TL;DR
South Philly's attached rowhouses, many of them formstone-faced and 80 to 120 years old, get painted entirely from the front and rear since the party walls are shared. Painted brick is a lifetime commitment that needs a breathable masonry coating, and pre-1978 homes almost always have lead buried in the old trim paint, so lead-safe prep is the part you don't skip. We handle South Philly exteriors block by block.
In This Article
South Philadelphia is one of the most densely built places in the country. Block after block of attached brick rowhouses, most of them 80 to 120 years old, standing shoulder to shoulder with no gap between them. That density shapes everything about how exterior painting works down here, and it's why a South Philly job never runs like a job out in the suburbs would.
Shared Walls Mean No Room for Error
Because the houses are attached, you lose the side of the building entirely. There's no working from a side yard, because there is no side yard. Everything happens from the front stoop and the back. That changes the tools and the plan:
- Front and rear access only, so wide rollers, extension poles, and proper ladder work carry the job
- Ladder standoffs on second-story work, to keep gutters and cornices from getting crushed
- Cornices and rooflines that run continuous across three or four houses, so we protect the neighbors' sections and coordinate before touching a shared run
- Front-stoop trim, railings, door surrounds, and sills take the most weather and the most hands, so they get the most prep
Parking is its own event in South Philly. We stage the crew's vehicles and materials ahead of time so we're not sitting in a neighbor's spot, and we pull permits for staging where the block needs it.
The Front Stoop Does a Lot of Work
On a South Philly rowhouse the front is the whole first impression, and the stoop is the center of it. Marble or concrete steps, an iron railing, a painted door surround, a transom above the door, and the sills and lintels around the front windows all sit in a few feet of streetfront that everyone walking the block sees up close. That trim also takes a beating: foot traffic, salt in winter, and full sun on a south-facing front. So it wears faster than the brick behind it, and a smart repaint puts the prep hours there. Scrape the railing back to sound metal, prime the bare wood, and repaint the sills and door frame before they let water into the wall. A crisp front on a tired block is what makes a house look cared for.
Formstone, Brick, and Painted Brick
South Philly gives you three exterior surfaces you run into constantly, and each one wants a different approach.
Natural brick is the simplest. The color work goes to the trim, the lintels, the sills, the front door, and any wood at the cornice. The brick itself stays as is.
Formstone is that molded stone-look veneer troweled over brick on thousands of South Philly rowhomes in the mid-1900s. It's a neighborhood signature at this point. It can be painted, but it needs a breathable masonry coating and careful prep, because it's a cement product with its own quirks and it's usually hiding the original brick underneath.
Painted brick is common and can look sharp, but it comes with a rule people forget: once you paint brick, you have to keep painting it. Paint traps moisture that raw brick would breathe out on its own, so a painted facade needs upkeep you can't skip. The prep is the whole game here: strip all flaking paint, repair masonry cracks with hydraulic cement, treat any efflorescence, then coat with a breathable masonry product, never standard exterior latex.
Lead Paint Is Almost Universal in Pre-1978 Rowhomes
Nearly every South Philly rowhouse built before 1978 has lead paint somewhere, usually on the old window sashes, doors, and exterior trim. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule, any work that disturbs those old painted surfaces, sanding, scraping, cutting, has to be handled through certified channels. When a project means removing old lead-bearing paint, we coordinate with certified lead-abatement specialists for the prep stage rather than cutting corners on it.
If you're hiring anyone for exterior work on an older home, including us, ask how they handle lead-safe prep before they put a scraper on the wall. It protects your family, and it protects you from real liability.
Prep the Substrate, Not Just the Surface
The brick and formstone are only half the picture. A lot of South Philly repaints fail early because the wood underneath was never addressed. Rotted sill corners, spongy trim, gaps at the cornice, and cracked parging all let water in behind the paint. Where old trim or a patched wall needs rebuilding first, that's surface and drywall repair work that has to happen before a brush comes out. Paint over soft wood or a moving crack and you'll be repainting that spot within a year.
South Philly Color Is Getting Bolder
The classic look still holds up: white or off-white painted brick, black shutters, a bright front door. But homeowners here have gotten more adventurous the last few years:
- Deep charcoal and forest-green painted brick
- Warm terracotta tones that echo the brick's own undertone
- Front doors in cobalt, hunter green, or burnt orange against a pale facade
Call Color House Painters at (215) 715-4647 for a free exterior estimate on your South Philly rowhouse.
Color House Painters
Residential and commercial painters working across Philadelphia since 2015. Licensed and insured, from Center City condos to Chestnut Hill Victorians.
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