26 | theburg | 03.16
a Home, reBorn
by LAWrANCe bINDA
PhotoS by eLeNA JASIC
For many years, Marc Kurowski dreamed of living along the
Susquehanna River, and, one day, while walking his dog, spied a
duplex for sale on Front Street.
Like many once-grand riverfront homes, the house long ago
had been converted to institutional use, owned for years by Teen
Challenge, a faith-based residential rehabilitation program. It
then was bought for a condo conversion, but, after some demo
work, the new owners changed their minds and decided to
sell it. In late 2013, by the time Kurowski got his hands on it,
the house was a dilapidated, half-destroyed shell, but he saw
tremendous potential for a grand home on a magnificent river.
A principal with K&W Engineers, Kurowski knocked down
the wall that separated the two sides of the duplex, adjoining
the spaces. It then was a matter of redesigning and rebuilding
the interior of the circa-1890s structure.
ere were many bumps along the way, including construction
delays that turned the renovation into a 20-month slog. But,
in the end, Kurowski took a building, abused and damaged for
so long, and transformed it into a spacious, stunning, single-
family home, topped off by a roof deck with breathtaking views
of Riverfront Park and the Susquehanna River.
