Location: Villanova, Penn.
Price: $1,299,000
The Skinny: In the tony towns on Pennsylvania's Main Line, pedigree is the premier social currency. These suburbs have been old-money strongholds since the the 1830s, and some of Philadelphia's most powerful families call the area home. Yearn to be one of them? Stick it to these stuffy elites by buying this mansion in Villanova, which was built in 1783, the year the British surrendered at Yorktown. When the neighbors' upper-lips go stiff at the sight of a new hybrid in vintage Bentley territory, casually explain that the house was built before George Washington had a chance to die. That'll show 'em.
Budding class war aside, this is one impressively preserved—and respectfully updated—example of early American architecture. Five bedrooms, three baths, and two half baths round out the house on this one-acre property. A gazebo and period outbuilding grace the backyard.
· 1835 Old Gulph Road [Long & Foster]