The Philadelphia home where Grace Kelly grew up has been restored to its original glory.
Toby Boshak, executive director of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, tells NBC's Today that the six-bedroom, 2.5-story Colonial home will be used occasionally by Kelly's son Prince Albert II and his family.
It will also house offices for the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and host events for the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, which provides scholarships to emerging talent in theater, dance and film.
Grace, an Oscar-winning actress, became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956. The couple announced their engagement at the house.
Prince Albert II bought the home in 2016 for $755,000 and renovated it to look like it did when his mother lived there.
"I think after talking to some of my cousins about this, we didn't want to see it disappear or see it transformed in any way by future owners," Prince Albert explained. "It's a big part of our family's history."
The house was in rough condition when he bought it, but the former owners did leave intact a linen closet door that is marked with the heights of all the Kelly children over the years, Prince Albert II told Today.
"There's an old rug that used to be in the living room that was brought back," Boshak told Today. "They polished and restored all the finishes, keeping the originals when possible and matching older items that resembled the period of the house."
An initial idea was to open the home as a museum, but in the end the family decided against that.
The home was built in 1935 by Grace's father, John B. Kelly. He was a three-time Olympic gold medal-winning rower in the 1920s and later a prominent businessman active in Philadelphia politics.
Grace left Philadelphia at age 20 for Hollywood but remained adored by Philadelphians through the years.
The city mourned after she died in 1982 from injuries she suffered in a car crash in France that involved her teenage daughter. She was 52.
Once asked about memories growing up in Philadelphia, Kelly recalled walking along a creek in Fairmount Park as her "greatest treat."
Her childhood home made headlines in 2014 when its 81-year-old former owner pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges for keeping cats and dogs in unsanitary conditions.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals seized 15 cats from the home and found the remains of several others. The owner had lived there since 1973.
Today, the house looks just like it did in the 1930s. Albert and the rest of his family combed through old photographs of the property and made sure that each room looks as close to the original as possible.
"She seemed to have a very happy childhood, and it was a lot of games, a lot of fun things that were happening there," Prince Albert told People. "It felt like a real family home. It was a real place of gathering and rejoicing."
The home has always been the refuge for Albert and his siblings, sisters Princess Caroline and Princess Stéphanie, while they were growing up in the spotlight.
"It was always a great experience," Albert said. "It was a sense of freedom that probably wouldn't have had in other places."
"In those days it was not even talk of any security, so we would run off with our cousins on the beach or on the boardwalk. And when we needed to be picked up we called home and someone would come and pick us up."
Now, Albert, a father of four, is looking forward to creating some new memories with his wife, Princess Charlene, and their kids in the house.
"I'm looking forward to showing the house to the kids, sharing it with them, having them see the garden," said Albert.
While the house has been designated a historical landmark, it will only be open to the public during select events. Lucky for us, there are some photos of the space available on the internet.
Let's have a look at the 4,000-square-foot home, shall we?
P.S: The following photos are from before and after the remodeling.
Family Room
According to realtor Patty Grenerd, the house still has its original bricks, windows, archways, and stairways.
Dining room
The Kitchen before the upgrades
The Den
Grace Kelly's bedroom after the renovation
The remaining bedrooms have been set up for Albert and his family to stay in whenever they're in town, according to Boshak.
"Prince Albert is very close to his family "” his cousins and extended family," she said. "And one of the things that's very endearing is that the upstairs rooms were established for them to stay as a family. The big room upstairs has been set up for the children to play."
The linen closet door with the Kelly children's heights through the years
Albert told Today that he was surprised to find the measurements still etched on the door.
"Maybe they thought we were going to take it back one day," Albert said, when asked why he though the previous owners hadn't painted over them.
The "Kelly Tavern," the family's basement bar
An oar as well as the point of a scull believed to have belonged to Grace's father, an Olympic gold medalist in rowing, is on display above the bar.
The Backyard
The Kellys were known for throwing parties in their home and hosting carnivals in their yard for the children of the community, according to Daily Mail.
"The family was beloved by the neighborhood as a gregarious and magnanimous group of local dignitaries," said Gernerd. "Their nobility was a force that shaped the community."
In addition to Grace's home, a few other celebrity childhood homes have been recently restored.
Singer Johnny Cash's boyhood home was just designated a national historic place, and is open to the public. You can take the virtual tour here.
For more old Hollywood celebrity homes, check these out:
Take A Look Inside Clark Gable And Carole Lombard's Romantic Palm Springs Home
Take A Look Inside Elvis And Priscilla Presley's Honeymoon Hideaway
