Agent Gary Gestson is selling what he calls an “exquisite” house in Baltimore, and he's using its unusual history to help market it: It was built 130 years ago — as a church.
The property is a blend of luxury living and the original quirks of the 19th-century church, Gestson said in an interview. Though it has a newly renovated kitchen and updated bathrooms, it also still has its stained-glass windows, original hardwood floors and the church’s steeple bell that works all these years later.
The house on Keswick Road is listed for $995,000, according to Homes.com.
The home's unique combination of old and new features creates a residence that’s “like a New York loft in a Baltimore setting,” said Gestson, an agent with Long & Foster Real Estate specializing in historic properties, in an interview.
“It couldn't be any more extraordinary,” he said.
Built in 1894 by the 13-member Evergreen Methodist congregation, the property served as a church until 1971, when it was sold to sculptor Tylden Streett, according to Gestson. Streett transformed the church into his residence and studio, and his personality is still tangible throughout the house.
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“Historic homes tend to take on the personalities of the people who have lived there before,” Gestson said. “There's a creative spirit in there. It's not being used as a studio anymore, but it remains. And now it's been converted to this luxury dwelling that someone can live in, but it still has that, that sense of otherness.”
Streett sold the property in 2013. Since then, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom residence has been further updated. Most recently, it sold in 2019 for $485,000.
'Lifestyle' buyers
Now, Gestson said he’s seeking a buyer looking for the “lifestyle” that comes with owning a historic house.
That means it’s probably not a fit for “traditional families,” he said.
“It has to be someone who wants a unique lifestyle,” Gestson said. “Someone who has a small business, an artist type…It's for someone who spends a lot of time at home.”
And that someone should also plan on staying in the house for years to come, according to Gestson. He said the buyer should plan to live at the property for 15 to 20 years, not the average five to seven.
The search for that buyer could take time, longer than it takes to find one for a contemporary property. It could be a buyer who hasn’t even entered the Baltimore market, or someone who “may not have been looking for a church,” Gestson said.
“It’s more like a sculpture,” he said. “You fall in love with a sculpture or a work of art. And it’s the same thing with this church.”