If you’ve ever driventhrough the English Village tucked behind Lower Merion High School in Wynnewood, you know it. It’s a cluster of 29 houses built and organized on a couple of narrow, winding streets that was designed by the Love brothers to evoke the feeling of Shakespeare’s home village of Stratford-On-Avon. While built between 1925 and 1928, they are modeled after Tudor homes of a much earlier period. The houses, which include nine single family homes as well as ten twins (most attached by their garages) are quirky in their individuality. In order to best fit the challenges of each lot, the houses are not identical. There are unique nooks and crannies in each and the facades display inventive use of stone and brick to fill in gaps between the connected homes. Additionally, the local materials, including Mercer tiles, stained glass, locally-quarried stone and reclaimed lumber ensure that these are not “cookie cutter” dwellings. The brothers included a space for a studio in many of the homes, and several artists have lived in them over the years. Lower Merion Township has designated the houses in Arthur’s Round Table, as the village is known, as Class 1 historic buildings, which means that owners must maintain the original style of the exteriors, so we will be able to enjoy their aesthetic for the foreseeable future.
Leave a Reply