Category Archive: Historic Properties
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A crown jewel where a duke and count played
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 8, 2004Historic preservationists have taken the first steps toward protecting the famed New Granada Theater, on Centre Avenue in the Hill District, from demolition or major alterations.
Built in 1927, the building is the principal surviving work of Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger, an important African-American architect. Only a few of Bellinger’s buildings survive today.“Even though the New Granada has been closed for decades, people still talk about it,” said Esther L. Bush, chief executive of the Urban League of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh’s seven-member Historic Review Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to proceed with the process of designating the New Granada Theater as a City of Pittsburgh Historic Structure — a measure proposed by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
A series of public hearings by the Historic Review Commission, the city Planning Commission and City Council must be conducted before council can vote on granting the designation.
“The New Granada is not only a part of Pittsburgh’s cultural heritage, it has the potential of being part of this city’s future,” Bush said. “If it’s developed, it can become another cultural attraction.”The theater was built as the Pythian Temple, a lodge for a group of African-American construction workers known as the Knights of Pythias. In the 1930s, the building was sold to the owner of the Granada Theatre, located several blocks up on Centre Avenue. When the movie house was moved to the current location, the word “new” was tacked onto the marquee.
In its heyday, the 11,341-square-foot New Granada Theatre was a major draw for live entertainment and movies. Jazz greats Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington performed there.
“The building is in very bad shape,” said Mulugetta Birru, executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. “It’s going to take a lot of money to rehab it.”
Representatives of Hill Community Development Corp., which owns the theater, could not be reached for comment.
Councilman Sala Udin, whose district includes the Hill, said the designation could be a draw for proposed redevelopment along several blocks of Centre Avenue.
“Obviously it will take a developer with some vision to turn that theater into something that is commercially successful,” Udin said.
Udin said he believes a mix of new housing, storefronts and restored buildings could help revive the neighborhood.
“I would like to see the storefronts built so we can consolidate the businesses in the area and create some momentum outward,” he said.
Efforts to develop the area stalled last year after a Las Vegas developer selected by the city failed to deliver on a master plan for the proposed project.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com.
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Church had roots in city’s black community
By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, March 14, 2004The Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Hill District has been a cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s black community since shortly after the Civil War.
Ebenezer Baptist, the first black Baptist congregation in Western Pennsylvania to own a church building, has been a driving force in the nation’s civil right’s movement.
“It’s hard for me to think of a church more significant in the African-American community,” said Arthur Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Ebenezer Baptist dates to 1875 when the congregation was formed. The congregation bought a church from the Presbyterians in 1906, and moved about 1930 to the current site at 2001 Wylie Ave.
Its role in the civil rights movement was highlighted by its hosting of the National Urban League’s annual conference in 1932. Later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his first visit.
It was the site of other firsts, too. In 1923, it started using a bus, called the gospel wagon, to drive church members with physical limitations to services — the first black church to do so in the nation, according to Manford Sales, the church’s senior deacon.
Sales says it also was the first black church to install an elevator. That came in 1965.
“Our church is important,” he said. “We’ve only had 10 ministers there.”
The church survived a fire in January 1976 that caused $300,000 in damage to the building, just three years after the Rev. Dr. J. Van Alfred Winsett, the current pastor, arrived at Ebenezer Baptist.
In one way or another, the church has touched many lives.
“My dad went to Ebenezer Baptist and used to sing in the choir over there,” said Tim Stevens, the president of the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch. “When I saw the fire (Saturday) morning, the first thing I thought of was my dad.”
Today, the church operates an 11-story senior high-rise, a $5.4 million building with 101 apartments. It also operates its own personal care home and a million dollar Christian life center.
The church is the main meeting spot for numerous community programs, including Head Start, Alcoholics Anonymous, and all scouting groups.
It has a choir, ministers to prisoners, helps students obtain scholarships and learn with the help of mentors. Each year, it reaches out to youngsters through an 11-week summer academy.
“That church was used by so many people,” said Winsett, the church’s senior pastor.
Winsett is heard weekly on Christian radio stations WGBN, Pittsburgh, and WDIG in Steubenville, Ohio. A new sound and video system was installed recently in the church to display scriptures, highlight points in the preacher’s sermon and show announcements.
Today was to be its unveiling.
