If you’ve followed me since my days blogging for Noah Ostroff, you probably know I’m a huge fan of the trinity. I even wrote an explainer for Phillymag describing what I called “the original tiny houses.”

These houses were the “workforce housing” of their day: Modest residences that folks of modest means could afford. One might even argue that the roots of Philly’s reputation as a city of homeowners began with these compact gems.

Today’s tiny house movement also seeks to make housing affordable to many who are priced out of conventional housing markets. But the houses themselves are truly small: somewhere around 150 square feet. They’re so compact, in fact, that many are mounted on wheels and can be moved around like a trailer.

So what do you do if you want something less cramped, don’t want to live in a stacked house, but still need something within reach?

You go for houses like this cottage in Cherry Hill, that’s what.

Built in 1971 in the Kingsway Gardens section of Cherry Hill, this compact house has just emerged from a total makeover that brought it up to date.

The asking price might make you think the builders did the work on the cheap. I can confidently report after looking at the photos of the empty rooms that they did not. They laid real hardwood floors in all the rooms. They chose attractive lighting fixtures and energy-saving ceiling fans> And they put in a modern kitchen with up-to-date appliances.

Since I don’t expect you to go to IKEA to check out their do-more-for-less compact model rooms, I asked the listing agent to provide some virtually staged photos to show you this house’s potential.

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The front door opens into an open-plan main living area with a comfortable living room in front and the modern kitchen in back.

The dining room forms the hinge of a U-shaped floorplan.

The two bedrooms to the left of the main living area share a hall bath. Both have ceiling fans, and the primary bedroom (above) has a dark gray accent wall.

The hall bath has a retro clawfoot tub, another touch of class.

The unfinished basement contains the laundry and plenty of storage space. A ceiling hatch leads to more storage space in an attic.

All of this sits on an attractively landscaped lot. Between the detached one-car garage with extra room and the driveway, you can park four cars.

And you can’t beat its location. Turn right on Kings Highway and you’re at Marlton Pike (Route 70) in about a minute. Along it you will find two shopping centers that offer the full complement of big suburban retail, including a Whole Foods Market in one and a Wegmans in the other.\

And when you want something a little more urbane and sophisticated, turn left on Kings Highway instead. About two minutes later, you will be in the heart of oh-so-walkable downtown Haddonfield, where you will find unique boutique shopping, a craft brewpub, a craft distillery, a wine tasting room, several great eateries and an Acme supermarket. And if you want to go into Philly, you don’t have to drive — just park at Haddonfield PATCO station and take the train in; the region’s best rapid transit line runs 24/7.

For a compact house, this Cherry Hill charmer offers you a lot. Including a decent amount of space. The only thing that’s really tiny about it — for Cherry Hill, at least —is its asking price.

• 32 Stanford Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

• 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 720 square feet, asking price $325,000

• Listing agent: Adam J. Baldwin, Compass

People who live in glass houses…

…have to make sure the outside world can’t see inside.

That’s a big reason why the most famous glass house in the country, the one in New Canaan, Conn., that starchitect Philip Johnson designed as his own weekend retreat in 1948, is sited so that it can’t be seen from the road that runs past it.

The house artist/designer/architect Charles Solt built for himself in 1976 channels Johnson’s in two ways. One is its siting, on a rise surrounded by woods well away from the road it sits on in Stockton, N.J. The other is its copious use of glass, especially on the elevation facing downhill.

We don’t use the word “polymath” that often these days, but at least when it comes to art and design, the word fits Solt perfectly. Guests who dined at the White House during the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan ate on a china service Solt designed for Lenox; the Reagan china pattern even received a patent. Solt also produced textile designs and art prints with a decidedly modern sensibility.

This residence proves that, while not a practicing architect, Solt had those chops as well. As far as I can determine, this is the only structure Solt designed. Had he decided to pursue this aspect of his talents, however, it demonstrates that he would have done very well.

The listing agent describes this house as a midcentury modern residence, and it bears a strong resemblance to the works of such modern masters as Johnson and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, both of whom reached their artistic peaks in the years following World War II. But while the style chronologically deserves the term “midcentury,” I associate that style more with the acolytes and descendants of Frank Lloyd Wright than those of Mies and company.

Where Wright and his followers used stone, wood, stucco and other materials associated with nature in their houses, Johnson and Mies used steel and glass, materials associated with industrial and commercial rather than domestic architecture. Along with a more austere color palette, their use of these materials moves their work into the realm of high modernism. And the Solt house more properly fits there as well, even though you will find enough wood and granite used to tie it to other midcentury modern houses

These high modernist (mostly) glass-and-steel houses do share with their midcentury contemporaries the aim of becoming one with nature and their surroundings. But they took a dramatically different approach: Instead of mimicking nature in their use of materials, they sought to lose themselves in nature by making the outdoors the interior decoration as well.

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This is most evident in the Solt house’s public spaces and its primary bedroom suite, all of which face the rear of the house, which in turn faces downhill.

The “front” of the house is the one side where glass does not dominate.

The front door opens onto a simple, modern foyer.

Turn right as you enter and you immediately step into a large, open-plan main living area with a wall of glass at the back. That glass wall has many sliding doors that open fully, turning the main living space into an open pavilion and literally inviting the outdoors in in good weather.

In the middle of this space sit the dining room and kitchen.

Midcentury modern architects had already understood that for modern families, the kitchen should not be hidden but rather function as a central element of the house. Solt took that understanding to its more-or-less logical conclusion and made it a stage.

The owner, who acquired this house after Solt passed away a few years ago, updated and upgraded it while preserving its original character. Most of the changes don’t announce themselves, but the kitchen goes to great lengths to camouflage itself. Instead of an island, it has a live-edge wood table designed by Noam Wise. Fisher & Paykel appliances either blend in with or hide behind Reform cabinetry. Thanks to its design, the kitchen can do double duty, serving as a cocktail bar before your guests sit down to dinner and a show (the show being your dinner preparation).

Living and family rooms bracket the central space. The family room, at the end farthest from the foyer, has a covered patio next to it, while the living room has a fireplace.

Two of the three bedrooms are located off the latter room. The primary bedroom suite, set back from the reat of the house’s rear elevation, features a bedroom ringed by glass walls on three sides.

The side with the hilltop view has its own private patio, with terraced steps leading down to the backyard. Curtains filter the outside light and provide additional privacy when they’re closed; when they’re open, they let you enjoy a nearly panoramic view of this house’s five-acre wooded lot.

The primary bathroom, however, has a novel arrangement. For starters, the soaking tub is part of the bedroom, giving it the quality of a private spa.

Adding to that quality is the space containing the shower and vanity. It’s fully open to both the bedroom and the rear deck, allowing you to shower in the woods as well. (And if that’s not enough, there’s a foot wash on the patio next to this space.) The toilet sits on the other side of this space in its own closet; it has a custom vanity, and an opening between the two spaces lets natural light into the toilet.

One of the guest bedrooms sits off the foyer behind the living room. The owner has outfitted this as a den, with three of Solt’s prints on display on a table.

The other guest bedroom sits off the family room and has an en-suite bathroom. The guest bedrooms are the only rooms in this house without walls of glass.

A deck spans the entire length of the main living area. When the sliding doors are open, this makes the main living area an indoor-outdoor space.

This house also offers convenience as well as privacy. It sits just outside Stockton’s charming centter, and Lambertville and New Hope are only a little further away. This means you have plenty of dining, shopping and entertainment options just a short drive away.

In calling this house to my attention, listing agent John Clement of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach Realtors called Solt “a local artist and architect who deserves a lot more attention than perhaps he’s gotten.” After looking at this modernist jewel, I can’t help but agree with him.

• 74 Brookville Hollow Road, Stockton, NJ 08559

• 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,320 square feet, asking price $2,150,000

• Listing agent: John C. Clement, BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

If you’re the sort who loves to entertain, most trinities won’t suit you. Their floorplates and rear patios are too small to accommodate more than a few friends, so unless you’re lucky enough to have a pure trinity with a decent rear patio, your entertaining is pretty much confined to intimate dinners if that.

This updated extended trinity house for sale on one of Wash West’s prized “little streets,” on the other hand, has been designed with entertaining in mind.

For that you can thank its owner, who hired an architect to tack an addition to its main floor five years ago. The architect used the extra space to create a modern open-plan main floor that blends the living room, dining room and kitchen into a unified whole.

The living room has a ventless gas fireplace that invites conversation. The part of the kitchen that includes the sink extends into the living-room area, allowing it to double as a wet bar.

