Austin Turnbull loves the idea of making necessary improvements in an older home but retaining its true character.
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He found Philadelphia to be fertile ground for such projects and fell in love with the city despite his original intent to stay only a few years. He renovated and sold a house in Fairmount and now plans to sell his home in Graduate Hospital so he can do it a third time in Rittenhouse.
“I like the concept of being a steward of history,” said Turnbull, a nurse, who does some of the work himself — “painting, demolition, light plumbing, stuff like that” — while contracting out larger jobs like electrical.
Turnbull bought the 874-square-foot Graduate Hospital house in 2022, struck by, among other things, a staircase going up the center of the two-bedroom, 1½-bathroom home. Plus it was close to his work.
The first floor has an open layout with the living room and a kitchen with granite countertops, a laundry room, a half-bathroom and the door to a back patio and barbecue area.
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The second floor has the bedrooms, conjoined by a Jack-and-Jill bathroom with a claw-foot tub. Turnbull has used the second bedroom as a TV and entertainment area.
The house has an unfinished basement with storage space.
It is a walkable distance from Rittenhouse Square and Schuylkill River Trail and an easy commute to University City.
It is listed by Pamela Rosser-Thistle of BHHS Fox & Roach at the Harper Rittenhouse Square, for $485,000.
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