Clutching her daughter, Deborah Tyler of Garfield stood, crying, watching the embers of the roof spiral into the place where the new video system once stood.
“I had to come and say goodbye to Ebenezer,” she said. “I’m so distraught. This church is, was, so special to all of us. My daughter goes here. Her daughters would’ve gone to church here, too.”
Ebenezer Baptist Church
Important dates in the church’s history:
Church building built by Presbyterians in 1873.
Ebenezer congregation formed in 1875.
Ebenezer Baptist bought a church in 1906.
Host of the National Urban League conference in 1932.
Dr. J. Van Alfred Winsett becomes pastor in 1973.
Fire damages church in 1975, causing $300,000 in damage. Later restored.
Designated historic landmark in 1979.
Sources: Church members and historyStaff writer Vince Guerrieri also contributed to this story.
Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7933.
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Some old schools are seeking new purpose
By Maggi Newhouse
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 23, 2004South Hills High School is a cold, hollow place.
The plaster is peeling, the hardwood floors are buckling and rain water streams in through the porous roof.
The massive building in Mt. Washington, which opened in 1916, once drew so many students from Pittsburgh’s southern communities that graduation programs had to be split over two days. It is one of more than a half-dozen district-owned schools that closed during the past 20 years due to declining enrollment.
School officials now face the daunting challenge of trying to persuade community groups and developers to restore and reuse these deteriorating buildings.
After two decades of futility, the district last month transferred the rights to South Hills High to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, hoping that city agency will have better luck.
There have been success stories.The old Latimer junior/senior high school on the North Side, which closed in 1982, was sold to a developer who converted the classrooms into the School House apartments and preserved many of the original features of the 106-year-old building, including the stairways and classroom numbers, said building manager Sarah Beck.
The Carriage House Children’s Center purchased Wightman Elementary School in 1986, six years after it closed. It now uses the basement and first floor of the Squirrel Hill facility for its preschool and full-day programs and leases the second floor to nonprofits.
Carriage House Executive Director Natalie Kaplan said the center has spent about $1.5 million to renovate and bring the building up to code, but also saved many distinctive features, including a third-floor gymnasium and several stained glass windows.
“It’s very exciting,” Kaplan said. “People come from out of town all the time and say ‘I went to school here. Can I walk around?'”
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Executive Director Louise Sturgess said that many city schools were built with quality materials, in prominent locations, to demonstrate the value of education to the community.
“The buildings were built to be permanent, to be symbols to the community that education is important,” she said.
That’s exactly what the Rev. Tim Smith sees every day from his office at Keystone Church of Hazelwood.
Next door, on a hillside overlooking Hazelwood, stands Gladstone Middle School.
Smith remembers its hallways being filled with people after the school day had ended. They came for computer and adult literacy classes, YMCA programs and athletic events.
When the district closed the 90-year-old school in 2001, many of the community programs went with it, Smith said.
“It was a place to go for a lot of kids who didn’t have anywhere to go,” he said. “It was pretty devastating, in my opinion.”
Smith heads the Gladstone Task Force, a group created by the Hazelwood Initiative. They have petitioned the school district to help pay for a $60,000 study looking at options for Gladstone.
There’s even hope for South Hills High School.
Jim DeGilio, a member of the Mt. Washington Community Development Corp., said a number of developers are moving forward with plans to buy the building and make it into a combination residential and commercial site.
DeGilio said it would cost about $20 million to repair and convert the 3.4-acre property.
While officials say they try to work with community groups interested in the properties, it often takes years for projects to move forward.
The poor condition of South Hills High, which closed in 1985, prompted school board members last month to ask the staff for recommendations.
“It’s unlikely we’d have something as drastic happen in most of these other buildings, but we would still want to move more expeditiously (on those schools) than we did on South Hills,” said district Chief Operations Officer Richard Fellers.
Fellers said his staff plans to have recommendations on other properties by late spring or early summer.
Fellers said a staff member is assigned to each school to make sure the building and surrounding grounds are maintained. Each school also is on the district’s security system.
“We do continue to look after them,” he said, noting the district still has to pay for utilities and general supplies to maintain the buildings.
School board member Randall Taylor said he would like to see something happen as soon as possible with the former Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts building in Homewood.
The 96-year-old building, a former elementary school, closed last year when the district opened the new CAPA school Downtown.
