Run-down properties off Semmes Avenue in South Richmond would be frightening to some people.

Bill Pangburn finds them challenging -- and fun.

"People pay me to play with power tools all day long," said Pangburn, owner of Savoy Properties, a historic renovation company in Chesterfield County.

Pangburn, 55, just completed the renovation on an arts and crafts house. He is finishing interior work on a Victorian and starting on four other houses, all in the same neighborhood.

His former transformations won him the 2004 Golden Hammer Award for excellence in historic renovations from the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods.

"Bill is very much in tune with detailed woodwork and goes to great lengths to duplicate woodwork," said David Herring, interim director of ACORN.

Pangburn left his corporate life as a mechanical consultant for retail stores and started his contracting company after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I was tired of traveling. I always had a general contracting license and always loved historic houses. I get out and get dirty now. What better job could there be? At 5 p.m., I get my pipe and a beer."

And no, he and his wife do not live in an old house. Their abode is a nine-year-old town house on the Swift Creek Reservoir.

His most recent renovation -- at the corner of Semmes Avenue and 29th Street -- was built in 1928 and divided into a rental duplex in the 1970s.

Arched doorways were covered with plywood. A sunroom was turned into a closet and a bedroom.

Paneling -- a la "early American mobile home" -- covered plaster walls in the foyer, Pangburn said.

The floor in the dining room was built up to cover fire and smoke damage apparently from an overturned kerosene heater.

The basement was split into an eight-room maze.

The kitchen was as ratty as the rest of the house, Pangburn said. The refrigerator was in the dining room and a radiator was underneath the sink.

One would never know the recent history looking at the house now -- with solid cherry cabinets and blue pearl granite countertops in the kitchen, arched doorways in the hallways, restrung windows, updated baths and new decks and porches.

"Shortcuts aren't allowed on my jobs," Pangburn said. "I'm not the cheapest guy but if you want quality work and you want to do it right the first time, then I can do it."

Robert Saupp, owner of the house, said he liked the renovation so much he will sell his home near Pony Pasture along the James River and move into this one. "It was time to do something different."

Saupp stayed at the house overnight to be sure he liked the neighborhood and living off a busy road.

He bought the house 10 years ago for about $50,000 and rented it. Renovations were started last summer. He moved in this month.

Saupp isn't saying how much money he put into the renovation.

Pangburn said a renovation like this can cost $180,000-plus. The carpentry alone costs up to $35,000, and so can the heating, cooling and insulation system.

He is finishing another house for Saupp at 3303 Semmes Ave. That house will be sold.

Four other houses scheduled for restoration were sold by Saupp to Puccinelli Properties in Midlothian, which plans to resell the properties. Pangburn is doing these as well.

"They are all in rough shape," said Mike Puccinelli, who is in the development business with his wife, father and mother.

Puccinelli said he grew up hearing stories about how his parents cooked out at nearby Forest Hill Park. His uncle brought the Victrola, a record player.

"This is the last, great place in historic Richmond to be redeveloped," Puccinelli said.

"The architecture is beautiful and, in many ways, it is more beautiful than the Fan District, where some of the houses were butchered."

Plus, it has more green space with the park and nearby Mayo Island, which is within bicycling distance, he said.

The neighborhood was scary for a while, Puccinelli, 36, said. "When I was growing up, you wouldn't go to Semmes Avenue."

Among his purchases is a Victorian house on Semmes Avenue with sagging cornices and roof, but original architectural detailing.

"When we are done, this will be really cool," Pangburn said.

A 1910 farmhouse, at the corner of 26th Street, is in the worst shape, Puccinelli said. "It has extensive termite damage and rotten wood from water damage."

But it, too, will be restored to its former glory, he said.

The first of the four houses should be finished this summer.

While the housing market may be slow, homes in this area are moving fast, Puccinelli said. "It is the last opportunity to get your hands on decent architecture."
Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or chazard@timesdispatch.com.