Designers Wendy Wurtzburger and Chris Bentley didn't skip a detail in an 1840s farmhouse.
In this exuberant four-and-a-half-acre property at the city’s edge, rooms are themed around collections and art — and a trumpet vine bursts from a cupboard.
Designers Wendy Wurtzburger and Chris Bentley with their Jack Russell terriers outside.
Roses climb the Philadelphia home’s trellised facade.
A Mister Ed-style Dutch door leads into the Philadelphia home. The entry previews several of the home’s themes, including the mixing of fine artwork and family antiques with flora and fauna. Here, an umbrella stand filled with paper flowers is set next to a 19th-century English library table topped with a pair of green ceramic rabbits from South Africa. “We always mix in the global,” Wurtzburger says. The pouf is from Anthropologie.
The custom kitchen island by Groundwork is topped with sandstone that originally paved Philadelphia’s Independence Hall plaza. The floor is Ann Sacks Belgian limestone, and the ceiling is clad in limewashed birch typically used as floorboards. Chandelier, Workstead. Dishwasher, Bosch. Range, BlueStar.
In the kitchen sitting area, the chair is by Roar + Rabbit for West Elm. The 18th-century breakfront is a Bentley family heirloom.
In the dining room, a set of mismatched chairs by Kit Kemp for Anthropologie pulls up to a vintage table. The Natalie Page chandelier is from Egan Rittenhouse. From the millwork by the fireplace, which is painted in Benjamin Moore Bella Blue, a living trumpet vine emerges every spring.
A pair of majolica parrots holds rhododendrons and butterfly weed.
In the living room, a mass of pillows by needlepoint artist Nancy Lisagor are displayed atop an Anthropologie sofa in a John Robshaw fabric. Curtain panels, also from Anthropologie, are folded and draped over rods. The table lamp in the corner is from Roar + Rabbit, Wurtzburger’s new home-design venture, and is available through West Elm. Walls in Minced Onion and trim in Apple Blossom, both by Benjamin Moore.
In the master bedroom, an antique slipper chair is upholstered in a vintage stripe from Hobnob Design. The door panels are in Farrow & Ball India Yellow, and the walls are in Emery & Cie Absinthe.
In the library, the walls are in Benjamin Moore French Beret, a dark blue-gray that highlights Bentley’s collection of gilt-framed snowy landscapes. The English sofa by Plinth is covered in patched velvet. The floral painted cocktail table with a midcentury base is by Brian Foster, whose local workshop, Groundwork, is responsible for several custom pieces in the home.
Beneath a pergola, the couple entertains frequently at a table whose top was cut from a black walnut tree that once grew on their property. Chairs, Tolix.
Bentley grew up in nearby Bucks County in a family of gardeners and plantsmen. He designed the gardens to combine structure and colorful floral displays.
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This story was originally published in the April 2018 issue of House Beautiful.
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