Taylor said he has been talking with community groups and other people about trying to develop a community center geared toward families, but that could take years.
His fear is that people will vandalize and tamper with the building now that it is empty.
“The schools are protected when the kids are there,” he said. “Now that they’re gone, all bets are off.”
Maggi Newhouse can be reached at mnewhouse@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7997.
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South Fayette officials, residents agree on need for open space at Boys home site
By Patrick Ponticel
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Wednesday, February 04, 2004South Fayette officials want to take a decidedly careful approach to residential growth, saying they are well aware of what indiscriminate development can do to suburban farms and woodlands.
That was evident at a special meeting recently about the old Boys Home property, a 214-acre farm off Battle Ridge Road near Oakdale that the township owns. The 50 residents and officials of South Fayette indicated a strong preference for preserving most, if not all, of the land.
“Minimal development and more preservation” should be the guiding mantra of South Fayette in its general approach to growth, resident Don Smith said. Regarding the Boys Home property, he said, “If there is going to be development, it should be controlled development.”
His wife, Amy, added, “The first priority should be no development.”
The Smiths’ comments were representative of most residents, although a few found much appeal in the idea of the township selling a portion of the property to pay for improvements to the Boys Home gymnasium.
The building is sound structurally, but a major renovation would be required for it to serve as a community athletic or meeting center. Commissioner Sue Caffrey, who serves on the board of the South Fayette Conservation Group, said she had no preconceived notions about what to do with the property overall. But as for the gymnasium, she hopes it can be renovated. Selling a portion of the property to pay for it is an option.
Residents were encouraged by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation President Arthur Ziegler to mail additional comments to the township by Sunday. By Feb. 19, township and foundation officials will put together a proposed plan.
They have hired the consulting firm of LaQuatra Bonci Associates to, among other things, compile a natural resources inventory of the Boys Home property.
With this information, the company prepared several maps outlining how the property could be developed in conservation-friendly ways to accommodate a limited number of homes.
Fred Bonci, a principal in the company, emphasized that the purpose of the maps was to illustrate a general and more progressive approach to residential development. They were not designed, he said, as recommendations for how the Boys Home property should be developed. “That?s up to you,” he told the crowd. “These are simply ideas that can be used throughout the township.”
Several of the maps featured small clusters of small-lot homes with the majority of the property remaining open space. Others featured nonclustered homes on larger lots, the idea being that the property could be developed to a large extent but preserved to open space via easements.
Joe Hackett, of LaQuatra Bonci, said that in the township’s current zoning ordinance, land preservation was not a consideration. Were the township to sell the Boys Home property, he said, a developer could turn it into something that looks like one of the many “cookie-cutter” housing plans that have sprung up.
Caffrey said the township was updating the zoning ordinance to, among other things, put an end to tree-clearing residential development. Although many municipal zoning ordinances impose requirements for open space preservation, it is most generally the least desirable and least “developable” part of a property ? steep slopes, for example ? which developers will “dedicate” to open space, Bonci said. Ziegler and Bonci emphasized that, elsewhere, developers were beginning to realize that homeowners like having higher value open space bordering their properties.
The meeting was the second in a series to let residents express their preference for how the Boys Home property should be handled. The next meeting will be Feb. 19 in the conference center in the South Fayette Township High School.
(Patrick Ponticel is a freelance writer.)
