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Mount Washington house with wall of glass priced at $1.75 million
What you see at first is not what you get when it comes to 427 Bailey Ave., Mount Washington. From the street side, it’s a traditional home, but step inside and your expectations go out the window ... wall. Open living spaces and a wide-open view of Downtown and the Monongahela River below greet you from a wall of windows that fill the back side of the house.
The house with four bedrooms and 3½ baths is listed for sale for $1.75 million with Barbara Baker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (MLS No. 1498428).
The 4,000-square-foot home was built in the late 1800s in Italianate and Queen Anne styles.
“I think whoever built the house originally just chose styles he liked,” said Connie Bare, who owns the house with her husband, Jim.
They were the ones who took full advantage of its views by turning the back of the house into a wall of glass.
“The view is what what attracted us at first,” she said.
They have lived in the home for 13 years and spent three of them completely gutting and redesigning its layout. Until this they had never remodeled anything — not even a bathroom.
“It was a huge project, but basically it is a brand-new house inside. We just kept the four walls,” she said.
As a lover of contemporary design, Mrs. Bare wanted a more open concept. That required steel support beams when the walls were taken down.
They left some of the original woodwork, molding
and stained-glass windows to maintain some of the house’s original architecture and charm. The high ceilings are a bonus, adding the luxury of space to every room. A tray ceiling in the dining room adds character.
“We did paint all the wood white,” she said.
The kitchen features two islands and top-of-the-line appliances with a sliding glass door leading to three decks with more outstanding views.
The couple also added insulation throughout and put on a new slate roof.
“No one is going to have to worry about it being drafty or putting on a new roof,” Mrs. Bare said.
There is also a balcony off the master suite that takes up nearly the entire second floor.
The third floor, which is used for guests, has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
“I think the best view in the house is from the master suite balcony,” said Mrs. Bare. “You can see from Neville Island to Squirrel Hill and Downtown. It’s just beautiful, always changing and you never get tired of it.”
Even the shower has a window. “You can keep an eye on the city when you are taking a shower,” she said, laughing.
The Allegheny County property assessment is $420,300. Over the past three years, three houses have sold in the 400 block of Bailey Avenue for prices ranging from $305,000 in February 2018 to $612,000 in October 2020 (www2.alleghenycounty.
The Bares are moving to Virginia to be closer to their grandchildren, giving someone else the chance to have a front row seat for fireworks shows.
“Redoing this was a labor of love for sure,” she said.