An 1853 Chester County schoolhouse grew into a family home

When Christina Rilke and Jorge Ramirez bought their home in Willistown Township in 2021, they were drawn to its history. The three-story, 8,200-square-foot house includes a one-room former schoolhouse, originally built of stone in 1853, and an addition built in 2001 with matching stonework.

“What attracted us to the schoolhouse was the stonework, large windows, and it still has the original working bell,” said Ramirez, who works in finance. “When people come over, the kids love ringing the bell.”

The 700-square-foot schoolhouse has 11-foot ceilings and now serves as the hangout space for kids Jude, 11; Will, 14; and Gideon, 16. They watch TV and play pool and arcade games there with their friends.

The addition includes six bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms and was built to mimic several styles, as if it had been built over time. The architecture is mostly Georgian Revival with high ceilings, elaborate moldings, and arched doorways. In contrast, the great room and kitchen feature reclaimed beams and simpler moldings.

Despite the home’s history and charm, there were some problems.

The home is set on a deep hillside, which provides privacy and a great home for the resident deer and foxes, but blocked light coming into the kitchen. The home was also built with three entryways connecting the great room to the rest of the house. Some were arched while others were square, which didn’t make sense architecturally.

The couple hired Cappelletti Builders in Paoli and Malvern-based design firm Liz Walton Home in 2023 for renovations. Those included opening up the kitchen to the mudroom and the back deck to allow more natural light in, reconfiguring the passageways, and turning one of the first-floor powder rooms into a full bathroom.

“We reimagined the kitchen entirely,” said Liz Walton, owner and principal designer of Liz Walton Home. “By removing a wall, we allowed more light to filter into the space, and it allowed us to design a large island to accommodate their family of 5. The client, an art enthusiast, selected a single slab of Calcatta Vagli marble as a statement countertop.”

The family now entertains in their revamped kitchen, gathering around the 10-by-6-foot marble island. Their painted cabinetry — in Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige and White Oak — keeps things bright, but with a pop of color in the new bar area, painted in Benjamin Moore Mallard Green.

“Liz definitely pushed us to use color,” recalled Rilke. “We almost chickened out but are so glad we went for it.”

The family shares the home with an array of pets, including a dog, chinchilla, bearded dragon lizard, two cats, and fish.

The walls are filled with pictures by various photographers, each meaningful in some way. The couple have been collecting art together since before they were married and have mostly settled on contemporary photography.

“We tend to like things on the quirky side,” said Rilke, an art consultant. “We’re most drawn to images that are one thing on the face of it, and something entirely different, usually surreal or even menacing, upon closer inspection.”

For example, the Deb Achak photograph Ebb and Flow (No. 1) 2016, a seascape taken in Maui.

“The choice to partially submerge her camera means that the viewer is not just passively looking at the water, but is actually in it — potentially about to be under it,” said Rilke. “It’s just a little bit terrifying, and we love that tension.”

Another of the couple’s favorites is part of a series of photos revisiting sites of famous historical battles by Bart Michiels. The photo, shot in Verdonne in France, depicts a farmer’s field.

“If you aren’t interested in hearing the explanation, it’s just a beautiful landscape of a green misty field,” said Rilke.

“But,” continued Ramirez, “It’s where some of the worst trench warfare in World War I took place.”

As they filled the inside with personal touches, the home’s exterior also needed work. The pair created a new stone walkway in the front of the house, added a stone front porch, and remediated the stucco. They enjoy sitting on the porch, looking out at the farm across the street.

“We moved to Willistown from a similar rural-feeling suburb in New Jersey where we had a small hobby farm,” said Rilke. “Being here we get all the enjoyment of being surrounded by conserved land and working farms, without all the work.”

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