Shari and Jan Almquist of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania may have the most interesting home in town. After their daughter moved out, the couple wanted to find a smaller home. One day, Shari saw a for-sale sign hanging outside of a very unusual piece of property.
The building dated from 1915, and was originally the home of the town telephone exchange. The two story building had once housed a team of phone operators working a line of manual switchboards. The building had then been converted into a home in the 1950s.
The couple fell in love with the building, which contains high ceilings and 20 massive windows that each measure 6 feet in height and 4 feet across. The couple decided to renovate the home and give a building with a great history a modern update. Despite some great features, the home had a great deal of problems. The roof needed to be fixed and the wiring was outdated. Most troubling of all, the home contained an aging oil heat system with pipes coated in thick layers of crumbling asbestos.
The asbestos was a major problem. As asbestos ages, it can become increasingly fragile. If not handled by a seasoned professional, the asbestos can become airborne. If inhaled, asbestos fibers can lodge permanently in the soft tissues of the lungs, leading to lung cancer or pleural mesothelioma.
After buying the house last June, the Almquists were able to complete renovations within two months, and the couple was finally able to move into their new home in August. The asbestos-laden oil heater is now a distant memory, replaced with a state of the art geothermal heating and cooling system.
The home now features an open plan space that maximizes the natural light provided by the magnificent windows. The kitchen has been updated, and a massive mahogany deck was added to the property. It is hard to believe such a beautiful home was once an asbestos-laden telephone exchange.