On The Market: After 38 years of care and restoration, Victorian twin in Fairmount for sale
The interior of the five-bedroom home at 2030 Wallace Street is a testament to craftsmanship and hiring the right people for restoration, but the exterior is the result of DIY-ingenuity.
On the Market profiles homes for sale in the Philadelphia region.
When Scott and Pat Sanders bought their Fairmount home in 1977 and began renovations, Wallace Street was an open-air trading post for neighbors with homes in various states of restoration. Doorknobs, moldings and other finishes were swapped easily.
"It was very much a collaborative effort on the street," Pat said. "If there were things missing, we traded pieces of moldings with neighbors because everyone was doing the same thing."
Of the 40-odd homes on her block, Sanders says nearly half of the neighbors from her memories of renovation remain. The rest of the homes are divided among young professionals and new families.
When they moved in, the 3,365-square-foot home was carved into a series of apartments.
"It was basically a liveable shell," she said. They worked room by room to renovate the property. "When one room was being remodeled, we lived in another room. Eventually we moved upstairs."
Many of their neighbors were also renovating, including noted developer Tom Scannapieco, who was a neighborhood contractor on the block at the time. The home he purchased had a large mirror Sanders said he told her would look better in their house.
He "basically loaned it to us forever," she said. "It's been up there ever since."
Sanders said she and her husband restored as much as they could and remodeled the rest. They saved as much plaster as possible, and hired a sculpture student from the University of Pennsylvania to complete molds for some of the original features.
It was important to the couple to hire master craftsmen to renovate the property. "We felt it deserved it," she said.
When it was time to renovate the paneled den and bar, she asked another plaster maker to teach her how to make the molds herself. "It wasn't as extensive, so I figured I couldn't screw it up that much," she said. Now the den is her favorite room in the home.
The interior of the five-bedroom home is a testament to craftsmanship and hiring the right people for restoration, but the exterior is the result of DIY-ingenuity.
When the house behind the Sanders home was being torn down in 1977, Scott approached the demolition team and offered them $20 for the bricks. After pouring two tons of sand, he laid the bricks himself that now make up a patio beside a mature and inviting garden.
"It was a labor of love, and a labor of labor, too," she said.
The home is currently listed with realtor Daniel McHugh for $824,000.
Sanders said the couple is ready to retire to a single-floor condo. "We put so much of ourselves into the house, and it's time to say goodbye."