House of the week: A 19th-century three-story rowhouse near Rittenhouse Square for $825,000

Lisa Blackman said that the house on Smedley Street “has great karma.”

“Everybody who has lived there has had good luck,” she claimed. “Engagements, better jobs.”

She herself has had two stays there. The first, some 46 years ago, was when she bought it for herself as a 25th birthday present.

Blackman, an audiologist, lived there for about 20 years before she moved out and got married, then divorced, moved back in, and later rented it to her son and his friends.

She loved the historic touches of the block on Smedley Street near Rittenhouse Square. The house was built in 1800 and there are historic fire department plaques on the walls and sidewalk-level places to scrape your boots.

She did extensive renovations to the two-bedroom, 2½-half bath house in both her stays there, at one point ripping out interior doors and having them put on closets.

“I have a lot of sweat equity in that house,” she said. “It’s my baby. It’s like giving up my first born.” But now she’s selling it to help her son buy a house in Los Angeles.

The three-story house has two outdoor areas including an outdoor paved patio, a bathroom on every level, hardwood floors throughout, and a galley kitchen.

The second level has a bedroom with several closets and a bathroom with walk-in steam shower and antique-style soaking tub.

The third level has flex space with a wood-burning Franklin stove fireplace, a deck, and a bedroom with views of treetops and Smedley Street.

Total square footage is 1,617, and there is a finished basement with laundry and access to an alleyway.

The house is in the Greenfield School catchment area.

It is listed by Shaina Levin and Kelly Patrizio of Coldwell Banker Realty for $825,000.