Photo of the Day

A vintage car stall transforms into an urban Eden
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Photography by Sam Oberter

Where: English Village, on the 2100 block of Saint James Place.

What: A soaring, skylit, 98-square-foot greenhouse.  Who: Architect Tim Kerner of Center City’s Terra Studio and cottage owners Heather and Michael Ascher, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society board member and a begonia buff, respectively.

Why: To many urbanites, a private garage is a luxury. To the Aschers, theirs—so narrow only a pre-1990 BMW could squeeze in—was an opportunity to recreate scenery from the Philadelphia International Flower Show. The sunny space, with Devonian bluestone flooring over hydronic radiant heating, thermostatically controlled glass louvers, custom shelving and skylight framing, a window to the kitchen and French doors to the dining room—plus countless plants from Horticultural Society gem Meadowbrook Farm in Abington Township—is a sustainable shelter for a botanical bonanza.

Text by Lauren McCutcheon

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