Home of the week: An updated 1920s Colonial in Swampscott
The Colonial was built for a streetcar company executive and has a wraparound porch and a porte-cochere.
Built for a streetcar company executive in the Roaring ’20s, this house with the gorgeous wraparound porch and Arts-and-Crafts features has been updated, but, I am happy to report, not overly so.
Walking into the foyer can change a rainy day into sunshine. The room proudly whispers its age: The flooring (black-and-white marble squares) and the ceiling (coffered) are original to the house. A set of pocket doors guards entry to the living room, centered on a fireplace with a corniced wooden mantel and a marble surround. The ceiling here, too, is coffered.
Across the foyer and through pocket doors is the dining room, where the original cabinetry with leaded glass competes for top billing with an elaborate chandelier, beamed ceiling, a fireplace, and board-and-batten wainscot topped by plate rail. The owners have converted what may have been a butler’s pantry between the dining room and kitchen into an eating space that seats four.
Story continues after gallery.
See inside 15 Palmer Avenue in Swampscott:
The kitchen, an updated beauty, has an island, maple cabinetry with a French provincial look, sparkling black-granite counters, and stainless-steel appliances, including a six-burner stove. The floor is a speckled black granite with silver-glass inlays, and the backsplash with cobalt blue glass tiles pops.
A door from the kitchen leads to a mudroom and two options: to the left, the flat backyard with in-ground pool. To the right, the porte-cochere.
Completing the first floor is a half bath and a den with built-in bookshelves and a beamed ceiling.
A switchback staircase in the foyer leads to a landing bathed in the sun from stained-glass windows. The second-floor landing includes an alcove with two windows currently used as an art gallery.
The master has its own fireplace with black-marble surround, mirroring the floor and shower wall in the bath.
This level also houses an office and four other bedrooms, including one with a fireplace. They share two full baths with showers and tubs. One bath has a claw-foot tub and a stone-tile floor and surround with marble accents. All of the bedrooms on this floor and the office have lovely refinished fir floors.
The third level plays host to a big bedroom, a family room, and a study. The bedroom and family room have window seats and visual drama thanks to the dormers and roofline. This level includes a bathroom with a tub, a shower, and a ceramic tile floor.
The home, which sits on two parcels totaling 0.54 acre, has a carriage house used as a one-car garage and is a half mile from the beach and town center and less than a mile from the commuter rail.
John and Cindy Farrell of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Beverly are the listing brokers and will hold an open house Sunday, Jan. 24, from noon to 2 p.m.
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