{"id":490084,"date":"2026-02-25T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490084\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:32:10","slug":"they-looked-for-the-ideal-center-city-house-then-hired-the-architect-to-remake-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490084\/","title":{"rendered":"They looked for the ideal Center City house, then hired the architect to remake their own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">In the spring of 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and related business shutdowns, the streets of <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/topic\/center-city\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Center City<\/a> were practically deserted. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Two of the few people out and about were lawyers Amy Slater and Mark Silow, who were house-hunting \u2014 sort of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">They liked their neighborhood and the house where they had lived since 1989, and they preferred to remain there, but the house would need updating and modernizing. They didn\u2019t know exactly what to do or, equally importantly, who should do it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">They did know that they didn\u2019t want to do it piecemeal Silow said. Their solution: Walk the area until their \u201caha\u201d moment came \u2014 the feeling that \u201cwhoever designed that is who we want to hire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Then they saw a home on Rittenhouse Square whose style they loved. So they slipped a note into the mail slot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">The original owners had moved on but the people living there knew who the architect was: Tim Kerner, principal architect at Terra Studio of Center City. They not only shared this information with Slater and Silow, but invited them over. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">For Kerner, designing Slater and Silow\u2019s home was an unusual challenge. Almost all his previous experience was with clients who were building from scratch, or at least moving into a house that was new to them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Slater and Silow had been touring Scandinavia and Japan and envisioned a style that combined design inspiration from the two cultures: light, airy, and open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Primary goals, Kerner said, were \u201cto increase natural light and a feeling of openness\u201d and to \u201cupdate the interiors with more modern and cleaner lines.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">As art collectors, the couple combined their own acquisitions and art from Slater\u2019s family. The renovation period gave them a chance to reframe or clean up some of the pieces. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">They had detailed talks about every part of the renovation, Kerner said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">\u201cTheir appreciation for the integration of functional and aesthetic solutions was always evident,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir thoughtfulness in considering the interrelation of space, finishes, colors, furniture, and technology were key to the success of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">The clients wanted a new kitchen and a new roof, this one with a deck. And they wanted to redo the first-floor powder room and replace the concrete front steps. The mechanicals also needed to be updated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Throughout the project, Kerner worked with interior designer Carlo Fiammenghi; structural engineer Amy Rivera; Springboard Automation for home controls, sound, and technology; Urban Jungle for roof deck garden design and planting; and Joanne Hudson for kitchen cabinetry. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">The house has four floors and 3,000 square feet, plus a two-car garage, and they did not change the basic configuration other than knocking down a wall between the kitchen and the dining area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">There are three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and a powder room, with the primary bedroom and library on the third level. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">\u201cWe opened up and renovated the kitchen,\u201d Kerner said, with new counters, cabinets, appliances and fixtures. The kitchen marble is Calacatta, which is quarried from the Apuan Alps near Carrara, Italy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">They installed a new roof deck with a pergola and some new plantings, and added new furnishings. They also replaced all windows and the entrance door, and opened the dining room to the exterior with a larger sliding glass door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">In the living room, they added a stone fireplace mantel and shelving. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">The staircase was completely redesigned, with new railings from the basement to the roof deck, and was broken up by custom shelving on the mezzanine. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Bluestone treads and risers replaced the concrete front steps. And automated lighting and mechanical controls were installed, along with a new whole-house sound system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Construction took nine months in 2022, with Slater and Silow living in a nearby apartment. Both Slater and Silow say they are delighted with the result. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">\u201cWe call it our new old house,\u201d Slater said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary inq-p--longform-v2 \">Is your house a Haven? Nominate your home by email (and send some digital photographs) at properties@inquirer.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the spring of 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and related business shutdowns, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,224878,229,88],"class_list":["post-490084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-center-city-home-renovation-open-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}