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The rest of the kitchen envelops the dining room. It features lots of quartz-topped counter space, professional-grade appliances, open shelves and a built-in pantry

A large three-part door fills the main floor with light and opens from the kitchen to a handsome landscaped rear patio with a built-in grill. An easement allows you to bring in your bike and take out your trash via the patio.

The two upper floors each contain a bedroom and a full bathroom. The renovated second-floor bathroom has a custom tile glass-enclosed shower, while the one on the third floor includes a prized clawfoot tub.

You’ll find storage space in the attic and the unfinished basement. You’ll also find the laundry and mechanicals down below.

What else will you find here? A neighborhood full of great amenities. This house sits in the heart of the Gayborhood and is a short walk away from Seger Park, Whole Foods and Acme supermarkets, and the shops, galleries and boutiques of Antique Row. The Forrest Theater, the Avenue of the Arts and the Italian and Reading Terminal markets are only a little further away. You’re also close to two stations on the B subway line, and several SEPTA bus routes also pass close by.

Given all this house has to offer, its asking price strikes me as reasonable indeed. If you buy it, be sure to plan a big housewarming party for your family and friends.

• 320 South Iseminger Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,002 square feet, asking price $599,900

• Listing agent: Jennifer Toadvine, Space & Company

Walk north up any of the streets paralleling Germantown Avenue west of the Awbury Arboretum from Mount Airy’s southern border at Washington Lane and, somewhere between Meehan Street and Gorgas Lane, you will feel as though you passed through an invisible wall.

This is the point where the modest rowhouses of southern East Mount Airy — a section known as “Dogtown” many, many moons ago — give way to the large freestanding and twin Colonials, Tudors and Dutch Colonials of Sedgwick Farms.

Sedgwick Farms which sits on the northerly of the two farms that comprise East Mount Airy, was the first part of the neighborhood to be developed, starting at the dawn of the 20th century in 1904. That was when Mt. Airy native Ashton S. Tourison, Sr. (1861-1944) bought 125 acres of that farm, which would become one of the city’s first planned residential communities. Together with his four sons, Tourison formed the Sedgwick Farms Development Company to subdivide the land and build houses for the middle and upper-middle classes of the day.

Tourison envisioned Sedgwick Farms as a neighborhood of “stone built homes, planned on an architectural idea that makes each different from the other, yet in perfect harmony with all,” and his vision survives intact nearly 125 years later.

Tourison himself designed and built this Dutch Colonial in the heart of Sedgwick Farms sometime around 1925. For a while, his daughter owned it, and it has had only two other owners since it was built. While it has been updated with today’s guts, fixtures, fittings and appliances, it retains all of its original character.

The house has a welcoming front porch facing the street, connected by a pair of French doors to the living room.

You enter the house via the front door on one side of it. That door leads to a bright foyer that sits between the living and dining rooms in classic Colonial fashion.

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A brick fireplace whose stone chimney defines the street facade is the focal point of the living room. The fireplace has a gas-burning insert.

Across the foyer, the dining room features a bow window and an elegant chandelier.

Behind the dining room is an L-shaped kitchen that wraps around a butler’s pantry. That room also serves as a mud room with access to the backyard and contains a second set of stairs to the upper floors.

The four bedrooms on the second floor include a spacious primary bedroom suite.

The primary bathroom boasts a double vanity and a marble shower.

You’ll find plenty of storage space in the walkup attic. And the partially finished walkout basement contains the laundry (fed by chute from the upper floors), workshop and play space.

Ample side and back yards offer plenty of room for outdoor fun and recreation.

This house also sits close to many of Mt. Airy’s key amenities. Lovett Memorial Library, an Acme supermarket, and Sedgwick Regional Rail station are all a short wakd away, and the Sedgwick Theater and Mt. Airy’s commercial heart are only a little further away. This house was sited and designed to make owning a car unnecessary, and thus it has no driveway or garage.

The house goes on the market with an open house today from noon to 2 p.m. Come take a look if you want to own a piece of Mt. Airy history.

• 6915 Clearview Street, Philadelphia, PA 19119

• 4 bedrooms, 2 full, 1 half bathrooms, 2,586 square feet, asking price $824,900

• Listing agent: Tim Owen, Compass

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You can find trinities all over Center City and its adjacent neighborhoods, but two neighborhoods in particular are known for their trinity-lined streets.

One is Washington Square West, which is laced with streets barely wide enough to drive a small car down. These streets are lined with trinities that give it an Early American air.

The other is the upper reaches of Bella Vista, in particular an area next to the Italian Market’s north end that’s laced with even narrower lanes, many of which only pedestrians can traverse. This area has the air of a European city district, in particular a city in Italy.

This unusual trinity sits in that latter neighborhood on one of those pedestrian-only lanes.

What makes it unusual is that it consists of two trinities, both built in 1910, that got fused together as part of a recent renovation. That makes this trinity unusually spacious and open, with some unique features.

For starters, the main floor is an open space that joins a good-sized living room to an eat-in kitchen with breakfast bar seating.

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At the back of the main floor is an intimate rear patio.

The second floor contains tso bedrooms and a full bathroom.

And on the top floor you will find something no ordinary trinity has: A full primary bedroom suite. It has a large bedroom, a sitting area that could serve as a study, and a full bathroom with a separate soaking tub and glass-front shower.

It also has a full finished basement. Down here you will find both the laundry and enough space to outfit a media room, den or playroom. The virtually staged photo here shows what it might look like as a media lounge.

This Bella Vista double trinity house for sale is literally right around the corner from the Italian Market, so keeping your kitchen stocked will be a simple task. Simple, that is, unless you’re the type who only shops at Whole Foods Market. The good news there is, you can also walk to it, as it’s located four blocks north of here. On the way there, you’ll walk right past Palumbo Playground, and several other nice pocket parks also sit close by.

So if you want a trinity that’s not really a trinity — one you won’t have to move out of when you start a family (or as it grows if you already have started one) — then you’ll want to get your hands on this one as soon as you can.

• 905 South Darien Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,230 square feet, asking price $520,000

• Listing agent: Michael Giuda, eXp Realty

Over the past two decades or so, Lambertville has become as charming and attractive place to live and visit as its better-known sibling on the other bank of the Delaware, New Hope. Restaruants, pubs and a flourishing art gallery scene have given it all the attributes of New Hope without the crowds and the bikers.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the house you see here, a vintage-1873 Victorian twin that’s on the National Register of Historic Places and about a 10-minute walk from the heart of Lambertville’s business district, attracted an owner with a huge artistic and creative street.

And because Afia Dash has that streak, this Lambertville Victorian twin house for sale doesn’t look all that Victorian on the inside.

The original wooden banister and stair treads have been preserved in the living room, but the risers are now made of custom tile, and the living-room ceiling features Moderne-style pressed-metal tiles and an Atomic Age chandelier.

The dining room has a tray ceiling with recessed lighting in its angled corners. Here again, Dash blended vintage and midcentury modern furniture and lighting to achieve a distinctive look.

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A study/home office space with a custom tile floor lies between the dining room and the kitchen. This space could also serve as a breakfast room.

And the modern kitchen offers another study in contrasts, with black cabinets below and white ones above the granite countertops, joined by a hexagonal-tile backsplash. A retro light fixture graces it all.

The main floor also has a powder room, and there’s a roomy landscaped patio in the back.

The second floor contains three bedrooms and two full baths. The primary bedroom boasts a beamed ceiling.

Finally, a third-floor bonus room could serve as a guest bedroom, studio, home office, library or playroom. A second room on the third floor offers room to store stuff.

If you want to go out to enjoy what Lambertville has to offer, you can start at Bell’s Tavern right next door. But your’re also close to the shops, galleries and restaurants downtown and the Delaware and Raritan Canal recreational trail. Plus downtown New Hope is only a little longer walk away across the bridge over the Delaware.

All of this should get your creative juices flowing as well.

• 187 North Union Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530

• 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 2,018 square feet, asking price $850,000

• Listing agent: Carle Robbins, Addison Wolfe Real Estate

Looking for an elegant Center City house without the high Center City price tag? This up-to-date yet traditional Wash West trinity house for sale is the place you’ve been looking for.

Situated on Quince Street just off Spruce, at the south end of what may well be the most photographed “little street” in all of Wash West, this classic trinity is itself awfully photogenic.

And here are the pictures to prove it.

You walk into a living room/dining nook full of traditional character, with built-in bookcases and a brick fireplace.

