We drove by something interesting in South Philly yesterday, which we now have learned is Jason C. Christiansen’s old home at 152 Tree Street. Christiansen and his wife bought the rehabbed building in 2002, but wanted to “change some things to suit our style a bit more,” said Christiansen, an AIA member who now works for Revision21 doing architecture visualization work and small design projects on the side. “We started in Queen Village and kept going south until we could afford something,” laughs Christiansen recalling how he ended up in South Philly. The renovations on the two-story 1100-square-foot three-bedroom home began in 2006.

To the interior, Christiansen designed and built the basic upgrades: hardwood floors upstairs, white subway tiles in the bathroom, a new bathroom sink and vanity and custom built-in wardrobes to most of the bedrooms. The exterior took a little more time, and Christiansen and his wife started by getting rid of the “hated” vinyl-clad box and the stuccoed garage portion of the house. “Since that big box of an addition was always going to stand out, why not make it stand out more,” explains Christiansen who used a rain screen and James Hardie HardiPlank fiber cement to cover the stucco. The couple recently relocated to New York City, but still owns the home. They hope to soon replace the cornice with fiberglass and redo the bay to match how it originally would have been in the 20s. They are willing to sell the home to anyone interested, Christiansen tells us, so e-mail us for more info.