When Carole Stremple and her husband first visited this old Butler County farmhouse, they weren’t dazzled. 

“First of all, it had no central heating and no bathroom,” she said, chuckling. “There was an outhouse in the back, a two-seater!”

But Stremple just knew they had found their new home. With a four-stall barn and wagon shed, the nearly 62-acre property was perfect for a family of riders.

“A friend told me about it and as soon as we drove up the driveway, I said this was it.” 

Today, the 1870s house is a far cry from the one the Stremples saw that day. Four decades of improvements and hard work have made 160 Monks Road in Middlesex a modern and charming home. It’s now called Pineapple Farm.

Stremple’s husband, Dr. John Francis Stremple, died last year, and she wants to live closer to her family in Massachusetts.

So the four-bedroom, two-bathroom farmhouse on 61.86 acres is on the market for $1.4 million (MLS No. 1623005), listed with Ann DuBois of Piatt Sotheby's International Realty (www.sothebysrealty.com or 724-612-5332). Annual taxes are $2,626.

The 2,378-square-foot house was built in 1873-1875 by Civil War veteran John Wesley Monks, a member of a prominent family in the Pennsylvania oil boom of the late 19th century. The post-and-beam barn, built prior to the house, was constructed with first-growth white oak beams, some more than 50 feet in length.

Set far back from the main road, the two-story house has several outbuildings, including a studio for Stremple, a sculptor and member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Behind the barn are 45 acres that a local farmer is currently farming under an agreement with Stremple. He provides hay for the horses.

In front of the house is an oval-shaped courtyard ringed with gravel. Visitors walk up a flagstone path to the front porch, which runs the width of the house and offers views of a restored garden with boxwood hedges, lawn and flower beds.

The living room, dining room and family room feature restored hardwood floors; the kitchen has black and white tile.

“We put on the kitchen and new bathroom downstairs, and upstairs, we added a bedroom and a bathroom,” Stremple said.

New countertops and a refrigerator are recent upgrades to the eat-in kitchen, which has white cabinetry and stainless-steel appliances, including a dishwasher, electric range, microwave and trash compactor.

Stremple’s favorite place for morning coffee is the kitchen.

“It’s beautiful looking straight back,” she said. “You see the back pasture.”

The Stremples refinished pine and oak floors and made many other improvements to the house and property.

The barn and wagon shed have new metal roofs and a turnout shed for the horses was added in 2013. A GENERAC generator will power the heat and air-conditioning in case of an outage and a new gas line was installed this year from the propane tank to the house.

The exterior tongue-and-groove siding has been repaired and replaced as needed, and the house has been completely rewired. Fiber optic cable was installed this year. The pond dam was restored with stone and there are two wells, one for the barn and garden.

The restored pond contains 75 Japanese koi and used to have swans, too.

“Lovely, cute and sweet when they were young. Then they grew up,” Stremple said. “As soon as they got mature, it was bad, snipping at the children.”

Some of the rooms feature wallpaper that fits the Victorian style and age of the home. Three of the four bedrooms have decorative fireplaces. Deep baseboards and the original staircase are true to the home’s past.

“I was told by somebody that when those houses were being built, a salesman was running around selling the newel post and banister,” Stremple said. “We preserved all of that.”

A second set of stairs runs from the kitchen to the second floor, probably for servants, she said.

Pineapple Farm is a 12-minute drive to shops and restaurants in Saxonburg and 20 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh.

This is what Stremple calls a pajama home.

“I used to say when I look at a house it needs to pass a pajama test. That is, I can sit on the front porch in my pajamas and drink coffee.”

This home does that and more.

Lizabeth Gray: lgray@post-gazette.com.

First Published: November 24, 2023, 10:30 a.m.