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Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation announces Historic Building
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s Historic Landmarks Plaque
Committee recently awarded historic designation to the following structures
and buildings.Residence at 7120 Ohio River Boulevard, Ben Avon, 1916, Janssen & Abbott,
architects
5800 Block of Pierce Street, Shadyside 1891
St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, West View, 1927, William H. King,
Jr. architect
Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Oakland, 1931-37, Janssen & Cocken,
architects
Mount Assisi, Ross Township, 1927, Edward J. Weber of Link, Weber & Bowers,
architect
Golf Clubhouse, North Park, 1937, Henry Hornbostel, architect
Powder Magazine, Allegheny Arsenal, Arsenal Park, Lawrenceville, 1814,
Benjamin Henry Latrobe (?) Thoms Pope (?), architects
Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel (formerly, Fulton Building), Downtown
Pittsburgh, 1906, Grosvenor Atterbury (New York), architect
Sewickley Public Library, 1923; (annex 2000), Henry D. Gilchrist, architect
for original portion
Golf Clubhouse, South Park, 1938, Henry Hornbostel, architect
Thaw Hall (originally, School of Engineering), University of Pittsburgh,
Oakland, 1909, Henry Hornbostel, architect
Union Station (present name, the Pennsylvanian), Downtown Pittsburgh,
1898-1903, D. H. Burnham & Co, (Chicago), architects
“La Tourelle” (Edgar J. Kaufmann house), Fox Chapel, 1924, Janssen & Cocken,
architects
Pennsylvania Railroad and Lincoln Avenue viaducts, East Liberty/Homewood,
1902; 1905, William H. Brown, engineer; City of Bureau of Construction
Residence at 6661 Aylesboro Avenue, Squirrel Hill, 1886; moved and remodeled
1922 (?), James T. Steen, architect, original design
Armstrong Tunnel, the Bluff, 1926-27, Vernon R. Covell, of Allegheny County
Dept. of Public Works, chief engineer, Stanley L. Roush, architect
East Street Bridge (Essen Street Bridge, Swindell Bridge), North Side, 1930
Emsworth Locks and Dam, Neville Island, 1922; 1928, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, architects
Liberty Tunnels Ventilating Plant, Mt. Washington, 1928, Stanley Lawson
Roush, architect
McKees Rocks Bridge, 1930-32, Allegheny County Dept. of Public Works; George
S. Richardson, principal engineer
The Highwood, Shadyside, 1929-1930, R. Garey Dickson, architect
St. Josaphat’s Church, South Side, 1909-16, John Theodore Comes, architect
Allegheny Country Club, Sewickley Heights, 1902, William Ross Proctor,
architect
The Allegheny Social Hall, Spring Garden, 1902-1903
St. Michael’s Maedchen Schuile (South Side Catholic High School: West
Building), South Side Slopes, 1900
First United Methodist Church of Wilmerding, 1914, C. W. Bier, Architect
Residence 132 East Crafton Avenue, Crafton, 1938, George M. Rowland,
architect
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation created the Historic Landmark
Plaque program in 1968 to identify architecturally significant structures
and designed landscapes throughout Allegheny County. Buildings, structures,
districts, and landscapes may be approved for an Historic Landmark Plaque if
all of the following conditions are met:• they are remarkable pieces of architecture, engineering, construction,
landscape design, or planning, or impart a rich sense of history;• alterations, additions, or deterioration have not substantially
lessened their value in the above respects;• they are at least 50 years old and located within Allegheny
County;• they qualify for Landmarks’ inventory of significant structures
and landscapes;• they are not located in historic districts bearing a plaque (unless
of exceptional national significance).An Historic Landmark Plaque identifies the site as a significant part of our
local heritage; but it will not protect a building from alteration or
demolition.To date, over 450 plaques throughout Allegheny County have been awarded to
significant buildings and structures.Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation was founded in 1964 as a
non-profit preservation organization serving Allegheny County. Its purpose
is to identify and preserve architectural landmarks, historic neighborhoods,
and historic designed landscapes in Allegheny County and to educate people
about this region’s architectural heritage and urban and landscape design
history. -
South Fayette residents prefer more preservation, less development on Boys Home land
By Patrick Ponticel
Pittsburgh Post Gazettte
Wednesday, January 21, 2004South Fayette officials want to take a decidedly careful approach to residential growth, saying they are well aware of what indiscriminate development can do to suburban farms and woodlands.
That was evident Thursday night at a special meeting about the old Boys Home property, a 214-acre farm off Battle Ridge Road near Oakdale that the township owns. The 50 residents and officials of South Fayette indicated a strong preference for preserving most, if not all of the land.
“Minimal development and more preservation” should be the guiding mantra of South Fayette in its general approach to growth, said resident Don Smith. Regarding the Boys Home property, he said, “If there is going to be development it should be controlled development.”
His wife, Amy, added, “The first priority should be no development.”
The Smiths’ comments were representative of most residents, although a few did note that there is much appeal in the idea of the township selling a portion of the property to pay for improvements to the Boys Home gymnasium.
The building is sound structurally, but a major renovation would be required for it to serve as a community athletic or meeting center.
