Saturday, May 23, 2009

CHARMING... GENUINELY CHARMING! on historic street in small town (next door to Burlington Meeting House) $199900

*****NOTE***** Lots of fresh photos and commentary have just been loaded up onto Photobucket.

http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii102/kissolife/Burlington%20studio%20building/?start=all

***Just reduced from $255 to $199 after not selling for 4 months!***

Really charming, very unusual building for sale along historic High Street, next to the Quaker Meeting House, a two block stroll to the Delaware River. Huge rambling apartment upstairs, art gallery / studio / cafe / offices on the first floor.

Live above your art studio, gallery, office, coffee shop, music store. Help redefine an historic riverfront community in a way that pleases YOU and your friends.

What if your part of the greening of America meant you could drive less or not at all? Commute to Philadelphia or Trenton on the amazingly inexpensive RiverLine light rail. Brand new, clean, efficient, and less than a full block away!

http://www.riverline.com/

The accompanying litho shows our building to the left of the driveway in the 1840s. The third floor was expanded since then to be a full third floor.

A fascinating living and working space.

The building is very old, early 1700s, and was added on to many times. The result is this character filled rambling brick structure, with almost all the many, many windows facing the 1780s Quaker Meeting House.

We share the gravel driveway and parking spaces in rear with the Meeting House. Their front courtyard, side porches and enormous and serene graveyard in the back are all ours... at least visually!

300 year old sycamore / buttonwood tree in the back on the Meeting House side, just above the grave of Chief Ockanickon. See them both here...

http://www.tourburlington.org/SeeSites11-15.html

...and the Meeting House again here...

http://08016.com/meetinghouse.html

The Meeting House is an active conference center, with the original 1780s meeting house restored, and an addition that includes 88 beds, a small theater space, a full commercial kitchen, etc. It is modestly active, which means there is often something going on, but the activity is not constant. Lively, then quiet... in waves.

Meeting House Conference Center website...

http://www.pym.org/burlingtonconference

The first floor houses my art gallery and studio, and I would be interested in the possibility of staying on for a time as a tenant, or not as the new owners see fit. My offer to stay on helps, possibly, with how you put together your financial package.

The second and third floors are one, cool crazy apartment... 8 or 9 rooms, depending how you count. Equal in space to a smallish house unto itself. I lived there with my wife and two sons, and we had a great experience there. Almost all the many windows face the 1780s Meeting House next door. There is a modern bathroom and all the kitchen appliances are new. Lots of exposed brick and beams. Full size washer and dryer. Lots of charm, which is just not possible with a new building that did not grow so organically over 200 years.

The third floor is one very large open space, with exposed brick and beams, skylights, windows on three sides. We called it our 70s Love Palace, though it really is way more 1770s than 1970s. Other tenants we've had have used for a serious music studio, art studio... one Penn Urban Planning couple dedicated the whole third floor to their ferocious passion for ping pong!

When we moved there from Northern Liberties in Philly, it was a time, not that long ago, when cars in flames and small arms fire were common in our part of Philadelphia. The genuine serenity offered by that apartment and the beauty seen from every window meant alot to us.

If you're looking at this as an investment rather than a place to live yourself, know that we have a really wonderful, creative, responsible couple renting the space now.

The place is just two blocks from the mile long Promenade along the Delaware River. Here is a link to The Promenade...

http://www.tourburlington.org/SeeNature.html

I have not listed it with a realtor at this time, as I don't want all sorts of strangers marching through the place at all times of day and night. If you'd like to see it, I will be happy to show it to you, and will adjust my schedule to meet yours.

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