Just Listed: Renewed Workingman’s Rowhouse in Powelton Village

From affordable housing for working people to affordable housing for single women, this house at 3843 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 has served as a stepping stone to a better life for both the people who lived in it when it was built and the woman who is selling it now. Now you get a chance to build a better life in it. / Photography by Alcove Media via Compass Real Estate

If there is a rock song that could be used to describe the People’s Emergency Center’s (now HopePHL) mission, it would be “Gimme Shelter.” From its beginnings in 1975, the organization has made providing shelter for homeless families, single women and others in need of a safe place to sleep a core part of its services.

Eventually, the PEC decided that building shelter would be a logical extension of its mission. So it formed a community development corporation that built and renovated homes in West Philadelphia’s Powelton Village to offer affordable housing for formerly homeless families and single women.

The PEC rehabilitated the row that includes this Powelton Village workingman’s rowhouse for sale in 2007 as a workforce housing development. And not long after that, firefighter Michelle Bailey purchased it.

“We loved it. This was our first home purchase ever,” she says of the house where she raised her son. “He was the only kid on our block when we moved here. And he loves it, too.”

The PEC provided her with a bright, light-filled house with an open main floor. She then added some touches and tweaks that made it her own.

Living room

The living room features the original fireplace mantel, now a decorative object. A powder room that she spruced up sits between it and the kitchen and dining room in the back.

Kitchen

Bailey repainted the walls a sunny yellow-green when she remade the kitchen. Bucking a trend, she chose white appliances for the redone kitchen and painted the cabinets to match.

Dining room

She also installed contemporary lighting in both it and the dining room behind it.

Rear patio

Rear patio

And behind the main floor, steps lead down to a spacious landscaped patio.

Primary bedroom

The three upstairs bedrooms needed no renovation, but she did paint the elevated primary bedroom in front deep and medium blue. There’s a second bedroom that could serve as a home office or nursery next to it.

Laundry

A laundry closet and sitting area lie just outside the primary bedroom, at the top of the steps.

Bathroom

Bathroom

A full bathroom lies off the corridor leading to the rear bedroom.

Rear bedroom

Now, however, she is ready to sell the house. Two events have made it possible. The first was her marriage, which led her to join her husband at his place; since that happened, she has rented this house out to traveling doctors, nurses and medical students. The other was the expiration of a deed restriction that prevented the owner from selling the house at market rates for 15 years.

Thanks to the expiration, Bailey can now cash in on the house price appreciation that has taken place in Powelton Village in the years since these houses were built. But even at a higher price, this Powelton Village workingman’s rowhouse for sale remains a great value.

“My son and I were talking about it the other night,” she says. “We’re getting rid of our home and we were just hoping that somebody who loves it as much as we do gets it.”

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 3

BATHS: 1 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 1,728

SALE PRICE: $475,000

3843 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 [David Feldman | Compass]

Updated March 28th, 2:46 p.m. to clarify the nature of the renovation project involving the row that includes this house.