Commissioners Chairwoman Sue Caffrey who serves on the board of the South Fayette Conservation Group said she has no preconceived notions about what to do with the property overall. But as for the gymnasium, she hopes it can be renovated. Selling a portion of the property to pay for it is an option.
Residents were encouraged by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation President Arthur Ziegler to mail additional comments to the township by Feb. 1. By Feb. 19, township and foundation officials will put together a proposed plan.
They have hired the consulting firm of LaQuatra Bonci Associates to, among other things, compile a natural resources inventory of the Boys Home property.
With this information the company prepared several maps outlining how the property could be developed in conservation-friendly ways to accommodate a limited number of homes.
Fred Bonci, a principal in the company, emphasized that the purpose of the maps was to illustrate a general and more progressive approach to residential development. They were not designed, he said, as recommendations for how the Boys Home property should be developed.
“That’s up to you,” he told the crowd. “These are simply ideas that can be used throughout the township.”
Several of the maps featured small clusters of small-lot homes with the majority of the property remaining open space. Others featured nonclustered homes on larger lots, the idea being that the property could be developed to a large extent but preserved to open space via easements.
Joe Hackett of LaQuatra Bonci said that in the township’s current zoning ordinance, land preservation is not a consideration. Were the township to sell the Boys Home property, he said, a developer could turn it into something that looks like one of the many “cookie-cutter” housing plans that have sprung up.
Caffrey said the township is updating the zoning ordinance to, among other things, put an end to tree-clearing residential development. Although many municipal zoning ordinances impose requirements for open space preservation, it is most generally the least desirable and least “developable” part of a property (steep slopes, for example) that developers will “dedicate” to open space, Bonci said.
Ziegler and Bonci emphasized that elsewhere, developers are beginning to realize that homeowners like having higher value open space bordering their properties. Thursday’s meeting was the second in a series to let residents express their preference for how the Boys Home property should be handled. The next meeting will be Feb. 19 in the conference center in the South Fayette Township High School.
(Patrick Ponticel is a freelance writer.)
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Calvert Church in Etna receives grant for work
By Tawnya Panizzi
Staff writer
Thursday, January 8, 2004ETNA: A mammoth red door installed Monday at Calvert Memorial Church is a symbol of continued outreach for Pastor Cynthia Jackson.
The steel door, erected at the church basement, leads into the Bread of Life Food Bank — a volunteer organization that has grown over the past year from serving 25 to 155 families each month.
It was that commitment to community service that helped earn the church a $5,000 grant from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) to purchase the new door, which fits with the landmark’s mission of preserving old structures.
The church was one of 16 sites throughout Allegheny County chosen to receive a 2003 Historic Religious Properties grant.
“The metal door is just what we needed to be up to code,” Jackson said. “It is important that the church building be maintained so the mission of the church can continue.”
Founded in 1964, the PHLF is a nonprofit historic preservation group that identifies and preserves buildings, neighborhoods and landscapes of the county. The grant program, in its eighth year, assists properties that are architecturally significant and that provide social services in the neighborhood. For example, Calvert Memorial’s food pantry serves underprivileged residents with donations received from eight local parishes in the Lower Valley.
The grant program is funded by year-end gifts from landmarks members and trustees and the money is used for projects like restoring stained glass, roof repair, painting, and restoration of a church dome. Technical assistance also is provided to establish preventative maintenance programs.
Selected from among 34 applicants, this is the second consecutive grant for Calvert Memorial.
Cathy McCollom, Landmarks Director of Operations and Marketing, said the church fits hand-in-hand with the mission of the grant program.
“The quality of the construction and its historic significance are what we look at,” she said of the 94-year-old building.
“It is our goal, not necessarily to offer money to churches, but those housed in significant buildings.”
McCollom also lauded the church for providing an impressive host of services for the community members — despite dwindling membership.
“Seventy percent of people who go through church doors are not members of the congregation,” McCollom said. “They are there for after-school activities, a food pantry, exercise classes.”
With membership slipping from about 80 to 50 members over the past few years, Jackson refuses to allow the church to slip away as well, she said. It has become a reliable source of services for an increasing number of residents, by offering everything from a summer reading program and job link center to tutoring and computer classes.
“While the church membership has decreased, the number of people we’re serving has increased,” Jackson said. “If the church doesn’t care about needs of people in Etna who are living in poverty, I don’t know who else is going to.”
