House of the week: A turn-of-the-century rowhouse in Fishtown for $400,000

Katie Reilly grew up in an 1850s farmhouse in Massachusetts, but she found a quiet oasis in what is perhaps an unlikely place: Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood.

“The first night I slept here, I thought I was in the country,” said Reilly, who had been renting in a higher-decibel neighborhood in Spring Garden.

She “fell in love with it right away,” she said, and bought the three-bedroom 1½-bath rowhouse in 2019 after seeing many houses with renovations she didn’t find attractive. She liked Fishtown’s walkability but also its runnability: She sometimes would start her day by running to the Delaware waterfront and back.

Now she is moving on for professional reasons. She is leaving her deputy director’s job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for one as an associate vice president of publishing at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The house is officially listed as having been built in 1915, but Reilly believes it was closer to 1900, perhaps even earlier.

It combines many original details with more recent upgrades, including a new water heater and electrical panel and a colorful first-floor powder room.

The house has wood floors with separation between the living room and dining room. The galley kitchen has glass-front cabinets, multiple windows, and a painted floor.

Bedrooms are upstairs in a layout that can also accommodate an office or nursery, and the large primary bathroom has a claw-foot tub.

There is a secluded rear deck and garden with mature perennials.

Total square footage is 1,313, and the basement has plenty of room for storage.

The house is listed by Rachel Shaw of Elfant Wissahickon Realtors for $400,000.