Unique Tour Gives Public Inside Look At Historic Philly Homes

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Several residents in one of Philadelphia's most historic neighborhoods opened their homes Sunday so people could get a glimpse of the past and how it's being preserved by the current occupants.

Judy Weinstein with the Mt. Airy Learning Tree says during the eighth annual German Township House Tour, people got an inside look at six unique homes.

"It's a self-guided tour of a variety of homes in the Old German Township, which consists of Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and Germantown.

The homes on the tour date back to 1840, according to Susan Harrason with historic Germantown.

"These are just examples of wonderful houses," Harrason said, "but as people drive around they can see some lovely, lovely neighborhoods."

Trapeta Mayson with Historic Germantown says they look for an array of things when picking homes for the tour.

"Interesting stories, interesting architecture," she said. "They're all historical, but some of them have been adapted to current use. We like to also look at the architect who worked on the house. What was the story of the home? All of that makes up that list of things we're looking for in a house."

One of the tour's featured houses was once a nursing home, as well as a partial apartment complex. It is now houses three apartments connected to a mansion.

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