Auctioning off a historic Philly mansion | Real Estate Newsletter
And a sailboat on the Delaware is his home.
Have you ever been to a property auction? How about one for a 19th century mansion?
A Broad Street landmark near Temple University was just auctioned off.
The mansion’s place on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places protects its exterior. But preservationists are worried that the mansion’s extravagantly carved interior could be lost.
Keep scrolling for that story and to see what it’s like to live on a sailboat on the Delaware, to learn what to do when unwanted critters invade your home, to see a reader’s answer to a newsletter question from last week, and to get a peek inside a Center City rowhouse with a history.
📮 Would you rather live on a boat or in a tree house of the same size? For a chance to be featured in my newsletter, email me.
If you see this 🔑 in today's newsletter, that means we're highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Michaelle Bond
My colleague Kevin Riordan was at the auction last week of a Gilded Age mansion on Broad Street. As he noted, determining the future of 133 years of North Philly history took just six minutes.
A prominent local bookseller, a developer hoping to restore the house, and representatives of a Jewish studies center next door were among the bidders.
Some interesting facts about the mansion:
💰 A streetcar magnate built the three-story, seven-bedroom residence and carriage house in 1890 for $55,000. That’s almost $2 million in today’s dollars.
🏘️ The home was built in a distinctively intricate style by a Philly architect and is a landmark in North Philly’s Mansion District.
🙏🏿 The International Peace Mission Movement, a religious organization led by the charismatic clergyman known to followers as Father Divine, had owned the building since 1952.
Read about why the mansion’s story is also a Black history story and take a look inside.
Don Baugh owns a million-dollar view of Philly’s waterfront, my colleague Frank Kummer wrote this week. But it costs $400 a month.
That’s because Baugh lives on his sailboat. (Now that’s a tiny home.)
The 34-foot-long boat he bought used is docked on the Philadelphia side of the Delaware River on Columbus Boulevard between Arch and Market Streets. It has electricity, heat, and high-speed internet. Baugh holds virtual and in-person meetings for his job at a table inches from a tiny stove, oven, and sink.
The 6-foot-3 Baugh, who has to duck to enter his cabin, started living on his boat in Philly seven years ago.
Read about why Baugh’s life calling motivated him to live on the water and see the realities of living on a sailboat.
The latest news to pay attention to
The amount of office space available for lease in the Philly area was at an all-time high last month, but a business group is optimistic that office buildings will continue to fill.
On a South Philly property where a developer plans to build apartments, workers partially demolished an Isaiah Zagar mosaic, resulting in a frantic neighborhood response.
A bunch of Philadelphia pools will stay closed heading into summer, leaving neighborhoods without a vital community resource.
Cherelle Parker won Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, which means she’ll likely be the first woman mayor in Philadelphia’s history. Here’s where she stands on real estate issues.
Whether you’re a homeowner or a renter, you’ll want to keep an eye on this news. Next month, your Peco bill might go up.
House of the week: For $485,000, a three-bedroom contemporary home in Pennsport.
A few years ago, I lived in a rowhouse that my family, friends, and I refer to as “the mouse house.”
Mice ate through my chocolate stash and nibbled on the foil covering a hunk of my mom’s famous pound cake. I could hear them scurrying through the walls and chewing through wood. I once woke up to one perched next to me on my bedside table. I watched one run across the top of a trap I’d set.
It was awful.
Carol Richard has had to deal with bigger critters in her mobile home in Quakertown.
“I’ve had at least four possum, four to five groundhogs, and a few skunks removed,” she said. “It’s more than just a nuisance.”
Creatures such as bees, bats, roaches, and raccoons can be health hazards or damage your home.
To fight back, “look at your house through the eyes of a wild animal,” a director at the Humane Society said. For tips on how to handle insects, rodents, birds, and more in your home, read this story.
At first, Melissa Geary and Sara Beaver weren’t interested in seeing the Center City house their real estate agent kept suggesting. They didn’t want a traditional rowhouse with narrow halls and the kitchen in the back.
But when no other house seemed right, the couple agreed to take a look. And they fell in love with the 1,490-square-foot renovated home.
They liked its location and age. The three-story home was built in 1875. Previous owners had added a vaulted ceiling and French doors and remodeled the kitchen.
The first-time homeowners have been working with their dads on some renovations of their own, including painting white walls deep colors. They hired someone to install handmade wooden windows painted black. They redesigned the unfinished basement around an original woodstove.
See what Geary and Beaver uncovered about their home’s history and first owner, and take a peek inside.
🧠 Trivia time 🧠
Last week, a woman discovered that something had crashed through the roof of her father’s New Jersey house. It hit the hardwood floor in his bedroom, ricocheted, and left a second hole in the ceiling before landing on the floor.
Question: What hit the house?
A) Debris from an airplane
B) A giant piece of hail
C) A meteorite
D) Debris from a satellite
This story has the answer.
📷 Photo quiz 📷
Where is this church-turned-office located?
📮 If you think you do, email me back.
Shout out to Raj P. for correctly answering last week’s photo quiz. It was a picture from the bridge between 30th Street Station and its parking garage.
🏡 Your home experience 🏡
Last week I asked whether anyone had a drawing, painting, or other visual representation of their home.
My question was inspired by two things: artwork by an East Kensington painter who finds inspiration in the interiors of homes and a watercolor of a family home in Voorhees that I saw when I wrote about empty nesters who combined two condos in Center City.
For the next several weeks, I’ll highlight some of the answers. 🖼️
Newsletter reader Charlie C. in Northern Liberties shared that he recently spent hours creating a virtual representation of his home with computer-aided design software to prepare for future remodeling.
Tune in next week for another reader submission: a watercolor of a Wissahickon home.
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On a walk in the city the other day, I suddenly caught a whiff of a pleasant smell that reminded me of my aunt and uncle’s house, where I spent many hours as a kid.
Have you ever smelled something that reminded you of your childhood home? Or your current one?
In a survey of 2,000 Americans, six in 10 said they could describe the smell of their childhood home. (Mostly wood and natural scents.) Half said they miss the smell of their current home after being away. And floral scents are most popular.
Smell ya later. And enjoy the rest of your week.