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Behind it is a kitchen ell full of warmth from the brown mosaic tile that complements its traditional maple cabinets. This recently renovated space also has modern stainless-steel appliances and under-cabinet lighting over its sink.

A door leads from the kitchen to an intimate rear patio.

The second-floor bedroom also has a fireplace, a sign that this trinity’s roots stretch back more than 175 years.

You will also find the newly renovated modern bathroom on this floor.

The top floor boasts its own fireplace and a vaulted, skylit beamed ceiling. (All three fireplaces burn gas.) It has a wardrobe that makes it suitable as a bedroom, but the room’s inviting character may lead you to use it as a den and studio or study, as here. A door at the back of the room opens onto a Juliet balcony overlooking the patio.

The unfinished basement contains a new washer and dryer, a new water heater, and new furnace.

Combine all this with a location that’s hard to beat — the Gayborhood, neighborhood shopping and restaurants on 10th Street, shops on Walnut, supetmarkets at 10th and South, the Reading Terminal Market and the Avenue of the Arts are all within walking distance — and this trinity could hardly be more perfect. Which is why I find it somewhat mystifying that it’s been on the market for more than 200 days. However, given that it’s been listed, delisted and relisted four times since January, that long time may simply represent the owner’s reluctance to part with it. After all, they did rent it out and make $43,000 offering it as an Airbnb.

• 258 South Quince Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

• 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 836 square feet, asking price $579,000
  (reduced four times, most recently by $11,000 on July 10)

• Listing agent: Derek J. Greene, The Greene Realty Group

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Bucks County

32 Orchard Lane, Levittown

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,200 square feet, asking price $525,000

Open houses: Saturday, July 25, 1 to 3 p.m. and Sunday, July 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Pennsylvania Levittown was the second of William Levitt’s assembly-line suburbs to be built, starting in 1952. On its 50th anniversary, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission staged an exhibition showing how the owners of those houses derided as “cookie-cutter” when they were built had transformed them into unique, character-filled residences over the decades.

This one got remade too late for the exhibit but would fit right in. Its owner transformed this ranchette into a contemporary looker with several dramatic elements, starting with its living room, which got a vaulted beamed ceiling and new fireplace.

That room in turn anchors an open main living area whose well-equipped kitchen is sandwiched between the living and dining rooms. Together they form a space as conducive to entertaining in style as to everyday family life.

The primary bedroom got a stylish wood accent wall, a fireplace and a bathroom with a huge walk-in shower with a rain head.

But the biggest transformation turned its backyard into a three-season resort. Here you will find a hot tub, patio with room for two grills (my hat’s off to the owmer, who had the good sense to outfit this with both a gas grill for steaks and a wood-pellet charcoal grill for barbecue), a second arbor with a large swing and an above-ground pool. Buy this house and you may never want to leave it — and what with online everything, you may not have to.

Listing agent: Danielle Phillips, Keller Williams Real Estate

Chester County

20 West Barnard Street, West Chester

5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,696 square feet, asking price $600,000

Open house: Sunday, July 26, 1 to 3 p.m.

The owner of this 1910 twin in the heart of West Chester has taken care to preserve all of its original character while making thoughtful updates that have rejuvenated it.

Its main floor boasts the turn-of-the-20th-century version of the open plan. A large open archway ties the living and dining rooms together, with an exposed brick accent wall giving the living room a touch of modern sensibility.

A pass-through window with breakfast bar seating does the same for the dining room and kitchen, which features a wood-topped island and farmhouse sink in its updated kitchen. You’ll find another exposed brick accent wall in the mudroom/utility room beyond the kitchen.

The three second-floor bedrooms all retain the transitional gas/electric lamps common in middle-class houses built around this time, when electricity was still new. And the two third-floor bedrooms offer flexible bonus space.

A brand-new furnace ensures you will be comfortable here for years to come, and its location just a short walk from both downtown West Chester and West Chester University means everything everyone loves about living in West Chester is almost at your fingertips.

Listing agent: Kathy Gordon, RE/MAX Preferred – Newtown Square

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Delaware County

2185 Franklin Avenue, Morton

6 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms,. 1 half bathroom, 3,459 square feet, asking price $610,000

Open house: Saturday, July 25, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This 1888 Queen Anne has also been renovated in a way that preserves its original character.

Cross its wraparound front porch and its threshold and you enter a foyer flanked by living and dining rooms with bay windows and ceiling fans hanging from the original medallions.

Behind these sit a spacious den and a bright, cheery and up-to-date kitchen and breakfast room.

A large primary bedroom occupies one corner of the second floor, and the bedrooms under the gables on the third floor can be put to any number of uses.

Behind all this is a huge rear deck that in turn leads to an equally large backyard.

You can walk from here to Morton’s town center and Regional Rail station, but a SEPTA bus route also runs past both your house and the train station for when the weather’s not so hot or you’re feeling lazy.

Listing agent: Tammy Feby, Premier Property Sales and Rentals

Montgomery County

421 South 5th Street, North Wales

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,010 square feet, asking price $650,000

Open houses: Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26, 1 to 3 p.m.

This expansive bungalow dates to the start of World War II, but it looks like it’s been around much longer than that thanks to an owner who has done it up to resemble an elegant early-20th-century home.

Like the Morton Queen Anne, this has a center entrance hall flanked by a bay-windowed dining room on the left and a living room with a brick fireplace on the right. Next to the living room is a four-season sunroom with leaded-glass transoms above the windows and doors opening onto the backyard.

Its updated eat-in kitchen features a quartz-topped island and all the latest appliances, and the house also has a main-floor bedroom for guests — or you, if you prefer one-floor living. The second floor contains three more bedrooms.

The backyard offers a shady landscaped respite, and it sits on a quiet street less than a half-mile away (a 10-minute walk) to both SEPTA buses on Walnut Street and the North Wales Regional Rail station. Some neighborhood shops lie within walking distance, but you will need a car to access supermarkets and larger nearby stores.

Listing agent: Nicole Marcum Rife, The Rife Group, Compass

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Philadelphia

1729 Stocker Street, Melrose

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,134 square feet, asking price $315,000

Open houses: Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This post-World War II rowhouse looks modest on the outside, but wait ’til you step inside.

A renovation not too long ago turned its main floor into an elegant open space combining the living and dining rooms as well as the traditional and the modern. A coffered ceiling and wainscoting on its exposed brick wall offer the classical touch, while a floating staircase and more contemporary dining-room chandelier provide the more modern gloss.

The kitchen likewise mixes traditional cabinetry with modern stainless-steel appliances.

And one of the two full bathrooms has a striking vanity bowl fashioned from natural stone as well as stone tile wainscoting.

You will also find a stone accent wall in the primary bedroom. And in back you will find a deck for outdoor relaxation and entertaining.

SEPTA’s Route 68 bus travels along Moyamensing Avenue, just steps away. You could either take it or walk the three blocks to Oregon station on the B1 subway line, where you can get to many other city destinations as well as FDR Park and the Sports Complex. The Route 7 bus on Oregon Avenue can take you to the big-box Valhalla that is Columbus Boulevard as well as other nearby shops and services, and since you’re in South Philly, there’s way more to discover just by walking around.

Listing agent: Lauren Samploski, Keller Williams Moorestown

Trinities are prized because they’re compact, cozy, and usually affordable.

This recently renovated Queen Village trinity house for sale checks off two of those three boxes. It’s affordably priced, and its spaces have a cozy feel.

But at least I wouldn’t call 1,000-square-foot trinity “compact.”

Besides, this trinity has almost as much outdoor space as it does indoor space, with a patio, deck or balcony on each of its three floors.

Its main floor boasts an open plan in which the living room, with its brick fireplace and accent wall, flows past a powder room into the kitchen at the rear.

The eat-in kitchen is also larger than your typical trinity kitchen. The makeover gave it industrial-chic open shelving, lots of counter space and updated stainless-steel appliances.

A sliding door at the back leads to the first and biggest of the three outdoor spaces, an arbor-covered patio.

The primary bedroom shares the second floor with one of two full baths. The bedroom is big enough to accommodate a king-size bed.

A roomy open deck with great skyline views sits behind the bedroom.

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And the third floor contains the same three elements, only each one is slightly smaller, though still roomy. It also has a storage room.

Also, the rear deck and third-floor bedroom are connected by a sliding door.

The partially finished basement contains the mechanicals, the laundry and storage space.

And it has a great location near the heart of Bella Vista. It sits half a block below South Street, around the corner from both Palumbo Park and Whole Foods Market, and a short walk away from the Italian Market and Seger Park. Nearby SEPTA bus routes can take you to places further away.

