House of the week: A three-bedroom home in Fitler Square for $900,000

The search took about a year and a half, and “we looked from river to river, from Spruce to Fitzwater,” Marianne Marzano recalled.

She and Linda Angeline created a binder with a sheet on each house that they visited. When the search ended with the traditional three-bedroom, 2½-bath house in the Fitler Square neighborhood, there were about 135 entries.

“We couldn’t get past Fitler Square,” Marzano said. “It has anything you’d want — restaurants, cafés, drug stores, a gym, an ice cream shop, grocery store, and an Amazon drop off-pickup store. It’s a wonderful population — diverse ethnicity, age. You’re always learning something new.”

Angeline, a junior high/high school teacher, had been living in New Jersey, and Marzano, a corporate communications consultant and executive coach, had moved from Ohio with her son and was already renting in Fitler Square.

The two women, now retired, have settled for now in Florida’s warmer climate, with an eventual location undecided.

The house has generous dimensions for the neighborhood, 16 feet by 64 feet. Its hardwood and porcelain tile floors are in excellent condition, room for a full-size dining room, and an eat-in kitchen with ample counter and storage space. The kitchen features a KitchenAid stainless-steel refrigerator, five-burner gas stove, and built-in microwave and dishwasher.

The second floor has two bedrooms, each with a double closet and a full bathroom.

On the third floor is the main suite with a cathedral ceiling and skyline views. It’s about the size of a three-room apartment. The second room is custom-fitted wall-to-wall with drawers, shelves and hanging space. It can serve as a dressing room, office, or nursery.

There are laundry facilities upstairs and in the full basement.

The brick and slate back yard has a natural-gas grill and room for an oversize table, chairs, and couch, with a full-size white dogwood tree.

The house also doesn’t back up to other houses, and Marzano and Angeline added a storage shed in the rear.

The Schuylkill River Park and Rittenhouse Square are within walking distance, and 30th Street Station and University City are an easy commute over the South Street Bridge.

The 1,800-square-foot house is in the Greenfield School catchment area and a block to the Philadelphia School, an independent school.

It is listed by Pamela Rosser-Thistle of BHHS Fox & Roach at the Harper, Rittenhouse Square for $900,000.