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The view of the great room from upstairs.
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Buying Here: Franklin Park house has private lake for $5.5 million

Robin DeNoma Photography

Buying Here: Franklin Park house has private lake for $5.5 million

Who needs a pool when you have your own 6-acre lake? Especially when it comes with a six-bedroom, 6½-bath home with views of the manmade lake and 19 acres of rolling hills.

This 9,000-square-foot-home at 1635 Pegher Lane in Franklin Park has timber framing and stone, brick, oak and slate used to maximum effect.

“I grew up in Ross Township around older-style homes with stone and slate roofs, copper gutters, and things like that, and I have an attachment to that look,” said owner Adam Slade.

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Begun in 2001 and finished in 2003, the house sits beside a lake created in the 1950s. “It was basically a swamp by the time I got it,” Slade recalled.

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Now restored, the lake is approximately 22-25 feet at its deepest point.

“My favorite time of year is in the spring when you hear the lake come alive with geese, ducks and frogs,” Slade said.

Now someone else will get to enjoy it. The property is on the market for $5,499,000 (MLS No. 1519203) with Elaine Shetler-Libent of Keller Williams (724-681-0412 or simplechoicerealty.com).

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Slade moved to the property in 1998 and lived in a smaller house until this one was finished. He raised five children there. Much of the material used to build the house is reclaimed.

“I reclaimed the slate from two or three barns, and all the exterior stone is barn stone that I collected,” he said.

Dwayne Leonberg was the stone mason who worked on the exterior and veneered the three wood-burning fireplaces. 

The kitchen, whose appliances include a Wolf range and Sub-Zero freezer drawers, opens up to an outdoor flagstone terrace that is a great spot to enjoy the lake view with a cup of coffee, Slade said.

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“The kitchen is awesome. We have a pizza oven, and the kids love it. It’s like having an outdoor kitchen with the convenience of being indoors.”

With a first-floor master suite and a gym on the lower level, this is a home you can grow old in.

Slade said the lake restoration was a massive project. The property was once owned by a candle-maker, who sold it to the Farina brothers. All priests, they let their parishioners use the lake. When the brothers died, the Little Sisters of the Poor inherited the property and then sold it to Slade.

“The [Department of Environmental Protection] made them drain the lake because it did not meet current guidelines,” he recalled.  

Slade got the permits to restore the lake and did much of the work.

“It is a beautiful place, and it is fun,” he said.

The property’s assessment is $1,079,600. Over the last five years, two houses have sold on Pegher Lane for $457,500 in June 2016 and $182,500 in October 2020 (www2.alleghenycounty.us/realestate/GeneralInfo.aspx?).

Slade said he is moving to a bigger lake in Mercer County.

“I am going to build a new home on Lake Latonka, and it will be even cooler than this home,” he said. “But living there was like living in Colorado with all the wildlife. It is really beautiful.

“But what I will miss is my grass. I love my grass, I really do.”

And he’ll also miss his ... laundry room?

“I just love my laundry room. When I fold laundry, I can watch the blue heron.”

Patricia Sheridan: psheridan@post-gazette.com.

First Published: October 15, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: October 15, 2021, 10:05 a.m.

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The view of the great room from upstairs.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The house at 1635 Pegher Lane in Franklin Park is on the shore of a manmade lake.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The master bathroom.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The house at 1635 Pegher Lane sits on 11 acres.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The dining room.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
Winter view of the house at 1635 Pegher Lane in Franklin Park.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The great room has a cathedral ceiling and wood-burning fireplace.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The house has a private dock by the lake.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
Glass doors from the kitchen lead to a patio with a view of the private lake.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
A sitting room with views of the property on three sides.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The front of the house faces Pegher Lane in Franklin Park.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The basement has a beamed ceiling and wood-burning fireplace.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
The master bedroom has a fireplace.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
A bedroom view from a loft.  (Robin DeNoma Photography)
Robin DeNoma Photography
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