If you’re a trinity fan who’s looking for more space than your current trinity has, then, you should consider this bigger one. If you like lounging outdoors, you should also give it a good look. And if you’re looking for reasonably priced housing in or close to Center City, this place also has your name on it.

• 833 Kater Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147

• 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 1,000 square feet, asking price $499,000

• Listing agent: Mitchel Mullin, KW Empower

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Like many architectural styles, midcentury modern houses range from meh to magnificent.

This stone split-level in Garnet Valley probably started out as meh when it was built in 1940.

No longer, thanks to a total makeover courtesy of dwell&co., the Media-based design firm and real estate agency founded by Reuben Rath, who owns and is marketing this house.

The new soul that got grafted onto this almost-typical split-level — “almost” because split-levels built entirely of stone are rare birds — announces itself upfront.

Literally: the striking modern wing that contains the front entrance and living room got grafted onto the original house very recently.

The front door opens onto a soaring open space that combines the living and dining rooms. Large full-height Piet Mondrian-inspired windows flank a stylish modern fireplace.

Skylights and a floating staircase to the bedroom level serve as an accent to the dining area.

And all of this is open to a top-drawer custom kitchen with a quartz waterfall island, a professional-grade gas range, a wine fridge, a coffee bar, accent skylights and artwork gracing the range hood.

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The floating stairs lead to the upper level, where you will find five bedrooms, three en-suite and two that share a hall bath.

The primary bedroom suite includes a spacious bedroom, a large walk-in closet and a luxurious spa bath with dual vanities, a soaking tub and a rain shower.

The makeover also gave this house new guts, including multi-zone climate control, commerrcial=grade audio, Wi-Fi, smart home systems and everything in place to add a pool to its backyard whenever you want.

It’s also convenient to Concordville, Philadelphia International Airport and Wawa Regional Rail station.

This home definitely stands out from the crowd, and so will you if you buy it.

• 1096 Mansion Lane, Garnet Valley, PA 19060

• 5 bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, asking price $1,995,000
  (price reduced by $254,000 on June 12)

• Listing agent: Reuben Rath, dwell&co., BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

Note: This property is under contract, but the sale is contingent, and the seller is accepting backup offers.

Whoever said “they don’t build ’em the way they used to” needs to check out this young Colonial in Chestnut Hill that wasn’t big enough for its owner.

The quality and attention to detail its builder put into it 22 years ago should be evident just from looking at its exterior. And about two decades after that, the same level of attention went into the improvements and additions to this house.

This house may have all sorts of modern features and amenities, but it has a traditional soul.

That much should be clear when you walk through the front door into its two-story-high foyer.

Directly ahead of you, two large archways open onto the dining room on the left and the living room on the right. Both rooms have sets of French doors that open onto a rear deck that spans the width of the house. The dining room has classic wainscoting while the living room has a fireplace.

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A paneled study with its own fireplace sits to the right of the front door.

To the left, on the other side of the main stairs, you’ll find one of this house’s concessions to modernity: A spacious everyday living suite.

The kitchen lies closest to the foyer. Of course, it has top-drawer fixtures that include a gas range with two ovens, six burners, a griddle and a pot filler. Its island has an extra-thick stone countertop that can stand up to your prep work as well.

In the middle is the breakfast room, and at the far end is a family room with a high cathedral ceiling and a stone fireplace.

The upstairs primary bedroom suite features a bedroom with plenty of space to rest, relax and lounge. A coffered ceiling and a marble fireplace add elegance to the bedroom.

You can reach the primary suite via either the main stairs or the elevator next to them, accessible from a corridor next to the stairs on the main floor. Like the kitchen and great room, the elevator is one of the improvements this house got in the early 2020s.

I suspect that the spa bathroom in the primary suite is another. It has a marble double vamity, a soaking tub, a shower with body sprays and elaborate tile patterns on the floor, wainscoting and shower walls.

The second floor contains three additional bedrooms, one with an en-suite bath, a hall bath and the laundry. Friends and guests not staying over can use the powder room on the main floor.

The walkout basement contains the fourth full bedroom, a wine cellar and a large rec room laid out with a game area on one end and a media lounge on the other.

This room sits next to a terrace under the main floor deck. Next to the terrace is an infinity-edge plunge pool under the portico next to the main-floor deck. The deck has a nice view of Wissahickon Park, which embraces the fenced-in backyard.

This neotraditional Chestnut Hill mansion house for sale is the sort of place you won’t want to leave. But if and when you do, you will find plenty to engage you nearby: Wissahickon Park walking trails, Chestnut Hill’s happening business district, the Valley Green Inn and two SEPTA Regional Rail stations.

What more could you ask for? How about an asking price that’s quite reasonable, given everything (including plenty of space) this house offers?

• 732 St. Andrews Road, Philadelphia, PA 19118

• 4 bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 7,424 square feet, asking price $2,775,000

• Listing agent: Louise D’Alessandro, Elfant Wissahickon Realtors

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Including here, where yesterday, Croatia clocked Ghana in the final group-stage match at Lincoln Finan…er, Philadelphia Stadium. Both teams will advance to the knockout round of 32 teams.

That starts tomorrow. In the meantime, you can check out these knockout open houses today.

Bucks County

3591 Dogwood Lane, Riegelsville

3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 2,250 square feet, asking price $710,000

Open house: Today, 1 to 3 p.m.

This contemporary log house is no cabin in the woods. Instead, it’s a spacious, well-outfitted, modern residence. Yet because this home takes its woodwork to the max, you may still feel like you’re living in one of those cabins.

Its main floor is a large open space where the living room, dining room and kitchen pinwheel around the staircase. The living room features a wood-burning Franklin stove.

Two skylit sun porches flank this space. One is an enclosed three-season porch entered from the front porch, and the other is a year-round sunroom attached to the back of the main floor.

The main-floor primary suite includes a family room next to a rear deck you can also reach from the sunroom, and the second floor contains two more bedrooms, one a loft that’s open to the floor below.

If you have one foot in the Delaware Valley and one in the Lehigh Valley, this house is ideally situated: it’s close to the Bucks/Lehigh county line and as close to Hellertown as it is to Riegelsville.

Listing agent: Shane Norman, BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors – Doylestown

Chester County

30 Forge Mountain Road, Valley Forge

4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 2,269 square feet, asking price $659,900

Open house: Today, 1 to 3 p.m.

This contemporary house, on the other hand, is not disguised as a log cabin in the woods. Instead, it’s a true midcentury modern design, situated to make the most of its location just below the crest of Valley Forge Mountain.

Its spacious living room has a beamed cathedral ceiling and spans the width of the house. A wall of windows includes a sliding door leading onto the balcony, which offers great views of the valley below.

The beamed ceiling continues into adjacent dining room and family room, the latter of which also has a wall of windows. These two rooms wrap around the kitchen.

This house also has a main-floor primary suite and family room, while the lower level contains the other three bedrooms and a family room with a kitchenette. These features make the lower level an ideal space to put up visiting guests.

And even though it feels secluded, it’s very conveniently located: Valley Forge National Historical Park is next door and King of Prussia and the Pennsylvania Turnpike are just minutes away. Living here, you also have the option of joining the Valley Forge Mountain Tennis and Swim Club.

Listing agent: Jackie Keenan, Keller Williams Real Estate – Montgomeryville

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Delaware County

2181 Springhouse Lane, Aston

3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,216 square feet, asking price $375,000

Open house: Today, noon to 2 p.m.

This midcentury rancher a little ways up Chester Creek from Chester has been well maintained over the 73 years since it was built (doesn’t look that old, does it?). It has also gotten some nice additions and upgrades over that time.

I’ll start with one on the outside: The covered patio just beyond the front door. This patio lets you enjoy outdoor life whether it’s sunny or cloudy, dry or rainy, and it also connects the front to a backyard garden with a brick grill and two sheds.

The front door leads to one of the additions: A living room with walls of windows that give it plenty of light and nice views.

Behind it is a family room with a brick fireplace.

And behind the fireplace end of the family room is a spacious eat-in kitchen with up-to-date appliances.

All three bedrooms lie behind the other end of the living room, and the basement contains a rec room, laundry and unfinished storage space.

This house offers yet another example that you don’t need to spend a million bucks to get a house that looks like a million bucks thanks to good stewardship. And it’s convenient to I-95 and the Commodore Barry Bridge to boot.

Listing agent: Brenda Cole, Springer Realty Group

Montgomery County

1119 Centennial Road, Penn Valley

5 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 4,011 square feet, asking price $1,250,000

Open house: Today, 2 to 4 p.m.

