Country club living takes a residential turn at 7 South Mountain Ave., a French Norman home in Montclair designed by famous golf course clubhouse architect Clifford C. Wendehack.
Tucked off a quiet lane in Montclair’s Estate Section, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom home listed in April for about $1.7 million has a restrained elegance, said Ann McCarthy, the listing agent with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty. Built in 1929, the home features arched entryways, porthole windows and original exterior details, including a gargoyle.
“This is a home you’d actually live in — not just admire,” McCarthy said. “Every corner feels usable, lovable and beautifully considered.”
The French Norman-style home at 7 South Mountain Ave. in Montclair was designed by famous clubhouse architect Clifford C. Wendehack, who penned the historic clubhouse at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York and others in the region.
Set behind a cobblestone drive, the house features a drastically sloped slate roof atop a base of brick and stone. The main level has a sunken living room with wood-beamed ceilings and a wood-burning fireplace as well as a solarium with backyard access. A formal dining room with arched windows and a gas fireplace connects to a butler’s pantry and kitchen with an eating nook. A family room and full bath complete the main floor.
The home’s original owners were Frank H. Davis, a Detroit-born investment broker active in Montclair civic groups, and his wife, Lilian Earl Davis, who served as secretary of the town’s first Planning Board and former tuberculosis association. According to the Montclair Times, the home was built at an estimated cost of $38,000 to match a design penned by country club clubhouse specialist Wendehack.
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A local architect with a home in Upper Montclair, Wendehack’s clubhouses include U.S. Open venues Winged Foot Golf Club and Bethpage State Park in New York, the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus and Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell. Not just a designer, Wendehack wrote extensively on clubhouse design, including in his 1929 book “Golf & Country Clubs,” which featured many of his projects.
The French Norman-style home at 7 South Mountain Ave. in Montclair was designed by famous clubhouse architect Clifford C. Wendehack, who penned the historic clubhouse at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York and others in the region.
Wendehack approached his work with a Beaux-Arts foundation and, according to the book, believed historical forms should be adapted for modern use. He called clubhouses “modern temples of sport” and, like the skyscraper, saw them as truly American architectural forms.
Whether designing a clubhouse or a home like 7 South Mountain, Wendehack favored heavy gables, deep fireplaces and stone construction that conveyed permanence. He also saw these places as respites—spaces where Americans found rest, camaraderie and a connection to nature.
The French Norman-style home at 7 South Mountain Ave. in Montclair was designed by famous clubhouse architect Clifford C. Wendehack, who penned the historic clubhouse at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York and others in the region.
Those themes carry over into 7 South Mountain, which places all four bedrooms on the second level. There is a two-room suite with a gas fireplace, full bath and Juliet balcony. The primary bedroom shares a bath with a fourth bedroom, now used as an office. The lower level includes a recreation room, wine room, full bath, laundry area and storage. The home also has central air and an attached two-car garage.
Included in the National Register of Historic Places, 7 South Mountain is also known in local records at the Close House in memory of Donald P. Close. An owner of the home in the second-half of the 20th century who died in 2008, Close was a Wharton School graduate, a sports and luxury car enthusiast and Bronze Star recipient in World War II who launched his career in finance with IBM in Newark. In 1992, after decades working for Fortune 500 companies, he founded Pembroke Close Management Group, an executive consulting firm based in New York City.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair home by noted golf course clubhouse builder listed for $1.7M