West Roxbury home is spacious 

There is a wonderful home available in the Bellevue Hill section of West Roxbury, described as the most suburban of all neighborhoods in the city.

West Roxbury is the southwest section of Boston, nestled between Brookline, Dedham and Jamaica Plain. Once part of Roxbury – named by the English for its puddingstone – West Roxbury broke away 1851 in an effort to retain its rural characteristics.

It is still possible to see remnants of Brook Farm, an 1841 Transcendentalism community whose founders included Nathaniel Hawthorne. The community was often visited by and influenced writers such as Horace Greeley, Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. 

Even though Boston annexed it in 1871, West Roxbury still possesses a suburban sensibility, with many single-family homes set on green lawns, active civic groups, many activities for children and a West Roxbury Main Street business district along Centre Street. Megan McGough and Margaret Hannemann of Hammond Residential GMAC Real Estate are marketing the outstanding home at 161 Park St. for $1.495 million. Renovations to 161 Park, constructed in 1910, began in 2005. Jared Wollaston of Hammond Residential planned the improvements, and Daniel Baker of Construction by Design did the work. The original plumbing as well as the wiring was replaced, and new heating and air conditioning systems were added. Other changes included a master bath, a wraparound deck and a new barn/garage. The result is a lovely home with five bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and a new state-of-the art kitchen.

The home is set on a slight hill, just under a half-acre. A curving brick path leads from the driveway, past the red maple tree and sidewalk garden to the new columned portico at the top of the brick front steps.

Gardens on either side of the portico contain plants for year-round beauty, including azalea, small rhododendron, mountain laurel and leucothoe.

A wide doorway topped by dentil molding and flanked by square fluted columns lies between the living room and formal dining room.

Inside the front door is a small entry with a floor of alternating woods. The next door opens into an elegant reception room, where the floor plan was rearranged for a better flow.

The crown molding, woodwork and pilasters replicate those in the living room. The front stairs and a coat closet are also here.

Wooden double pocket doors mark the entrance to the living room. The room is lovely, with refinished original hardwood floors, beautiful moldings and wide casements around the large windows. The lower half of the windows are covered by louvered shutters cover the lower half of the windows for privacy; the top half allow generous amounts of light.

Between the living room and the dining room is a wide doorway flanked by square fluted columns and adorned above by dentil molding. The dining room itself has interest at every side. The outside wall features an angular three-part bay with windows in each section. Beside the bay, a door leads to the delightful sunroom with blue bead board ceiling.

In the wall opposite the living room is a wood-burning fireplace with an arched brick opening. On either side of the fireplace are doors to the family room. The fourth wall contains both a granite pass-through and the door to the kitchen. 

The kitchen was rebuilt, and the working area was moved to the back of the house where a greenhouse window above the sink was added. A new hardwood floor contrasts with the warm white custom-built cabinets, which have CaesarStone quartz countertops.

Stainless steel appliances include a Thermador five-burner gas cooktop and overhead exhaust hood, a KitchenAid dishwasher and a Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer that is paneled to match the cabinetry.

The new kitchen is equipped with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, custom cabinetry and granite countertops.

Under the cooktop are two Dacor warming drawers, and the two wall ovens are also Dacor. There is even a flat screen LG television. A door at the back of the kitchen leads to a mudroom and the wraparound deck.

The breakfast room is in the space that held the old kitchen. It has a gas fireplace in the wall that divides it from the kitchen. Built-in cherry wood armoires, one that includes a desk, center two other walls. The third wall has a wet bar with granite counters and a wine cooler. The pass-through to the dining room is above the wet bar and is flanked by glass-fronted wall cabinet. A powder room and back stairs to the upper floor complete the space.

Next to the kitchen is the family room, which has large six-over-nine windows, wall and crown moldings, a wood-burning fireplace and a media center with a wide-screen flat television and a built-in sound system. Glass doors lead to the large wraparound deck that runs from the mudroom to the sunroom.

On the second floor are two bedrooms, a laundry room, and a full bath on one side of the original staircase and an en suite master bedroom on the other. The master bedroom, originally two rooms, is spacious, measuring 13 by 27 feet. It has a gas fireplace, a flat screen TV and two closets, plus a dressing room with two more closets. The skylit master bath features both a soaking tub and a glass-enclosed shower.

As part of the renovations, the third floor was finished and now has two more bedrooms, a full bath, a playroom with a flat screen television, and a kitchenette, which is equipped with CaesarStone counters, a microwave, an under-counter refrigerator and a wet bar. There is even a cedar closet.

The back yard is flat with room for play. Plantings beside the house include enkianthus. Around the perimeter of the yard are older shrubs and trees, including evergreens and rhododendron. The new two-car detached barn/garage has automatic door openers and space for a workroom. There is also an unfinished second floor loft.

DETAILS

Address: 161 Park St., West Roxbury

BR/BA: Five bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths

Age: 1910; 2006

Price: $1.495 million

Taxes: $6,961 (FY 2008 rate with residential exemption)

Features of home: Beautifully renovated colonial-style home with gambrel roof; chef's kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, custom cabinetry, quartz counters; two wood-burning and two gas fireplaces; new plumbing, wiring, gas-fired Munchkin high-efficiency three-zone heating and three-zone Trane air conditioning; full unfinished basement; laundry on upper floor; speakers with individual controls built in many rooms.

Close by: Restaurants and shops and open space  Billings Field, Stony Brook Reservation and city-owned George Wright Golf Course; Highland Commuter Rail Station.

Contact: Megan McGough or Margaret Hannemann, MM Partners at Hammond Residential GMAC REal Estate, 29 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02116. Phones: 617-536-3335 (office), 617-312-4848 (McGough cell) or 617-899-4747 (Hannemann cell). Web site: www.hammondre.com.