On the other hand, if you do have a million bucks to spend (or a million and a quarter, in this case), you can buy this house that’s worth every penny.

The main floor of this split-level contains most of the entertaining spaces, starting with the open living and dining rooms to the right of the front door. Large tripartite windows let plenty of light into both spaces.

A door connects the dining room to an up-to-date kitchen with access to the backyard. The adjacent breakfast room also has sliding doors that open onto it.

The other entertaining space is the family room one level down, which also opens onto the backyard patio.

This split-level is unusual for having two upper floors. The primary suite is on the third level, while the other three bedrooms occupy a dormered fourth level above the main floor.

The backyard contains a spacious split-level patio. The listing copy also says it has a pool, which I guess sits up the stairs from the patio.

And while this house is tucked away off the beaten path, it’s just a short hop from here to great shopping and dining options in Wynnewood, Narberth, Bala-Cynwyd and Manayunk.

Listing agent: Ainlay Dixon, BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

Philadelphia

623 Lombard Street, Society Hill

3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,512 square feet, asking price $659,000

Open house: Today, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This up-to-date 1860 rowhouse offers plenty of room both inside and out, a rarity for densely built Center City.

Its main floor has a living room with a brick fireplace in front and an updated kitchen in the back.

And behind the kitchen is a large backyard with room for patio furniture, a grill and a garden.

The second floor contains two bedrooms, either of which could be adapted to fit your needs, and the bathroom. The third-floor primary bedroom has windows on both sides and a vaulted ceiling.

If the staircase weren’t located between the main rooms on the lower floors, I’d have guessed that this was an extended trinity, but those stairs are a giveaway that this rowhouse wasn’t built as one.

It too is conveniently located: you can walk from here to Head House Square, Old City, the Delaware waterfront, South Street and Bainbridge Green.

Listing agents: Reid Rosenthal and Brian Wolk, BHHS Fox & Roach at the Harper — Rittenhouse Square

Do you love strolling (or pub crawling) up Girard Avenue in Fishtown? Like hanging out at The Piazza or Frankford Hall? How about dining on Liberties Walk, on North Third, or at Standard Tap?

Then this conveniently located, nicely updated Northern Liberties trinity house for sale is exactly where you want to live. It’s just steps from all of the above and a little more than a block away from Girard station on the L. And there’s a playground just to its south.

And thanks to a recent total renovation, it offers you modern style, comfort and amenities at a price you can afford (one of the nicest things about renovated trinities).

With 800 square feet of interior space, it even has room for something you usually don’t find in a trinity: A second bathroom.

But first, let’s start with the main floor.

Here you’ll find a bright and airy living room in front and a five-sided kitchen in the back.

The eat-in kitchen’s unusual shape is in a sense dictated by this house’s trapezoidal lot. It has the latest stainless-steel appliances, and the turquoise lower cabinets add a splash of color.

Behind the kitchen is a small patio, as is usually the case with trinities.

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Each of the two upper floors contains a bedroom and a bathroom. These photos show you the rooms on the second floor. The laundry is located in this bathroom.

The top-floor primary bedroom has an exposed-beam vaulted ceiling with a glass-block window over the bathroom enclosure.

The bathroom on this floor has a stone-tile shower with a rain shower head.

So there you have it: Clean modern style, up-to-date amenities, and extra space at an affordable price in a most convenient location. Call your agent, arrange a showing, and make an offer. If it’s accepted, you can walk over to Frankford Hall or the pub or bar of your choice and celebrate with a beer.

• 110 West Wildey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123

• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 800 square feet, asking price $359,000

• Listing agent: Eric Prine, Compass

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Bucks County

2485 Hiester Road, Quakertown

6 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 2,809 square feet, asking price $870,000

Open house: Sunday, June 21, 1 to 3 p.m.

This is the oldest and most historic of this week’s new arrivals. At its heart is a stone farmhouse dating to 1850 that has had all of its historic charm carefully maintained. But as the photo above should make clear, it has been added to over the years. Those additions have made this an indoor-outdoor jawdropper that’a perfect for anyone who enjoys entertaining relatives, friends and guests.

The living and formal dining rooms both honor this house’s pedigree. (You’ll also find floral borders where the crown moldings would be in the second-floor hallway and primary bedroom.)

The kitchen does as well, but it’s totally up to date, with an L-shaped, split-level island and full complement of stainless-steel appliances.

That primary suite actually sits in the rear addition, and it also comes with a side sitting room with a stone accent wall and a solarium that currently serves as a home office.

The attic contains a bonus room with a beamed ceiling that can serve many functions.

The house also has a guest apartment on the first floor of the addition. It has an open-plan living area with full kitchen, a bedroom and a full bath.

Then, on the outside, you have a full summer resort, with a pool, a cabana with a bar, a hot tub, a greenhouse and a full outdoor kitchen with two grills.

Also on the property: A peaceful pond with a gazebo in its middle.

All of this is so fabulous, you’ll forget that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension runs right on the other side of the back fence. But that also means you enjoy quick and easy access to both Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.

Listing agents: Shabana Pathan and Saman S. Chaudhry, Keller Williams Northampton County

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Chester County

195 William Penn Boulevard, West Chester

(Listing via Zillow)

4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 4,073 square feet, asking price $1,200,000

Open houses: Saturday, June 20, 1 to 2 p.m., and Sunday, June 21, 3 to 4 p.m.

The one totally contemporary house of this week’s bunch sprawls across its 1.9-acre wooded lot in the Penn Oaks Estates community, just north of Dilworthtown and a short drive from the heart of West Chester.

Natural light fills every room in this house thanks to its many large windows and skylights. The tone is set the moment you enter the skylit two-story foyer with its smoked-glass chandelier.

Pass under the bridge to enter a spacious, skylit living room whose sliding doors open onto an equally spacious deck overlooking the backyard and the Penn Oaks golf course.

A full-height stone peninsula fireplace separates it from the eat-in kitchen. The dining area also has doors that open onto the rear deck.

Four more diners can sit around the large center island in the kitchen, which has plenty of cabinet space and a full complement of high-end appliances.

The primary bedroom has its own private balcony, a huge walk-in closet and a bathroom with skylights and a jetted soaking tub.

The finished basement has plenty of room for leisure, a home gym, or what-have-you. Sliding doors lead to the backyard.

This property offers peace, quiet and convenient access to one of the Philadelphia area’s liveliest suburban downtowns. You might also want to consider joining the adjacent golf and tennis clubs if you move here.

Listing agent: Sam Walls, eXp Realty

Delaware County

443 St. Davids Avenue, St. Davids

6 bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 5,575 square feet, asking price $1,950,000

Open house: Saturday, June 20, noon to 2 p.m.

This elegant Colonial has one of the best pedigrees in Wayne. Built in 1901, it has had only three owners in the 125 years since, starting with the Rosengarten family, creators of the Chanticleer pleasure garden not far from here.

Those three owners have been good stewards of this house, preserving all of its turn-of-the-20th-century elegance while also adapting it to the way we live now.

You can see that elegance in all its glory in the living, dining and family rooms. All three have fireplaces. The family room has a coffered ceiling while the living and dining rooms have bow windows. French doors lead from the living room to an open rear terrace, while another set of French doors connect the family room to a covered patio. A butler’s pantry next to the dining room also functions as a bar.

The space that’s been adapted to the way we live now is the everyday living suite in the rear wing of the main floor. The addition of a great room in the 1990s turned it into a modern living space.

It has a commodious kitchen with lots of cabinet space, two sinks and two dishwashers.

Once past the dining area, its cabinets become low bookcases that extend into the great room, which also has a fireplace flanked by French doors leading onto a covered rear deck.

The primary bedroom upstairs also has a sitting area on one side and a fireplace flanked by French doors that lead to its own covered deck.

This house sits on 1.35 wooded acres in the middle of a larger plot of land ringed with houses, thus ensuring privacy. And it’s close to both St. Davids Regional Rail station and downtown Wayne’s shops, restaurants, movie theater and SEPTA station.

Listing agent: Mellissa Oeth, Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty

Montgomery County

231 North Essex Avenue, Narberth

5 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 2,422 square feet, asking price $1,099,000

Open houses: Sunday, June 21, and Sunday, June 28, noon to 2 p.m.

Have you wanted to live in everyone’s favorite Main Line community, the only one that’s an incorporated municipality? Now’s your chance.

