April 30, 2026
Provided image/Daniel Isayeff
The former home of Judge John Fullam overlooks two tributaries of Jericho Creek in Newtown, Bucks County.
The former mid-century modern home of the late Judge John Fullam, who presided over the Abscam corruption case in Philadelphia in the early 1980s, is on the market for $5.85 million
Built in the woods of Newtown, the house's stone walls and wood-burning fireplaces reflect the wild scene outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. The four-bedroom home is set on a hillside overlooking two tributaries of Jericho Creek. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
That's due to its renowned architect Paul Rudolph, Fullam's classmate at Harvard University. He is known for the Brutalist-style buildings he designed for Boston's government and Yale University while he was the New Haven college's chair or architecture, among other projects across the United States.
The Bucks County property includes roughly 26 private acres, a tennis court and a detached, three-car garage that was built in 2007. Maureen Reynolds, a Bucks County-based realtor with the luxury firm Serhant, is handling the sale.
The property, which spans over 26 private acres, includes a tennis court.
Provided image/Daniel Isayeff
Though Rudolph's portfolio is quite public, the Fullam house was relatively unknown for decades. Fullham and his wife, Alice, asked the architect not to publicize their property, and he honored their request through his lifetime. The couple relented in 2006, nearly a decade after Rudolph's death, when several of his projects were threatened with demolition. They sold the house the following year, and the house was sold again in 2014.
The mid-century modern house was designed by architect Paul Rudolph, the late chair of architecture at Yale University.
Provided image/Daniel Isayeff
As for the property's late owner, Fullam turned heads in 1980 when he overturned the jury's conviction of George Schwartz, the president of the Philadelphia City Council, and Harry Jannotti, council's majority leader, in the Abscam scandal. The pair were caught accepting bribes from an FBI agent posing as an intermediary for Arab sheiks seeking to build a hotel in the city. While their guilt was obvious — the exchange was videotaped — Fullam viewed the government's actions as entrapment. His ruling was later overturned, and Schwartz and Jannotti's convictions were reinstated.
Fullam also handled the bankruptcy trial of Penn Central Transportation Co. He died in 2018 at Plush Mills Senior Living in Delaware County.
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