House of the week: A four-bedroom, three-story house in Fairmount for $500,000
The house features high ceilings, natural light, and a renovated kitchen and bathrooms.
Bernice Kelly grew up in Wales, and her husband, Paul, is from Dublin, Ireland, but the four-bedroom, two-bath home on a tree-lined street in Fairmount “had the feel of where we’d lived outside of cities,” Bernice said. It held the charms of a country home, she said, while being accessible to Center City.
The couple bought the house in 2014, drawn to its layout and surroundings, as well as original features like brass hardware on the doors and inlaid floors.
“The house offered us study and studio space,” said Bernice, a painter who was a designer for Anthropologie. But now Paul, who owned and operated a Manhattan bar, has retired, so the couple moved to County Leitrim in rural Ireland.
During their decade in the Fairmount home, the Kellys made significant changes, renovating the kitchen and both bathrooms, and switching from oil to gas heat.
The living room has high ceilings, bordered hardwood floors, a decorative mantle, and an oversize front window.
French doors lead into the separate dining room and the kitchen, which then opens to the rear private patio, ideal for grilling and outdoor dining.
The second-floor features two generously sized bedrooms and a renovated hallway bathroom. A third, smaller bedroom served as a home office, or could be a nursery.
The third floor has a renovated bathroom and a large fourth bedroom, which the Kellys used as the primary.
An unfinished basement provides ample storage space.
The house is a short stroll or bus ride to Center City, and close to Whole Foods, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fairmount Park, and Kelly Drive.
It is listed by Francesca Prieto of Compass Realty for $500,000.