Home Remodeling in New Castle, DE
Remodeling for the historic city of New Castle and the 1950s neighborhoods around it.
New Castle is one of the oldest towns in the state, laid out by the Dutch in 1651 and the colonial capital before Dover, and the blocks around the Green and the courthouse are 18th-century brick houses on cobblestone streets. Outside the old city, the 19720 ZIP code is something else entirely: subdivisions of ranchers, Cape Cods and split-levels built in the 1950s and after, in neighborhoods like Penn Acres, Collins Park and Swanwyck along Route 13 and Route 9. A New Castle address can mean a house from 1740 or a house from 1958, and the two need different remodelers in the same person.
Dawson's serves both. In the historic district that means working under the city's rules for exterior changes and respecting plaster, brick and old-growth framing inside. In the postwar neighborhoods it means the kitchen, bath and basement projects that a 1950s house needs on its third owner.
City permits and the Historic Area Commission
Inside city limits, the City of New Castle issues its own building permits through its Building and Zoning office on Delaware Street, reviews plans for construction and alteration, and enforces the actions of its Historic Area Commission. All work in the historic district, residential or commercial, requires the commission's prior approval, and a project there files both the building permit application and the Historic Area Commission review application. The commission's design guidelines and standards were updated in 2016. Most of the 19720 area lies outside the city line, and those addresses go through New Castle County's Department of Land Use instead, with no historic review unless the house is in a county historic overlay.
Working in a house from the 1700s
Kitchens in the historic district are almost always in a rear ell or a later addition, and rebuilding one in place is the norm: new cabinetry sized to old ceilings, plumbing rerouted within existing chases, and flooring matched to the wide boards elsewhere in the house. Bathrooms were fitted into these houses in the 20th century and get refitted the same way. Windows are the sensitive part. Replacing sash on a house the commission reviews usually means restoration or a like-for-like unit, not a stock vinyl window, and that is planned with the commission before the permit.
The 1950s neighborhoods
Penn Acres, Collins Park and the other postwar streets are one-story and story-and-a-half houses with small kitchens, one bath and basements. The projects there are the classics: opening the kitchen to the dining room, adding a second bath in a Cape Cod's finished attic, finishing the basement, and replacing 1980s windows and siding with better ones. The permit for those goes to the county, not the city, and the scale of the houses keeps the budgets reasonable.
Ready to plan a remodel in New Castle?
Call Dom with the address and the project, or send the details through the form. The walkthrough is free and the estimate comes in writing.