It takes a bit of magic to snag a house in Fort Worth’s historic Berkeley Place. Most homes trade hands by word of mouth, and people stay put in the neighborhood. They simply up size or downsize as their lifestyles change. So, we were thrilled to discover our Inwood Home of the Week, a gorgeous, recently renovated Berkeley Place Colonial Revival at 2012 Ward Parkway.
The Berkeley Place neighborhood is located about two miles from downtown Fort Worth. “It’s one of our most urban neighborhoods,” Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s listing agent Ashley Mooring said. “It’s sought after not only because of the large historic homes but also because of the proximity to the medical center and access to IH30.”
And because the holidays in Berkeley Place are the best!
“The Berkeley neighborhood is a tight-knit community,” Mooring said. “They go all out for every holiday and Halloween is unbelievable! On Halloween evening, everyone grabs their favorite witches brew and walks the neighborhood. It’s basically open houses, people pop in and have a drink, and the kids get their candy. The neighbors all do different things. One will have a magic show, another strobe lights, it is just amazing!”
One of the other very special aspects of this neighborhood is that people renovate in keeping with the era, despite there not being a historic overlay. Neighbors have used common sense to retain the look and feel of Berkeley Place. Homes here can be updated, improved, and enlarged without a city official looking over your shoulder to ensure you use the right hue and value of a particular paint color. It’s a win for everyone, and this Berkeley Place Colonial Revival may be the biggest win yet. It was recently enlarged to 3,909 square feet, with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and one powder bath. It also has a climate controlled basement and a guest cottage. That’s another 855 square feet of living space. Remember Texas Christian University is nearby and you can rent out that guest house!
The most significant part of the renovation was the addition of a downstairs master bedroom, which is rare for the neighborhood. Houses of this era have traditional layouts with private rooms upstairs. However, the sellers were creating their forever home and knew they wanted to be upstairs while the children were small. They decided to go ahead and add a downstairs master suite knowing full well, once you have busy pre-teens, you want to be well away from the noise!
One of the smartest things the sellers did was add washer dryer hookups in the master suite upstairs as well as a laundry downstairs. They were certain to live here for years and years so they added first-class appliances and fixtures, refinished the original hardwoods, created a modern walk-in pantry, and of course — you guessed it — never got to move in.
We hear this story so often at Daltxrealestate.com. People find their dream home, renovate it to perfection then a wonderful job comes along in another state. But, the good news for our readers is this Berkeley Place Colonial Revival is in one of the best neighborhoods in Fort Worth, and move-in ready. If that’s not a bit of magic, we don’t know what is!
Because the sellers didn’t get the opportunity to move into their dream home, they knew it needed to be staged for buyers to fully appreciate all their hard work. They turned to Gemma Hobbs with Modern Design Staging to turn their house into a home.
“I think it’s especially important to stage these historic homes because we can show how easily a modern family can live in them,” Hobbs said. “It’s a beautiful house with open living spaces as well as those cozy rooms you can’t find in new construction.”
Mooring has the house listed for only $1.099 million, so we don’t expect it to linger.
“They did a beautiful job of fusing the old charm of this home with modern luxury and function,” Mooring said.“It’s refined and polished yet a completely comfortable home.”
We don’t know about you, but we’re heading to Fort Worth on Halloween to see this Berkeley Place Colonial Revival, partake in some witches brew, and watch all the little goblins!
Karen Eubank is the owner of Eubank Staging and Design. She has been an award-winning professional home stager and writer for over 25 years. She teaches the popular Staging to Sell class and is the creator of the online course, The Beginners Guide to Buying Wholesale. She loves dogs, international travel, history, white paint, champagne, artificial turf, and homes with personality. Her father was a spy, and she keeps secrets very well. Find Karen at www.eubankstaging.com
