I've lived in nothing but rowhomes my whole entire adult life and I quite love them.
When you own one, it's super economical. They're very energy efficient, because you share masonry walls with your neighbors, and when and if you remodel them, you can go all out in terms of materials because very often you don't need that much of whatever it is you're buying. Ditto for doors, windows, etc. A typical Philly 2 story rowhome will have only 3 front windows. So instead of replacing them with sh*tty vinyl Home Depot windows, on a tight budget, you can replace them with beautiful wood or clad windows that you'd find in much more expensive homes/neighborhoods.
Every rowhome I've lived in had a maximum utility bill of $100 a month. Typically, it was $20 gas / $80 electric in the hotter months and the reverse in the cold months when you run the heat.
As Londonee says, I'm not sure why the hate for Philly rowhomes. Virtually everything, at least in and around Center City Philadelphia is a rowhome. A rowhouse can be a 10,000 square foot mansion with elevators or a 600 square foot trinity with a basement kitchen. The beautiful thing about Philadelphia in particular is that very often they sit side by side and most passer-bys wouldn't even know it.
Some streets I've lived on:
https://goo.gl/maps/wxXgKa9YmRFt1pyX6
https://goo.gl/maps/XZLf8zuQRV1tSW6w6
https://goo.gl/maps/8acZ8am6Q64JcWef6
Currently renovating a house on this block with much wider rowhomes:
https://goo.gl/maps/8acZ8am6Q64JcWef6
I currently split my time between NYC and Philly. In NYC, I live on a super block of big pre-war apartment buildings. Most old NYC apartments are chopped up into a million rooms whereas most rowhomes have been opened up at this point.
Both have their merits. I'd say the worst thing about living in a rowhome is the stairs...3 of the 4 I've lived in were 3 floors. I do very much enjoy living on one floor, as is the case in my NYC apartment. It makes keeping up with putting things away a bit easier, as you're not always traversing floors.