Call it kismet. Call it a pipe dream come true. Matthew and Bobbie Fisher fell in love with a renovated midcentury modern home designed by architect Irwin Stein. Nevertheless, it was so out of the price range they stayed put and kept home searching. A year after Craig Wakefield, the Realtor who had shown the Stein-designed residence, sent the Fishers an email letting them know that the home was still on the market — at a drastically reduced cost.
The Fishers landed their dream home, which turned out to be in almost pristine state. Maybe that is because the prior owners were dentists who had operated a clinic from the home. They’d built a wing that included a living area, exam rooms, a reception area and a parking lot. The Fishers turned the latter into a sprawling meditative lawn, while the rooms became extra living spaces and storage. For the rest, they all needed to do was fill it “with things that we love,” Bobbie says.
at a Glance
Who lives here: Matthew Fisher and Bobbie Ann Tilkens-Fisher, along with their cats, Lucha and Lincoln
Location: Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Size: 2,600 square feet, plus a 600-square-foot attached former dentist office; 4 bedrooms, two full baths, 2 half baths
That’s intriguing: The home was initially designed for a young dentist and his wife, and added space for a completely operating dental clinic.
Adrienne DeRosa
Straightforward lines come together to create dramatic planes and volumes across the exterior. While Stein’s designs often incorporate wavy rooflines, he designed this home to mimic the leaves of the picture’s tulip poplar trees, a few of which still remain on the house.
Adrienne DeRosa
The foyer provides an amazing view of what lies ahead. Repeating materials along with a neutral colour scheme give the home a feeling of flow that feels as natural as the surfaces.
Bobbie found this vintage Turkish carpet at auction; the sideboard was inherited from Matthew’s grandmother.
Adrienne DeRosa
A submerged den off the foyer receives ample light in the bank of windows. This room was included in 1968 following the original owners asked more space to accommodate their growing family.
Bobbie bought the curved 1950s secondhand sofa for $10 and had it reupholstered in durable Crypton fabric to save it from their cats’ claws. Built-in bookshelves clad in white laminate wrap most of the perimeter.
Cocktail table: vintage Adrian Pearsall
Adrienne DeRosa
Though the Fishers might appreciate a little more wiggle room, they are in no rush to make extreme adjustments to the kitchen, which communicates the original cabinetry. “Matthew and I always said our next home would have a significant gourmet kitchen and a big bathtub, and we’ve got,” Bobbie says. “When we first moved in, we believed we’d definitely need to replace the two-burner cooktop using a four-burner, but we still have not. The kitchen is astonishingly efficient.”
Adrienne DeRosa
“There are just three walls in the home that are not white, and two of these were painted that way when we moved in,” Bobbie says. She chose a very dark blue to the wall in the dining area to place off the warm wooden furnishings.
The 1960s Lane dining table was an auction win. “Ninety percent of the home decor is vintage from the 1950s and 1960s, and we use everything,” she states. “Apart from electronics, kitchen products, towels and bed linens, I rarely purchase anything that’s brand new anymore.”
Wall paint: Benjamin, Benjamin Moore
Adrienne DeRosa
Floor-to-ceiling windows line the south side of the dining space, maintaining the submerged space from atmosphere buried underground. The windows glide open on paths, opening up the space to the outdoors.
With respect to the first single-pane windows, the Fishers continue to research other alternatives for increased efficiency. “Replacing them would be prohibitively costly and tamper with the aesthetics of the home,” Bobbie says. “Matthew has researched inside storm windows, which means that might be an alternative for the future”
Adrienne DeRosa
A three-sided fireplace joins the dining area and adjoining living space.
Adrienne DeRosa
From the living area, the ceiling soars two stories. An overhead walkway coated in original wood paneling spans the width of the space, carving out volume below for extra seating.
The sofa seat and Turkish carpet were Craigslist finds, along with the Maison Jansen effort chair was passed down from Matthew’s grandmother.
Adrienne DeRosa
Built-in details like this cushioned seat and cove lighting pleasantly surprised the Fishers. Bargello needlepoint pillows are the perfect complementary gesture.
Upholstery: Yves Klein Blue, Maharam
Adrienne DeRosa
A living room sectional with its first fabric represents the Fishers’ philosophy that exploited and slightly used pieces add character, and makes getting celebrations and overnight business less of a worry. (The Fishers did an eight-week home swap with three European families in summer 2013.)
