A hundred years ago, when land wasn't so valuable and little homes were somehow much more practical, it was a fairly common practice in the River Wards to build small homes on large lots, a little set back from the sidewalk. We see homes like this in just about every neighborhood in town, but it just seems we see more of 'em in Fishtown and East Kensington, for whatever reason. In recent years, as demand for real estate has exploded and land prices have soared in this area, developers have snatched up a number of these unusual homes, with demolition usually following in short order. At 2015-17 Tulip St., we'd have to imagine that's exactly what's coming up in the near future.
You can see, this home is unlike the others on the block.
The home was listed for sale a couple months ago for $235K and it's already under agreement. The listing describes the parcel as double-wide, with one section measuring 16'x90' and the other section much smaller at 14.2'x43'. Still, a builder could, with permission from the ZBA, demolish the home and barn now on the property and build two nice homes here. Another option would be demolition and the construction of one new modern home which would have a staggering amount of yard space. Alternately, if the party buying the property isn't a developer, the little home is in pretty good condition according to the listing and could be a cool place to live if you'd be into having a giant yard.
Let's be honest though, the home will almost definitely get demolished. From a planning perspective, this parcel should probably contain two homes, both of which come all the way up to the sidewalk. But as the neighborhood loses more of these little set-back homes, we'd say that it's losing some part of its personality. What do you think?