From ramshackle to spectacular
Through a tiny opening in a little house, a buyer saw a vista - and a dream that took years to realize.
The typical house-hunter likely would have avoided the wooden “shack” on Jefferson Street in Belmont Hills. After all, its former owners had to leave the main structure to use the bathroom or the kitchen.
But Shep Houston is not the typical real estate client. She's an experienced architect with a trained eye for finding potential in a building or a site, specializing in renovations and additions to existing houses.
"I had been looking for three years, and as soon as I saw the 180-degree view of the Schuylkill River and Roxborough and Manayunk from the small louvered window in the back of the house, I knew I wanted the house," Houston says.
She had been living and working in West Philadelphia, but was eager to leave the neighborhood for a place where it was possible to be outdoors and have a garden.
Her real estate agent and the other professionals Houston consulted did what they could to discourage her from buying this "handyman's special," which had been vacant for a number of years even though it was bargain-priced.
"The view I saw through that tiny opening leading to the shed in the back sealed the deal," she says.
Despite the counsel of her advisers, Houston bought the house in 1989.
Former inhabitants of the 700-square-foot dwelling, which was built in 1891, had been part of the Italian community that headed for Belmont Hills in the late 19th century to work in the quarries nearby, she discovered.
"I learned that there was a family with eight children living here at one time, and one with 12 kids living next door," she says.
Houston had just begun renovating the property when a structural engineer thought he might have found foundation problems. Ultimately, he recommended specific structural repairs.
Then rot was discovered, further delaying refurbishing efforts. Undeterred, Houston had the entire first-floor exterior wall removed. The second floor, it turned out, was sound.
All told, it took Houston about 12 years, in stages, to complete the renovation of the house, whose size by the end had more than doubled, to 1,700 square feet.
She moved in after completion of the first stage of the work, which took about six months. A kitchen and two bathrooms had been added, all the electric and heating systems replaced, and air-conditioning installed.
For the second phase of her home's makeover, Houston designed a three-story addition in the rear that includes the living room, a guest bedroom, and, on the second floor, a studio for her architectural practice. A glass wall allows her and her colleagues to look up from their computers for a view of the woods, the Schuylkill, and Northwest Philadelphia beyond.
A few years ago, in a third phase of improvements to the house, Houston added a fireplace on a stone wall that meets a glass wall with a view of the woods and Manayunk.
She also added a cozy front porch.
Today, the result is a three-story jewel, transformed from the "shack" Houston bought to something she now calls "folk Victorian," a term she coined to describe her home, which is on about an eighth of an acre.
Greeting visitors are comfortable rocking chairs on the 16-foot-wide porch. Once inside, Houston's Labrador retrievers, blond Noah and black Ranger, serve as perfect guides through an entrance area filled with what she calls her "library" - shelves of books, plus comfortable chairs.
Through the library's doorway is a modern kitchen and a dining area furnished with a more traditional round table and high-backed chairs.
The east end of the kitchen is where the original house ends and the addition begins - and where the living room is dominated by a huge glass wall showing a panorama of trees and water and Philly neighborhoods.
Furnishings in the living room are a mix of styles - a little bit contemporary, a little bit Mission, with a bit of Victorian thrown in. But the eras harmonize in the bright space, embraced by golden walls with white trim.
In the second-floor studio, a large round window caps a wall of windows and a door facing the river. Three desks, computers, and drafting material dominate the room, but there's space, too, for toys and treats for Noah and Ranger.
Visible in addition to river traffic is an arbor and a sitting area behind the house.
Houston, who competes in agility trials with her Labrador retrievers and trains dogs as a hobby, is proud of the way the house blends in with its surroundings.
"I love the fact that on the outside the house looks as if it has always been here," she says, "but on the inside, it is very comfortable, everything is updated and modern."
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