The owners of this handsome, well-maintained Dutch Colonial have taken this traditional house and given it a contemporary spin. Save for window frames, banisters and the like, you won’t find anything even faintly colonial on the inside of this house. Instead, the lines, fixtures and furnishings are very contemporary.

As is the main floor plan, which features an open L-shaped everyday-living-suite layout. The living room is the first space you enter, the dining room sits at the hinge, and the kitchen is in the back to the left.

The retro light fixture over the dining table is just about the only blast from the past you find here, although the lights over the kitchen island have a whiff of the past about them as well.

Shaker cabinets like those in the kitchen, however, are timeless: Shaker simplicity was simply ahead of its time.

The primary suite upstairs has a private, street-facing balcony off its bedroom and a bathroom with contemporary vanities whose mirrors are flanked by more traditional lights.

The other four bedrooms — one on the second floor, three on the third — can be put to various uses, whether it’s housing your fam, putting up guests or serving as a home office.

The semi-finished basement combines a rec/media room, the laundry and storage space.

And the backyard has an arbor-covered deck, gravel-and-stone patio, a lawn with space for a grill and a detached two-car garage.

It also has a location that can’t be beat — just two blocks from Narberth’s charming downtown and SEPTA Regional Rail station.

Listing agent: Lorna Isen, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

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Philadelphia

42 Summit Street, Chestnut Hill

6 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 4,230 square feet, asking price $2,195,000

Open house: Saturday, June 20, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This Civil War (1863) Italianate/Second Empire villa, in my opinion, brings a postmodern sensibility to this historic home.

Designed by architect J.C. Sidney and originally home to the Hebner family of neighborhood fame, this house has many of its original details intact. These include the gingerbread on the wraparound porch (added in 1886), parquet floors and artwork on the ceilings of some of the rooms.

To these details the current owners have added an eclectic mix of past and present in its furnishings, lighting and other details. They also added custom millwork that honors this house’s heritage and updated its guts and systems to provide modern comfort and safety.

The main floor has a classic center-hall layout that also manages to accommodate a very modern living space.

On the left is a spacious side parlor lit simply by large fabric sphere pendant lights, which you will find in some of the other rooms as well.

The light in the living room has more of an Art Deco vibe, while some of the furniture and lighting in the formal dining room is very midcentury modern.

So are the light and furnishings in the den and dining area next to the kitchen.

The two spaces, renovated in 2016, combine restored original cabinetry with new cabinets, top-of-the-line appliances, soapstone counters and a large island with a sink.

The huge primary bedroom has bow windows in the bedroom, a sitting area with a tile-ringed fireplace, and a bathroom with Belgian paving tiles and decorative tile in the shower. The other bedrooms have distinctive combinations of lighting and color.

And this house on a wooded lot is as convenient to the heart of Chestnut Hill as the Montco one is to the heart of Narberth. It’s one block away from both Chestnut Hill East Regional Rail station and two from Chestnut Hill West, the Top of the Hill shops and the north end of the Germantown Avenue shopping and dining district.

Listing agents: Kim Whetzel and Nanci Fitzgerald, Team Whetzel, Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty

The streets in Rittenhouse Square reflect the world of the mid-19th century: Grand townhouses line the main streets, their floors shrinking in height until you get to the top floor, where the help lived. And on the streets in between, one found the carriage houses where the horses and the vehicles they pulled were stabled.

These garage-front houses predate the automobile by decades. This one, for instance, dates to 1860. City property records are so sketchy that they only provide estimated dates, but the real estate records are more precise.

Most of the houses that face the 1900 block of Manning Street date to this era, when the country was about to tear itself in two over slavery. But last year, two developers with architectural backgrounds, Idan Belkind and Ben Weinraub, got their hands on the carriage house you see at the top of this article and transformed its interior into something more along the lines of the two much newer houses two and three doors down.

This house has something unusual: an open main floor whose spaces are nonetheless well defined. Belkind and Weinraub achieved this by putting a dogleg in the main floor footprint.

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The elevator and powder room behind the floating staircase effectively forms a “doorway” between the living room and formal dining room wing and the eat-in kitchen.

It also allowed for the inclusion of a coffee bar and espresso maker in the Porcelanosa-designed kitchen, the only room in the house that’s not designed by the pair.

The restaurant-quality kitchen has the holy trinity of Wolf range, Sub-Zero fridge and Bosch dishwasher.

The second floor contains two of this house’s four bedrooms, the laundry and a shared hall bath. The third bedroom sits on the recessed fourth floor and has a private balcony.

The primary suite takes up the floor in between. Its bedroom boasts a fireplace and a two-story-high vaulted ceiling. It also has two large walk-in closets and an equally large spa bath.

Topping all this off is a roof deck facing north with an eat-in kitchenette attached. The kitchenette has an ice machine and beverage fridge. Haul a grill up here and you’ve got a great place to dine as well as relax outdoors.

Finally, down below in the finished basement, you will find a flex room that you could use as a media room, rec room, gym or guest quarters.

This block of Manning Street is just a stone’s throw from Rittenhouse Square, though you’d need a really strong arm to hurl a stone over the roofs of the houses and apartments facing the square. Instead, you can just walk over to the square and enjoy both it and the restaurants and boutiques that ring it.

As DIY projects go, this one knocks it out of the park. Then again, when the DIYers know architectural design, what did you expect?

• 1923 Manning Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

• 4 bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms, 4,000 square feet, asking price $2,500,000

• Listing agent: Jeffrey Keller, Compass

• Note: This house is under contract, but the seller is accepting backup offers.

Updated June 9, 11:03 a.m., to correct the spelling of Weinraub’s last name and clarify their backgrounds.

You will be able to do all of these things if you buy at least one of this week’s debutantes. All of these houses have their first open houses today, and one of them is a summer vacation in itself.

Bucks County

225 Playwicki Street. Langhorne

(listing via Zillow)

3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 1,968 square feet, asking price $750,000

Open houses: Saturday, June 6, noon to 2 p.m., and Sunday, June 7, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

You may be forgiven for thinking you’re looking at a 19th-century farmhouse that had its foundation jacked up when you approach this home.

Cross the threshold, however, and you will quickly disabuse yourself of that notion. The soaring two-story living room lets you know immediately that this is a modern house. Built five years ago, it offers everything you want in a modern home in a great location.

The open-plan main floor flows seamlessly from the voluminous living room to the dining room/kitchen combo. The kitchen boasts a large center island with bar seating, quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances.

The main-floor primary suite pairs a bedroom with large windows with a bathroom outfitted with a wet room combining dual showers and a soaking tub. Upstairs find two more bedrooms and a full bath, and an unfinished basement offers loads of storage space now and all kinds of possibilities for the future.

Even though this house sits on a dead-end suburban lane, there’s plenty of nature surrounding its wooded lot. Neshaminy Creek flows close by, a large lot behind this house contains lots of forest, and you can find plenty of recreational facilities nearby as well. Plus, you’re close to Routes 1 and 213.

Listing agent: Becky Bostic, The Destination Group, Real of Pennsylvania

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Chester County

2147 Diamond Rock Hill Road, Malvern

4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,248 square feet, asking price $969,000

Open house: Saturday, June 6, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This contemporary rancher survives into our time with its ’70s style fully intact and beautifully preserved.

Wood accents abound in both the skylit foyer and the beamed-ceilinged living room.

The beams continue around the peninsular fireplace to grace the dining room.

Both the living and dining rooms have sliding doors that open onto the spacious rear deck.

The separate eat-in kitchen can seat four at its center island bar.

Sliding doors also connect the primary bedroom to the rear deck.

And your guests will enjoy hanging with you and staying overnight in the full finished basement. The den has space for an entertainment center and a wall of windows looking out on the covered rear patio.

The guest bedroom has sliding doors leading to the patio along with a brick fireplace.

A side deck upstairs offers space for dining and grilling.

And the lower patio leads directly to a spacious backyard surrounded by woods.

Speaking of woods, this house at the end of a street with only one access point sits amidst nature preserves galore and has the Wharton Esherick House and Museum for a near neighbor. It’s also convenient to interchanges on both the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Route 202.

Listing agent: Betty S. Patterson, BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

Delaware County

507 South Media Way, Media

(listing via Zillow)

2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,125 square feet, asking price $400,000

(a $225 monthly HOA fee covers common area and grounds maintenance, lawn care, snow and trash removal)

Open house: Sunday, June 7, noon to 2 p.m.

Like the house in Langhorne, this twin house in Nether Providence Township’s Media Walk community looks older than five years old. And like the house in Langhorne, it wraps modern style and amenities in a traditional wrapper.

