Philadelphia’s historic homes present renovation challenges. Here’s how local pros and homeowners get creative.

When Winston Clement bought a 3½-story Society Hill townhouse built in 1802, he appreciated its rich history. But the home’s disjointed layout wasn’t conducive to raising a family.

He spent six months renovating the home inside and out, but faced many challenges.

Renovating historic homes, like Clement’s, presents greater challenges and higher costs than the typical remodel. Maintaining the integrity of the original architecture — sometimes nonnegotiable under historic property designations — requires research on the home’s origins. And while families today want larger kitchens and bathrooms, more closets and storage space, the homes built a century ago reflected vastly different necessities.

For Clement’s home, the design was a reminder of norms more than 200 years old.

“There was no indoor plumbing at the time the house was built, and people had a lot fewer possessions,” said Clement. “There also was no central heat, and air-conditioning didn’t exist.”

Previous owners had installed indoor plumbing, but the bathrooms needed updating. Over more than a century, the home’s exterior had sustained damages and needed repairs.

The Clements gutted and replaced the bathrooms and kitchen, reconfigured the bedrooms to increase closet space, and installed an HVAC system. Exterior work included replacing the windows, roof, downspout, and gutters.

The house is designated historic, so all changes to the exterior required approval from the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

“We saved time by working directly with a design-build firm so we didn’t have a separate design phase with an architect, and we intentionally hired a contractor who had a lot of experience renovating historically designated Philadelphia rowhouses,” said Clement, who spent about $350,000 working with Buckminster Green, based in Kensington, to renovate the home, inside and out.

More than 27,000 Philadelphia properties are listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, according to Allyson Mehley, historic preservation planner supervisor for the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

When renovating an old home, the first step is to find out if it is on a historic registry, such as the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Property owners in the suburbs should check with their local municipality.

The age of a building is not the only criteria for designation. It could be associated with a significant historical event, or have cultural importance, among other criteria. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties is a useful guide.

Houses with a historic designation will need approval on most exterior work, including repointing brick, replacing shutters, windows, and the roof. Maintenance items such as painting and cleaning do not need to be reviewed.

Most reviews are quick, Mehley said, with 95% of responses coming from her office within five days. But be prepared to present the required paperwork for approvals.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania provides information on how the home was originally constructed. It uses an array of records, including maps, atlases, wills, deeds, and fire insurance and tax records.

“Fire insurance records, when it comes to understanding the character of a home, are crucial,” said Anthony DiGiovanni, director of cataloging and reference services for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. These records often have drawings or a narrative that includes the materials used, the size, layout, and other characteristics of the house.

DiGiovanni also recommends “How to Research the History of a House" from the Free Library of Philadelphia.

No matter how well you plan, historic homes will present surprises.

“These houses were laid out and constructed in a time when people lived differently than they do now,” said Kenny Grono, president of Buckminster Green.

Kitchens were likely smaller and may have been in the basement, so finding space for a larger kitchen with an island is tricky. Renovating means prioritizing. In a rowhouse, do you take space from the living room or sacrifice outdoor space to bump out the house?

Old homes may not have been built with bathrooms, and those added by previous owners may be lacking. Is there room for a large shower or bidet?

“You are always going to be working with some limitations,” Grono said. “Depending on the width of the house, you might not be able to have an island or you might need a thinner one without cabinets. It’s about creative design.”

The older the home, the more likely it reflects a hodgepodge of styles from previous owners’ projects, said Chris Payson, president of the West Chester-based remodeling firm COCOON. Perhaps many different contractors, plumbers, and electricians were involved, using different construction methods or materials.

Previous owners may have deferred maintenance. Hire a contractor with experience working on historic homes, who understands how to navigate the approvals process.

“It’s an adventure,” said Payson. “Be prepared for more time and costs to remodel.”

Parker and Jessica Stanhagen’s Federal-style West Chester home isn’t on a historic registry, but when renovating the twin house, they were determined to maintain its historic integrity.

Built in 1873, its layout wasn’t ideal for a young family. Previous homeowners have added bathrooms and other features over time.

“It had a funky layout,” said Parker.

Over 2½ months in 2020, COCOON Remodeling redefined the layout of the three-story home, gutted the second floor, and replaced floors, walls, and ceilings.

“When you start opening up walls, you don’t know what you’re going to find,” said Parker.

Luckily, they were thrilled with their finds — exposed ceiling beams, exposed brick walls hidden behind plaster, and an old gas line that serviced the gas lamps throughout the original house. In many rooms, only the knob from those lamps remained.

“We didn’t know what they were until we pulled the wall out,” said Jessica.

They kept the beams and knobs and matched new moldings and woodwork to the original time period. The new floors were hand-cut and stained to match the original floors, and half-lite doors were custom-made with wood at the bottom and textured glass on top.

“You’re trying to keep the budget affordable but you also have to maintain the same quality,” said Jessica of the $150,000 renovation.

The Stanhagens are thrilled with their new design. Their best advice: plan ahead.

“Before we started the process, we had architects and engineers come in and do plans,” said Parker. “But you still don’t know exactly what’s going to be there.”