Tour The Henry Koerner House
An artist’s miniature palace.
Saturday, August 29
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
$25 per person
This tour is limited to 20 participants.
Purchase a ticket below. Tickets will not be available after 11:30 p.m. on August 28.
Join us for a special tour of the home of the late artist Henry Koerner (1915-1991), now the residence of a historic preservationist who is also a collector of Koerner’s work. The house was awarded a Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation plaque in 2021 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.
In 1983, Koerner told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his house was “a miniature of what I wanted all my life. I wanted balconies. A miniature palace…. This house is anachronistic baroque but at the same time very modern. The walls are ten feet high. They are white. Paintings look well on them.” Designed with substantial involvement by Koerner and completed in 1966, it not only was the family’s abode, but also functioned as a gallery. Here, Koerner showed his art, which is generally described as a Magical Realist for the way in which he synthesized the real with the strange or unfamiliar in his paintings and other works.
Koerner was born in Vienna but immigrated to the U.S. in 1938, when Germany annexed Austria. In 1952, he moved from New York to Pittsburgh to become artist-in-residence at what is now Chatham University. In his more than four decades in the U.S., Koerner became nationally and internationally known, producing work ranging from drawings commissioned by Westinghouse for use in advertising to enormous, 16-panel paintings that combined imagery from his life in America and his family’s regular trips to his native land. Our tour, graciously offered and to be led by the home’s owner, will provide unique insights into this beguiling artist and his architectural alter-ego.
Tour meeting point: 1055 S. Negley Avenue, Pittsburgh 15217. Please meet on the walk that leads to the house.
Tour ending point: 1055 S. Negley Avenue
Please arrive 15 minutes before start time in order to ensure that the tour gets underway on time.
Parking: There is no public parking on this section of S. Negley Avenue. Street parking is available on Dunmoyle Street, which is about 300 feet south of Negley Avenue. Please do not park on the homeowner’s driveway.
Accessibility: This is a private home that occupies a sloping site and has two flights of stairs. It is not accessible to people who have mobility challenges.
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All tour participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Children under the age of 13 may attend tours free of charge. By purchasing a ticket for this tour, you acknowledge that you are physically able to undertake the tour, assume all personal risk during the tour, consent to being photographed during the tour, and permit PHLF to use your image in our communications.
All ticket sales are final.