It too has a totally open main floor whose living room, dining room and kitchen combine to form a huge single space where you can both relax and entertain.

Its kitchen features a large quartz-topped island with bar seating, full-height Shaker cabinets with modern door and drawer hardware, and all the latest appliances.

The upstairs primary bedroom is your own private retreat. It has a custom closet and a bathroom with a glass-enclosed shower and dressing table.

The house incorporates a one-car garage, but you won’t need to use your car to take advantage of all that’s nearby. There’s a park one block to the south and another one block north, and you can walk from here to Media’s lively State Street in just 15 minutes. There you’ll find a globe-spanning variety of restaurants and unique local boutiques in the heart of “Everybody’s Hometown.”

Listing agent: Vincent Memmo, CG Realty LLC

Montgomery County

78 West Indian Lane, West Norriton

4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom, 3,636 square feet, asking price $1,300,000

Open house: Saturday, June 6, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you read this article in time, you should high-tail it to check out this most fabulous of this weekend’s featured open houses.

According to the public records, this house, one of a string of houses whose backyards abut the Schuylkill, was built in 1935, but you couldn’t prove that by me based on these photos. This house sits in the middle of its long, narrow lot and is designed to make the most of its riverside location.

The front door sits at the far end of a six-car garage that has loads of room to store your boats as well as your cars. Stairs lead up from the foyer to the main floor, which abounds in space for relaxation, entertaining and fun.

French doors lead from a cozy living room to the first of several solaria that serve different functions.

This one’s a rec room. You may want to ask whether the seller is willing to sell you its pinball machines.

Also on this level is a large eat-in kitchen with a full complement of modern appliances, a large center island and oodles of farmhouse cabinets and drawers for storage.

The main floor has a wraparound deck with river views, but the listing copy appears to ignore the two other solaria on this floor — one outfitted as a dining room and the other furnished as a den.

A wraparound deck encircles these.

You may not want to leave the top-floor primary suite, which has both a sitting room and a partly-enclosed deck with the best river views you can get from this place.

An elevator connects all three floors to boot.

And on the ground floor you will find a large, flexible space with a second full kitchen along with a side room that you could use either for storage or to put up guests.

Then there’s the backyard, which ends with a two-level terrace on the riverbank. You can launch your watercraft from your private boat ramp, and there’s also a two-slip boat dock with tiedowns for kayaks and smaller watercraft.

In addition, this house sits on a lane you have to want to find, ensuring you loads of privacy, save for maybe the errant hiker or bicyclist using the Schuylkill River Trail. There’s a path to the trail across the street from here.

Listing agent: Matthew DeSantis, DeSantis Real Estate Team, Keller Williams Realty

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Philadelphia

113 Pine Street, Society Hill

5 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 2 half bathrooms, 2,776 square feet, asking price $2,000,000

Open house: Saturday, June 6, noon to 1:30 p.m.

This house dates to 1960, and it’s modern in style, so I guess that makes this a midcentury modern house. But the pictures you see here should make it clear that this house is more modern than midcentury.

It also shows that one can have both the convenience and excitement of city living and peace, quiet and tranquility if one plays one’s cards right.

And this property deals you a full house. The first room you see on the ground floor is a cozy living room with a fireplace and sliding glass doors leading to the front courtyard.

Next, you encounter the family room, a year-round indoor/outdoor double feature. When it’s cold, you can light a fire in its fireplace, and when it’s nice out, just open the wall of windows to bring the brick rear patio in.

Also outside is this tranquil garden designed by noted landscape architect Ian McHarg.

Across the foyer from the living room are the kitchen and dining room, which wrap around the main staircase.

The kitchen features a Viking range with double ovens, Sub-Zero fridge and large center island with bar seating.

The kitchen flows directly into the dining room, which has a wall of windows with a sliding door opening onto the brick rear patio.

The primary suite on the second floor has a soaring vaulted ceiling and two balconies, one facing Pine Street and the other, off the stylish bathroom, overlooking the rear garden.

The second floor has two more bedrooms. A fourth sits on the third floor, and the fifth guest bedroom is located off the finished basement rec room.

And if you want something other than tranquility and comfort, all you have to do is walk to the nearby Delaware waterfront (and Spruce Street Harbor Park in season), South Street or Old City.

This house also comes with deeded parking in a secure underground garage with gated entry across the street.

Listing agent: Rich DiNublia, Center City Listings Team, KW Empower

But some of us also need to find a house they can afford to buy. My open house picks today demonstrate that one can find stylish, attractive houses at every price point. There’s no Philadelphia house this week because no city open house falls within my desired price range.

Bucks County

507 Shepherds Way, Southampton

2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 968 square feet, asking price $335,000

(a $192/month HOA fee covers use and maintenance of community facilities)

Open house: Sunday, May 31, 1 to 3 p.m.

This townhouse in the Village Shires community offers loads of goodies in a great location for a modest price.

Its style is traditional but not overly so; the chair rail in the dining room is one of a very few ties to the past in this house.

The dining room wraps around a nicely outfitted kitchen equipped with black appliances, a rare and distinctive feature.

In addition to two spacious bedrooms and a full bath, this house has in-unit laundry facilities. It also includes access to all of Village Shires’ community facilities, which include three swimming pools, tennis courts, a clubhouse, fishing ponds, walking paths and several playgrounds and tot lots. It also offers easy access to Newtown, Tyler State Park, I-295, and Routes 332 and 413.

Listing agents: Jenna Taimanglo and Ryan Margaret Gloria, Roc Haus Real Estate LLC

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Chester County

1207 Charlestown Road, Phoenixville

3 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, 1 half bathroom, 1,122 square feet, asking price $350,000

Open house: Sunday, May 31, 1 to 3 p.m.

This vintage-1900 rowhouse combines rustic charm and modern sensibility to produce a residence that’s totally au courant.

The wood beams that accent the front porch set the tone for what you find inside. They add warmth to both the living room and dining room, and the wood accent wall in the living room and barn door over the powder room only enhance the effect.

And the cabinets in the kitchen almost exactly match the color of the wood accents and doors in the rest of the house…

…including the primary bedroom, where you will find a built-in organizing system and another barn door over its bathroom.

The third-floor bonus room can serve as a home office, as here, or as whatever else you might want.

You can either store stuff in or finish the unfinished basement, and the outdoor space includes a backyard. a patio in the side yard and a detached garage. Finally, it’s a short drive or a pleasant walk from here to the west end of Phoenixville’s lively main drag, Bridge Street, which Charlestown Road turns into less than a block from this place.

Listing agent: Cat Mayo, Keller Williams Real Estate

Delaware County

270 Westbrook Drive, Clifton Heights

3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,152 square feet, asking price $259,000

Open house: Sunday, May 31, 1 to 3 p.m.

Philadelphia is known for the way rowhouses dominate its housing stock. That dominance extends into many of the middle-class neighborhoods in its suburbs, where block upon block of Airlite rowhouses arose right after World War II.

This Airlite, built in 1949, sits in the middle of one of those blocks in Westbrook Park, which gets mail from the Clifton Heights post office but located in Upper Darby Township.

Its owner has updated it in a way that demonstrates that these midcentury houses can be infused with modern sophistication. It has the standard Airlite layout that opens with a large living room in the front of the main floor.

Behind the living room are a dining room and a galley kitchen. The dining room has a stylish modern light fixture and sliding doors that lead to the rear sun porch.

The kitchen has plenty of cabinet and counter space and up-to-date appliances.

The screened-in sun porch has warm wood walls and skylights.

And its three upstairs bedrooms include a roomy primary one.

Westbrook Park is a tranquil community that is nonetheless close to both Baltimore Pike and SEPTA’s D1 light rail line between Media and 69th Street Transportation Center.

Listing agent: Mathews Chacko, Tesla Realty Group (listing via Zillow)

Montgomery County

1720 Locust Street, Norristown

3 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, 1 half bathroom, 1,296 square feet, asking price $300,000

Open house: Sunday, May 31, noon to 2 p.m.

This twin isn’t as old as it might look: it was built in 1928. Its owners have maintained and updated it nicely while respecting its original strong bones.

An open main floor welcomes you with a comfortable living room in front…

…connected by a large archway to a dining room with a handsome neotraditional chandelier. (You may want to see if you can persuade the owner to leave the live-edge dining table behind.

Behind the dining room is an updated kitchen with plenty of granite-topped counter space and loads of cabinet storage.