Adrienne DeRosa
Twenty-four-foot windows span the rear of the living space. “Rainstorms are extremely exciting in our home,” Bobbie says. “The diamond roofline creates waterfalls throughout a downpour, and the glass wall in our living area offers the ideal theater to watch them”
Stein strategically placed cove lighting constructed from electrical tube, wood and milky Plexiglas throughout the home to highlight doorways, walls and windows.
The cocktail table, inherited from Matthew’s grandma, displays the couple’s travel mementos and postcards.
Adrienne DeRosa
Moving to the larger home from their prior 1880s row home meant that many of the furniture didn’t do the job. Thus Bobbie hit auctions, flea markets and Craigslist for new furnishings, including this unmarked bookshelf, which displays her vintage ceramics collection. “This home actually dictates what sorts of furnishings will work in it,” she states.
The Overman swivel chair and Bertoia chair are vintage.
Adrienne DeRosa
This contemplative sitting area at the front end of the home was the former waiting room of the dentist’s office. It links to what had been exam rooms and a reception area. Bobbie uses this aspect of the home to store stock for her midcentury decor and furnishings service, At Home Modern.
Side chairs: Bertoia, Knoll
Adrienne DeRosa
While the inside was pristine, the landscaping needed major work. After removing overgrown shrubs, pruning trees and replacing the old fencing, the couple handled the largest portion: the parking lot. Out of what had been the dentist’s waiting room, the whole side yard had been covered in asphalt, using a separate entrance to the road. That has since been removed and replaced with grass, leading to a tranquil spot under the trees.
Adrienne DeRosa
An upstairs bedroom now functions as the administrative office for At Home Modern. This painting is a vintage E.A. Evans, while the tomato-red file cabinet is one of the few items bought new.
File cupboard: TPS, CB2; desk chair: Molded Eiffel Side Chair, vintage Eames
Adrienne DeRosa
A display at work opens to the living room under. Constructed of frosted Plexiglas and timber, the display reflects the roofline and filters that the natural light when closed.
This concept repeats in the primary bedroom right opposite. The installation directed Bobbie to feel that this room was a nursery, with the screens acting as kid monitors. “The parents could go to sleep with every set of screens open and listen to what was stirring from the nursery,” she states.
Chair: vintage Johannes Anderson
Adrienne DeRosa
Ample glass boosts a tree-house-like environment in the main bedroom. While part of the initial floor plan, this room gained extra square footage throughout the house’s 1968 expansion. “If you become aware of the concrete pillars,” Bobbie points out, “you can see that is the point where the original wall was.” The area beyond the pillars formerly functioned as an outdoor terrace.
Adrienne DeRosa
The ever-changing grade of the light during the day is one of the house’s most outstanding features, especially in the bedroom. “There is an east-facing clerestory window in our bedroom behind our bed. In winter months, the rising sun shines through this window and casts shadows of tree leaves on the wall above the fireplace at the foot of the bed,” Bobbie says. “Black foliage shadows and orange sunlight combine to make gorgeous moving contours. I love to lie in bed and see this.”
Adrienne DeRosa
To gain solitude in the guest bedroom, the prior owners had made screens to pay for the windows. Constructed from ordinary pegboard, the screens, which Bobbie believes “an elegant, cheap midcentury solution to blinds,” permit light to pass through even when closed.
Adrienne DeRosa
A 1960s Plycraft sofa seat was inherited from Matthew’s father. The chair and ottoman fit a kilim rug from the exact same decade.
Adrienne DeRosa
“My philosophy is to love what you have and utilize it,” says Bobbie, shown here. “There is no plate or piece of furniture overly precious or pristine to utilize. How do you genuinely enjoy a chair if you never sit in it?”
Adrienne DeRosa
The rear facade comes to life as the sun sets. Concrete-block pillars, rather than load-bearing walls, take the structure’s weight in a discreet manner. Clerestory windows beneath the eaves give the impression of a floating roof, discharging light across the landscape. “One friend said our home looked like a spaceship prepared for takeoff when lit up at night and viewed from the road,” Bobbie says.
Adrienne DeRosa
Every angle that the home is observed from appears to give a attractive new geometrical view.
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