Before and After: From Three Houses to One School to One House off H Street

• March 22nd 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

A compound off H Street that hit the market last week has gone through a couple  major conversions in its time.

1238-1242 Wylie Street NE were originally three contiguous rowhouses before the nonprofit Fishing School assembled the lots over several years in the 1980s. The school ended up razing the house at 1242 Wylie to use the lot as a recreation area for its students, and the two remaining houses were combined for use as classrooms, administrative space and other educational uses. 

In 2010, the school found an opportunity to build a new school in Deanwood and put the Wylie Street property on the market. The current owner saw potential in the structure and purchased it for just under $400,000. He then spent years turning it back into a residence with his now-wife, the founder of interior design firm wilo studio.

While the interior of the house is completely redone, some traces of its history remain. Many of the exposed brick walls in the home were previously exterior walls, as the property originally had an open five foot-wide walkway between two of the houses. The school enclosed that walkway, and the current owners revealed the brick beneath and installed glass above on the upper level. The resulting hall splits the house into two "wings".

The exposed wood beams and aged window and door frames are reclaimed wood from the remodeling wrapped around newer materials. The solid wood bedroom and bathroom doors were sourced from old houses, and the steel structural elements are also newer additions. 

The recreational area from the school was also reworked into a covered patio area and secured parking pad, although it remains a separate tax lot.

The sellers are moving out of town and about half of the furnishings, some of which were custom-made, are available for purchase to whomever buys the house. Additional details are below.

• Full Listing: 1240 Wylie Street NE (map)
• Price: $1,575,000
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: Three
• Square Feet: 2,570
• Year Built: 1895
• Listing Agent: Joel Nelson, Keller Williams Capital Properties

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/before-and-after-from-three-houses-to-one-school-to-one-house-off-h-street/18028.