RESTORING A LANDMARK

In renovating this I.M. Pei-designed home, the owners and architects made sure ‘every inch of the house is used’

The three buildings of Society Hill Towers, designed by the legendary architect I.M. Pei in the 1960s, are among Philadelphia’s best-known landmarks. But the rowhouses in a five-acre complex at the edge of the Delaware River, while much lesser known, are just as much a part of Pei’s original concept.

Pei, who died in 2019, was seeking a bridge between the traditional rowhouse neighborhood surrounding Society Hill and the towers, according to architects at the Philadelphia-based Shiftspace firm.

Shiftspace’s first foray into dealing with a Pei building was a rowhouse bought by a couple moving back to Philadelphia from the New York area: graphic designer and creative director Christina Antonopoulos and business consultant George Charalambides.

The couple bought the three-bedroom, five-bath house in 2020 after Antonopoulos got a new job in Philadelphia. Renovations started in March 2020 and were essentially completed in April 2021 after being slowed by COVID.

According to Shiftspace studio director Mario Gentile, the challenge was to return the heavily altered interior closer to Pei’s original concept while also meeting the needs of the couple and their two children. The exterior, mostly brick with a small window and steel balcony, was not altered.

“The main move of our redesign,” said architectural designer Samantha Hubbard, “was to return the home to its original intent … freeing up the house for open floor plans and uninterrupted circulation” of air, light, and people.

In both the before and after, the house radiates out from a winding central staircase from basement to top floor. Other than that, much was changed.

“A contractor’s renovation” is how Charalambides described the last major alteration of the house, which was in 1997, almost 30 years after it was built. “Everything was sort of run-down. We wanted to return it to its original glory.”

In lay terms, this meant removing unneeded doors and closets, raising ceilings, and removing wire mesh from the home’s glass atrium skylight — a feature above the winding staircase in the central core.

Bathrooms, which Charalambides said were originally “very tight,” were reconfigured so two people could use them at once, instead of sliding by each other contortionist-style.

The third floor was divided into halves: one for the couple, one for their children, ages 11 and 13. (Charalambides said the kids rather irreverently nicknamed the circular staircase “the laundry chute” and played with it accordingly.)

“Every inch of the house is used,” he said. A 2,900-square-feet, “it’s not a big house, and everything has its place, making for a neat, clean space that can easily be maintained.”

Gentile, in fact, described it as “a jewel box.”

Hubbard summarized the renovation as follows: “The design was geared toward a more active lifestyle, simplicity, flow, and utility.”

In the basement, walls cutting off the stairwell from the rest of the space were removed. A full bath was turned into a powder room for seamless circulation through the entertainment and workout/play area. Bike storage was integrated into the basement, as well as on the first floor, for the avid cyclists.

Originally, Charalambides said, the basement was an office/storage area, but is now strictly for recreation and working out. With additional ventilation, built-in cabinetry, and white oak wood paneling all along one side of the levels facing the staircase, the space is warm, inviting, and cozy.

On the first floor, the architect retained the concept of the galley kitchen, while making it brighter.

• “The kitchen had been capped on either end with walls, making it dark and cramped,” Hubbard said. “We removed those, along with entry vestibule and closet walls cutting the breakfast nook off from the hallway and stair core.”

Now, a curved breakfast nook with banquette seating leads to a kitchen, situated between the central staircase and a wall and adjacent to a dining area that has access to a garden patio.

“On the second floor,” Hubbard said, “we rearranged the full bath, replaced some unintegrated closet space with built-in millwork around the center of the house, and again, removed walls dividing the living spaces from the stairwell.”

The third floor was a complete rearrangement and enlargement of both bathrooms, with a skylight added in each. “We completed the renovation with a light-toned color palette for the more public spaces and darker hues for some of the bedrooms and study,” the designer said.

Shiftspace partner and creative director Tim Barnes said that “understanding Pei’s original vision for these houses, we approached the project with a sense of reverence that allowed us to see our design as enhancements to that original vision rather than starting from a blank canvas.”

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