Tawnya Panizzi can be reached at tpanizzi@tribweb.com or (412) 782-2192.
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Hearth and Home: Ben Avon Heights house embodies practical, simple qualities of Craftsman style
By Gretchen McKay,
Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Saturday, October 25, 2003If visitors ask a local architecture buff where to find a Craftsman-style house in Pittsburgh, they may be sent to Thornburg, a western suburb founded in 1900 by two cousins enamored of California homes built in the American Arts & Crafts style.
But the truth is, you can find these simple yet intricately detailed homes in many of Pittsburgh’s older suburbs. By the late 1890s, a growing number of Americans had tired of the decorative excesses of the Victorian era, and many liked the idea of an informal home with practical built-ins, open living spaces warmed by a central fireplace and a deliberate lack of ornamentation.
“They made sense to young middle-class people who didn’t have servants but wanted something affordable and stylish,” says Al Tannler, historical collections director for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
A prime example can be found at 17 New Brighton Road in Ben Avon Heights. Listed by Re/Max North for $279,900, this 2 1/2-story house features all the charming architectural details that make a Craftsman so appealing: exposed beams, built-in furniture and heavy use of stone, cedar and other natural materials.
Built sometime in the 1900s, the four-bedroom house was one of the first three houses constructed in Ben Avon Heights, a tiny, tight-knit community of about 110 homes just seven miles from Downtown. Only four families have called the place home, including Thomas Pomeroy, who moved in with his family in 1911. As an adult, he helped found the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and served as a Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge in the 1960s and ’70s. The present owners have lived there for 37 years.
The tone is set at the front steps, where a large wrap-around stone porch, fronted by a long row of mature bushes, encourages residents to sit awhile. Chocolate-brown cedar shingles, a low-pitched, gabled roof and brackets under the gables add to the rustic feel.
The front door opens directly onto the core of the house: the 29- by 15-foot living room. Graced by an exposed-beamed ceiling and high, diamond-patterned windows, this free-flowing space feels intimate, yet is large enough to hold several different seating areas along with a grand piano. As in most Craftsman-style houses, the interior wood surfaces are stained instead of painted to emphasize the grain and integrity of the wood.
A large stone wood-burning fireplace flanked by oak built-ins anchors the end near the enclosed staircase; a cushioned window seat that runs the length of three windows adorns the opposite side. The living room is the heart of a Craftsman, says Ken Lonsinger of Dormont, whose Web site, www.craftsmanperspective.com, features dozens of Pittsburgh Craftsman-style homes.
“They’re very warm. To me, it conveys a real sense of home and hearth, where people congregate and spend their evenings together.”
The living room spills directly into the dining room through a pair of french doors. This appealing space features another cushioned window seat and green-and-white floral wallpaper. At 18- by 13 feet, it is large enough for even the longest dining-room table.
The kitchen, on the other hand, could use updating. Only 11- by 10 feet, it features a small built-in pantry and an adjoining powder room. It opens through a side door onto a small brick patio off the wraparound porch that empties onto a large backyard dotted with maples and oaks.
The second floor holds four bedrooms and the home’s only full bath. The 15- by 15-foot master bedroom has hardwood floors and spacious his-and-her closets on either side of a small built-in window seat that opens to provide additional storage for blankets or clothing. A second bedroom opens onto a small porch overlooking the back yard (careful, no rail!) while a third features a mirror-topped sink tucked inside one of the closets. A small fourth bedroom at the rear of the house would make a perfect nursery or home office.
The third floor has a large walk-in closet and two more bedrooms. Currently used for storage, this unfinished space — with slanted ceilings and original pine floors — would make a wonderful guest suite or children’s playroom. A sink in one of the rooms indicates it once had working plumbing and could probably accommodate another bathroom.
Shaded by an enormous maple and embraced on one side by a sprawling hydrangea, the house is less than a block from the Ben Avon Heights playground (once part of the long-defunct Ben Avon Golf Club). It is also within easy walking distance of Shannopin Country Club, the hub for many community events and recreational activities.
“It’s so private,” says listing agent Bonnie Stright. “And the architecture is so pretty.”
Gretchen McKay can be reached at 412-761-4670 or gmckay@post-gazette.com .