So if you drive around Malvern and are familiar with Forest Lane, parts of it are indeed quite wooded and lovely. It seems like the road runs between East Goshen and Willistown Townships. Unfortunately down towards what I believe is just Willistown, there has been a lot of building – Bentley Homes has been super-sizing and Main Line McMansioning. They are currently advertising 830 Forest Lane on their website. Ironically they call it “The Evergreen”. Kindly note there is barely a tree in site.
Across the street from these Bentley homes still remain some of the homes built less recently on Forest. There are some truly lovely homes. And as you proceed down Forest towards Sugartown you head into woods. I think some smidgen of them are conserved, but I am not sure.
817 Forest Lane is a home that was in the woods and for sale for years. It almost had the look of abandonment it looked so unloved.
A smaller house built at the end of the 1950’s it had that look like Mike Brady of the Brady Bunch was the architect. Definitely a retro mid-century modern, it did however fit into the woods. The house itself needed a major overhaul and who knows if it was actually salvageable. I think if someone had a little imagination the house could have been cool.
However, the chatter on this always was whomever owned it had moved some place else and were holding out for a developer. It had once been listed at a ridiculous pie in the sky price, and the price had been chiseled back over time. It had been listed with descriptions like:
AN INVESTORS DREAM! Oversized 2.10 acre lot in highly desirable Malvern. The potential of this superb lot is limited by your imagination. Tear down and build the home of your dreams in serene wooded splendor. Home is located across the the street from conserved trust land and surrounded by newly-constructed, luxuriously-appointed homes. Owner will do no repairs. This home/lot is being sold “AS IS.”
Yes, it screamed “developer buy me”. Of course reading the ad you did not realize it was an odd pie shaped lot. But note the term “serene wooded splendor”. Unfortunately what I drove by the other day is more aptly described as “rape of the forest.”
Now I get the former owners so allowed this home to rot and lot to get way overgrown, so I accept the eventuality of the house being saved was slim. I also accept that there was nothing much architecturally special about this mid-century woods dwelling house, but still when I drove by the other day all I could think was there goes more of the woods.
I did a little Internet research and according to Realtor.com the home sold for $285,250 on February 4, 2013. That coincides with when it appeared someone was actually cleaning up debris around the property.
Apparently the destiny of a good part of Forest Lane is new construction. That is a pity because once the fabulous open space and woods that make people love the road are gone, they are gone. Cut down enough woods and you change the eco system too.
Once again I ask the residents of Chester County if you really want to have so much development? Part of the extreme beauty of this county is the landscape which used to be far more wooded and wild than it is. Farmland is also what makes the county unique and beautiful. That is also disappearing far too quickly.
I am of course totally confused by what I see on Forest because this land is located in Willistown Township which I thought was all big on land conservation and protecting the environment? If as a novice and non-resident you look at their municipal website, what is it you see first when you look at their website? The moving banner of photography that shows woods and nature, don’t you?
Glad I can’t see this from my window, but it is sad to note that nothing says “forest” like cutting down the trees….to me this is very sad…trees that tall take sooooo long to grow and it is not like all of them are dying or something. I am sure the neighbors are thrilled they will no longer have to look at basically an abandoned house, but still I lament the loss of those trees. Some municipalities might refer to these as “heritage trees”.
Is new construction and multiple developments of homogenous Tyvec wrapped boxes the new “heritage” ?
I pass by this house every day on my way to the gym, and I too was horrified and upset to see that Forest Lane was becoming much less forested! 🙁
Also, FYI, Willistown Township *is* interested in conservation and preserving open space, but only in the wealthiest southern part of the township. We in the middle-to-upper-middle-class north end are the redheaded stepchildren of the township, and don’t live anywhere close enough to any of the township-purchased land to enjoy it. Our tax dollars at work, indeed.