The three upstairs bedrooms all have clean traditional lines and plenty of windows to let light in. The laundry is in the unfinished basement.

But the Wow! factor sits behind the house in form of an attractively landscaped backyard whose focal point is the pergola covering its brick patio. A raised terrace with wood latticework ties the house and backyard together.

This house sits on a tree-lined block in Norristown’s northern reaches, across the street from the former David Rittenhouse Junior High School, a National Register-listed building that now contains apartments.

Listing agent: Naomi Witz, Century 21 Advantage Gold

Are you the sort of person who loves to entertain family and friends?

There’s a rowhouse in Northern Liberties with your name on it.

The public records list its construction date as 1920, but as we all know, the public records are often wildly off.

“I would say it’s a modernized historic property,” says co-owner Greg Wilhoit. “It was built, I think, in the 1860s or 1870s, but I think the last modernization was in 2011.”

And since the architect who made this place over in 2011 did such a bang-up job, Wilhoit and his partner Sean Strachan had to do next to nothing to it when they bought it a decade later.

Where the architect had already turned the separate living and dining rooms into a single open space, for instance, Strachan and Wilhoit added a shiplap accent wall between the two rooms’ fireplaces.

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Q: Why does this Pennsport trinity have a garage?

A: Because it was the thing to do in 1960, when this house was built.

While Philadelphia has never required that individual houses have garages included, for many years, the city zoning code did specify that developments with 10 units or more include a minimum number of parking spaces. The 2012 zoning code rewrite did away with these minimums, but before then, many developers decided the easiest thing to do if they were building a row of houses was to include a garage in each one.

This one-off shows why people found this approach unlovely. Worse still, in a trinity, it takes away valuable living space. Because of the garage on the main floor, this house is only two-thirds of a trinity.

But since this trinity has a minimalist design and has a larger-than-usual footprint, the two-thirds of its 833 square feet given over to living space will prove comfortable enough for a single person or a couple just getting started on their journey together.

The two upper floors are in essence white boxes. The one on the second floor includes a kitchen.

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A trio of windows in front that includes a large center window lets lots of morning sunlight into the space. And the totally open plan means you can configure this however you want.

Except for the kitchen, of course. It has clearly gotten an update since 1960.

This house’s bathroom sits next to the kitchen at the back of the main floor.

Personally, I would have preferred it if the architect had cut a corner out of the white box that is the top-floor bedroom in order to include a closet. But at least this lets you add a wardrobe that complements the bedroom furniture.

The garage has an automatic opener and a glazed cement floor that adds a splash of color, much as the wood staircase between the second and third floors does.

This trinity has no outdoor space of its own, but Jefferson Square Park is a block away and two playgrounds, Sacks and Herron, are almost as close. Plus it’s a short walk from here to the Delaware riverfront, and all kinds of shopping and dining options, from the big-box stores of Columbus Commons to the foodie paradise that is the Italian Market, are easy to reach from here.

So if you’re looking for a minimalist modern marvel and have a car that you need to stash, this is the place you’ve been looking for.

• 1236 E. Moyamensing Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19147

• 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 885 square feet, asking price $419,999

• Listing agent: Joseph Cristinzio, Mercury Real Estate Group

There goes my Memorial Day Weekend barbecue, and yours as well. But open houses are like the mail: Neither rain nor snow will keep agents from holding them (well, enough of either will, but we’re not facing deluges this weekend). Sure, you’ll need an umbrella or parka to get from your car (or bus or train) to the house itself, but once inside, you can stay dry.

This week, I offer five attractive properties in the middle of the market for you to check out.

Bucks County

214 Welsford Road, Fairless Hills

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,735 square feet, asking price $475,000

Open house: Sunday, May 24, 1 to 3 p.m.

This midcentury split-level dates to 1971, when suburban split-level houses were still all the rage. This one, however, has left 1971 in the dust on the inside.

Its owners gave it a totally postmodern makeover in 2015 that updates midcentury design innovations like the open-plan layout to align with modern tastes. The L-shaped main living area features a wood-plank accent wall surrounding its fireplace and stylish, modern LED light fixtures in its living and dining areas.

The eat-in kitchen also got an upgrade that gave it plenty of counter space, loads of cabinets and a pantry.

The bedrooms and bathrooms are all just as stylish, and the basement got turned into a rec room with a bar.

Behind all this, a deck off the dining room and a covered patio off the ground-floor bonus room both look out and open onto a lovely landscaped backyard.

Listing agent: Kubra Topal-Demirhan, Realty Mark Associates

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Chester County

138 Magnolia Street, West Chester

5 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, 1 half bathroom, 1,976 square feet, asking price $575,000

Open house: Saturday, May 23, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This turn-of-the-20th-century twin also got a makeover that gave it clean modern style.

You might consider it a commentary on our times that the living room portion of the main living area focuses on the big-screen TV rather than the brick fireplace. But there is also a seating area with a desk next to the fireplace.

The dining room has a modern ceiling fan, and the kitchen features plenty of Shaker cabinets and an ell with a breakfast nook.

The primary bedroom has a classy accent wall, and one of the other four bedrooms now serves as its walk-in closet.

This house also has an ample, fenced backyard and patio, and it’s situated midway between downtown and West Chester University, so you can easily dive into everything West Chester Borough has to offer.

Listing agent: Mike Ciunci, MC West Chester Homes, Keller Williams West Chester

Delaware County

3171 Foulk Road, Garnet Valley

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,447 square feet, asking price $525,000

Open house: Saturday, May 23, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If you yearn for the rustic character of an Early American farmhouse, the house you’re looking for is right here.

The original stone farmhouse was built in 1830 and got side and rear additions tacked on over in the years that followed.

Its original living room is now its dining room. The original stone walls and beamed ceiling make it a cozy and inviting space, and its fireplace has a 19th-century wood stove inserted into it.

You can also see where the wood stove was in the living room in the side addition.

This 19th-century charmer boasts all the modern features you want as well. Those include an eat-in kitchen with traditional cabinetry and a large island, updated bathrooms and central air conditioning. You will also find a fireplace in one of the second-floor bedrooms.

The 1.5-acre grounds contain a barn with a workshop, patio, two storage sheds and a vintage water pump. You won’t need to use the pump, though, because this house is hooked up to public water and sewer service. This piece of early Americana offers you both comfortable living and opportunities to add your own personality to it.

Listing agent: Stephanie Olenik, Tallon Olenik Real Estate Team, Keller Williams Real Estate — Media

Montgomery County

201 Evans Avenue, Willow Grove

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,956 square feet, asking price $449,900

Open house: Saturday, May 23, 1 to 3 p.m.

If you’ve been searching for a classic Dutch Colonial gem, this house is truly the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow.

It has been immaculately maintained and retains all of its traditional charm while being up-to-date where it counts.

You walk through the red front door into a house-spanning living room anchored by a wood-burning stone fireplace at one end.

French doors connect it to a simply elegant dining room, which in turn is connected to an updated kitchen whose cabinetry offers an elevated take on Shaker style.

Its unfinished basement contains the laundry and storage space, and its backyard includes a two-car garage and plenty of room for recreation, relaxation, landscaping and gardening. And it’s convenient to both Willow Grove Regional Rail station and Willow Grove Park Mall.

Listing agent: Darice Eppinger, Buy Sell Love Philadelphia, eXp Realty

Philadelphia

2519 Grays Ferry Avenue, Graduate Hospital

4 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, 1 half bathroom, 1,500 square feet, asking price $524,900

Open houses: Saturday, May 23, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday, May 24, 10 a.m. to noon

At the end of the 19th century, the humble Philadelphia “workingman’s rowhouse” caused a sensation when a model was displayed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This stylishly renovated one a block or so from Naval Square should create another one, it’s so well done.

The tone is set in the open vestibule, where original details like a leaded-glass window and exposed brick wall mix it up with a Moderne banister and modern lighting and ceiling.

The vestibule is one with the totally open main floor, where the comfortable living room flows into the simple yet stylish dining room and is capped off by a fully outfitted, totally au courant kitchen whose cabinetry mixes past and present.

You’ll also find exposed brick forming the backdrop to the sculpted wood accent wall in the primary bedroom. One of the other three bedrooms serves as a home office.

The finished basement contains the laundry room and plenty of opportunity for you to outfit it to your desire. There’s an ample rear patio in back and the option for you to add a roof deck, a third story or both to the structure thanks to similar alterations elsewhere on this block. And with a Walk Score of 91, you should be able to do just about anything you want to without a car.

Listing agent: Pearce Vazquez, KW Empower