On the market: A historic carriage house in Germantown for $545,000
The property has been converted back to a three-bedroom, 2½-bath home with the old garage bays turned into a covered porch.
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Darin Bielby’s long relationship with the house next door is drawing to a close.
“When I first started looking to purchase a property in Germantown 11 years ago, I fell in love with this property,” says Bielby, a cybersecurity and privacy consultant.
But negotiations fell through with the nonprofit that owned the carriage house and had used it as its headquarters. So he bought a house next door the year after and moved in.
The carriage house was built in 1884, designed by renowned architect Frank Miles Day, a contemporary of such turn-of-the-century architects as Walter Cope, Wilson Eyre and William L. Price.
As negotiations with other prospective buyers also fell through, the house continued to deteriorate from neglect and a burst water pipe.
About three years ago, the house was back on the market — a shell of its old self — and that time, Bielby got it. But he had invested too much time, money and energy in his own house to consider moving in.
He didn’t want a commercial property next door, and he also wanted to accommodate his neighbors in the Tulpehocken Station Historic District.
So he had the property rezoned residential and converted back to a residence with three bedrooms, 2½ baths, and the old garage bays converted into a covered porch.
The outside was preserved and the inside completely modernized.
The former carriage entrances have been replaced by floor-to-ceiling glass doors, and the first floor has an open plan with wide-plank hardwood floors.
The kitchen has a large center island with exposed wood accents, stool seating and overhead pendant lighting, granite countertops, bronze stainless steel appliances, a subway tile backsplash, and oversized cabinets.
The second floor has the three bedrooms, two full baths, and a laundry area. The main bedroom has a reading nook, and the other bedrooms are convertible to office space.
The first floor has a powder room; a finished basement provides additional storage, and there is parking for two cars.
The property is a block from the Tulpehocken Regional Rail station.
“Now it’s ready for someone who’ll love it as much as I did,” Bielby says.
The house is listed by Sean Adams of Compass Pennsylvania for $545,000.