A friend of mine pointed out this modern rehab to me right around the corner from our site earlier this week that is now listed for sale. It turns out that one of our readers, Todd Bennett, is the co-owner of the rehabbed garage and was kind enough to give me a tour yesterday.
The story behind the rehab is actually pretty interesting. Todd, his girlfriend (now wife) and another friend who were all Master of Architecture majors at University of Pensylvania were faced with the task to find internships for the summer about two years ago. Together they came up with the idea to buy, design and rehab a house in Philly for their summer experience rather than going the traditional internship route. They dove in and two years later are putting the finishing touches on their modern rehab which they are now selling due to everyone graduating and moving out of Philly for their new jobs.
The rehab ended up taking longer than planned due to common development issues in Philadelphia, but the team stayed on budget and completed the majority of the construction themselves. Todd said that the timeline for the project was as follows:
- First Summer shopping for a property and purchasing
- Entire following school year for obtaining zoning and building permits
- Next summer and school year for complete rehab
The finished product is impressive and boast the following features:
- Cor-Ten steel screen facade that provides privacy, security and looks badass
- Interior courtyard separating public space from private space in the home
- 600 sf extensive green roof
- 200 sf rooftop patio with recycled tire pavers
- Bamboo flooring throughout
- On-demand electric water heater
- 3 beds + 2 baths with 10-12 ft ceilings
- Exposed brick interior
- modern finishes throughout
Check out the links below for sales info and lots more images of the home. It has just been put on the market for $419K and while this is a bit pricey for the neighborhood it could also be considered a bargain for this unique, modern space unlike anything else you will find in Philly right now.
Todd’s Flickr Page for the Vader Home (He says it looks like Darth Vader’s Lair)
29 comments ↓
WOW! That’s one sexy house! Is that in Kenso?
Yup. It’s on Fletcher St. just west of Amber St.
Thats one sweet house indeed! Good to see Philly get modern!
[...] via the 100k House project blog [...]
sweet, but sure wouldn’t want any kids or drunks on that stairwell. yikes.
They were actually waiting on the custom designed railings to be complete in that image. They were installed when I was there yesterday and were working on the railings for the roof deck next.
Beautiful. Did they mention what the total sqft is?
Any ballpark estimate on the total build cost? That’s absolutely beautiful!
Vader Garage Rehab Will Take Your Breath Away!…
My man over at 100k House ran into a guy in Philly that just finished this green garage rehab and has it for sale on Craigslist. Long and short, three…
holy smokes, details details details… that really looks great.
it’s a shame though that the arch-owners will be moving away post-graduation. philly is building momentum and hopefully pioneers like these (and you and moto and qb3 and…) will be the rule rather than the exception in the years ahead.
That is some place! I think the front facade is pure genius as is lends itself to something less than what is in store for those entering the home. Bravo!!
We have organized an informal house tour - thank you to Todd, Amy, and Ross. So if you are curious about this house this is your chance to experience it in person.
When and where: 18 June 2008, 6pm, at 2062 East Fletcher Street, Phila, PA 19125.
I’ve also created a event page on LiveModern.com where you will find a link to a google map:
http://livemodern.com/Members/lavardera/delaware-valley-modernists-house-tour-18-jun-08
Email me if you can come glv@lamidesign.com - its not mandatory, but its nice to have an idea of how many to expect. Also, show this to your friends and family and see if you can’t drag a few more people along with you. This is a rare chance to get a peak at a cool modern house.
lovely house, a bit small but yet spacious… i saw one odourless a bit sticked to the bath, and one room with a smaller window maybe wouldn’t like that for me, but i love the third pic on the corridor is luminous… nice bricks on the kitchen walls along the dining room. nice home!
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[...] to see and such: 2062 E Fletcher Flickr- pictures galore, oh my 100K House - an amazing arch-economic journey in our very environs, check back for my post on the project in [...]
[...] Modern Rehab developed by three architecture students in [...]
[...] A garage gets made into a modern home by two UPenn architecture grads in Philly. (Via CoolBloom.) [...]
[...] of LamiDesign and Materialicious fame has been so gracious as to organize an open house at the modern rehab we posted on a few weeks ago. Since that post, the “Vader House” on Fletcher St has been picked up [...]
419K for a house in kensington? ha! even better is its featured (unironically) on the 100K house site, a TRUE game changing idea and design that drives home how ridiculous and superficial design wanks like the vader house are.
The difficulty will be getting the house to appraise for $419K. I can’t imagine that an appraisal would get too close to that figure and they will need to lower their expectations or rent.
For a reference, our homes appraised for $255K each at around 1,200 sf with 2beds and a bath.
Interior is cool. Facade is so bleak, cold, and sterile to the pedestrian. Not a fan of that.
I concur with Kevin on the facade. The facade kind of looks like a leather bar in NYC, very severe, especially in the picture on the other page where you can’t see the lights inside. On the other hand the inside looks very inviting.
I love the facade. I would not change a thing.
Badass house. Completely awesome. But I bet they will have trouble getting it to appraise for that price. Maybe they can find a cash buyer, or else get a courageous bank to pre-approve a loan based on a creative, credentialed appraiser. I ran into a similar problem in another city — bought a cool house, ahead of the curve in a rough neighborhood, and the bank was having none of it b/c 5 appraisers gave up. But the house is sweet, so I hope it works out.
does anyone know if this house ended up selling and if so, at what price? just curious.
Appraisals are bullshit all around. Things are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for them.
Gorgeous house.
Word on the street is that the sale fell through and the house will now be rented.
I remember seeing their ad in the rental section of craigslist back in July or August. They were asking $2200/month. Neither the sale or rental ad is still up on the site, so I assume something happened one way or the other.
[...] Via 100khouse. [...]
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