Margo Burnette

Margo and Charles Burnette gave separate, complementary interviews about their experiences with the house at 234 S. Third St. They were renting a tiny house in Washington Square West when they went looking for a house to buy. They both reacted the same way to 234 S. Third St. when they first saw it: it was big, very big, and they wanted it. Not only was the house big, but all its rooms were big. When the Redevelopment Authority owned the house, they had torn down a rear extension where all the small rooms were located. The Burnettes bought the house from the Redevelopment Authority in 1964. Margo describes how they renovated the house floor by floor to accommodate their growing family, and then made further changes after their children moved away from home. After the first year, the first floor, which had always been planned as an apartment, was rented out. The rent paid the mortgage. Margo found Society Hill a good neighborhood to raise children; she cites especially Three Bears Park, the babysitting co-op, and the community garden at Fourth and Lombard. Chuck called Three Bears Park "the village well," because you could always learn what was going on in the neighborhood when you went there. Margo's account about the griffin balcony complements Chuck's. Her research revealed that the design for the balcony was published in Cottingham, England, in 1824, 19 years before the house was built.

Transcript

DS: This is an interview with Margo Burnette. The date is October 14, 2008. The interview is being held at 116 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA. The interviewer is Dorothy Stevens. Margo, why did you come to Society Hill?

MB: Well, my husband Charles, was at Penn doing a master’s in Architecture, and we were living in a father, son, and holy ghost house, or trinity as they called it, on Panama Street. We were living in a very small house, [Laughs] and we were walking around Society Hill and we saw these very large houses. They were wonderful houses, (1:00) and when you’re young, you dream big. I saw the house that I loved, and I said, “Oh, I’d like to live there!” My husband, being an architect, said, “Well, we’ll look at it.” And we did. Of course it was overwhelming, it was so big. But it was a wonderful house, and we decided it was the one for us.

DS: So that’s why you came – you were looking for a bigger space, because you were pregnant?

MB: Yes, I was. We were expecting Arianne in October.

DS: And what year would this have been?

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© 2008 Project Philadelphia 19106™. All rights reserved.

About the Interview

Interviewer
Dorothy Stevens
Transcriber
Cynthia J. Eiseman
Interview Location
116 Delancey Street
Interview Date
October 14, 2008
Interviewee
Burnette, Margo
Narrator Type
Redeveloper - Restoration
Oral History Sources