Situated on a promontory-like site at the end of West Park Avenue, the Walker house looks proudly out over the surrounding landscape. While those who remember the Walker era of presidency at Penn State are becoming fewer, Eric presided over one of the fastest growth periods of the University and his mark on the campus will long be present.
Eric was a protégé of University President Ralph Dorn Hetzel and brought to campus from Harvard to administer the Applied Research Laboratory (then Ordinance Research Laboratory) and its Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel. The home was built while he was Dean of the College of Engineering and was designed to accommodate entertainment of large groups of people, even though parking was just as bad then as it is now.
While the house appears to be a large-scale ranch design, the ground drops off in the back and the home is actually a two-story dwelling. While befitting its status, it was one of the few of the period to have a large two-car garage. Eric didn’t believe air conditioning was necessary, however, either for his home or the campus (and even his Old Main office was not air conditioned).
The main level floorplan.
An early photo from Park Avenue.
Two early photos show the house as viewed from the northwest.
Sketch perspective is from the northwest.
The bedroom wing is center left, the kitchen-dining wing is far left, and the living room and porch wing is to the right.
A row of white birch line the driveway to the house. While it’s a little hard for the commoners to imagine, the trees were planted by Eric himself.
A covered walkway leads from the top of the driveway past a kitchen entry (with built-in boot scraper) to the main entrance of the dwelling.
The view from the entry walkway is across the University golf course to the Tussey Mountains beyond.
The house could just as well be on a secluded estate to get such a panorama.
The same view was once observable from The Dining Room at the Nittany Lion Inn.
Perhaps if Eric were still alive, the town would still have the view as well.
Perhaps somewhat strangely, the house has no entry hall, per se. The main entrance (just right of the stained glass) leads directly into the spacious living room. A short hall to the right leads to the master bedroom and to the left stairs lead to the lower level and a hall leads to sleeping areas.
The lower print on the wall is by long-term Centre County artist Harold Altman and arrived circuitously at its present location. The current house owner bought it in Paris assuming that it was a French work.
The fireplace wall is typical Hallock in a particularly grand style. The raised hearth runs the entire length of the room and provides extra seating for guests during large-scale entertaining. The indirectly lit tray ceiling is inspired by one Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the great room of Fallingwater.
Instead of a mantle, Hallock used projecting stone slabs as surfaces for displaying objets d’art. This design was also frequently utilized by Wright.
There are symmetrical bay windows at the west end of the living room, each with frameless corner glass pioneered by Wright. Each bay window also has a built-in planter, as well often in Wright homes.
The frameless corner glass is shown in an exterior view. Hallock used this window style frequently in his upper-scale homes and used them extensively in the Walker dwelling.
The library/study shares the chimney with the living room. Again there is a raised hearth. The built-in book shelves line the entire length of the side wall.
The all-white storage wall of the master bedroom makes it difficult to portray the detail of the Hallock designed drawer pulls. They are curved lips projecting the full width of the drawers.
To the right of the stairs to the lower level is a built-in divider. On the stair side shelves for books or art objects are provided.
On the dining room side of the divider, a built-in buffet is created. A door to the right leads to a secluded terrace.
Cabinets are naturally finished wood in the galley kitchen.
The kitchen table is a Hallock design specialty. It is cantilevered from the wall on a steel beam so that there are no legs to bump your knees.
The hallway from the kitchen door to the terrace door is lined with naturally finished wood storage cabinets.
Stepping outside the kitchen or dining room, one can take respite in a secluded terrace.
Adding to the serenity of the terrace is a landscaped fish pond. Additional landscaping makes the area quite private.
Stone stairs lead from the lower yard level to the living room porch.
The living room porch and a bay window are shown from the North side.
The living room porch is perfect for observing golfers and the distant mountains.
The porch and bay window and master bedroom are shown from Park Avenue.
A large recreation room with a fireplace and raised hearth underlies the living room and the master bedroom areas.
A bomb fallout shelter is to the left of the doors to the outside. Ever the engineer, Eric figured that Pittsburgh would be a likely cold war A-bomb target, with prevailing winds carrying radiation for three days, so he designed accordingly.
Large steel beams support the radiant-heated concrete floor between the levels.
