay: “I don't think we will continue from it,” she said.