Author Archives: Lindsay

About Lindsay

Lindsay has been writing about Pittsburgh since 2005. She likes pretzels from the Pretzel Shop on Carson St., used book stores, her rollerblades and she hopes to learn to skateboard someday soon.

Colonel James Anderson House

The Colonel James Anderson House & Victorian Tea Benefit

Colonel James Anderson House

Photo: Cara Halderman via Flickr creative commons

The Anderson House holds quite a bit of architectural and historical significance for Pittsburgh, the Manchester neighborhood, and any anyone who has ever borrowed a book from the library.

The building is architecturally significant, it was built in 1830 and is one of the oldest buildings in Manchester. This house is also one of the only remaining examples of Greek Revival style architecture in Pittsburgh. Another unusual feature to the Anderson House is the English basement, which is a fancy term for a garden apartment.

Architectural history aside, this building has a connection to a current community institution that can be found in neighborhoods across the country today. Colonel Anderson would lend books to a young Pittsburgh boys, including Andrew Carnegie.  It was Colonel Anderson’s book lending that inspired Andrew Carnegie to create public libraries.

From the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1920.

Colonel James Anderson–I bless his name as I write–announced that he would open his library of four hundred volumes to boys, so that any young man could take out, each Saturday afternoon, a book which could be exchanged for another on the succeeding Saturday.

A Brief History of the Colonel James Anderson House

There is not a lot of detailed history about this building on the internet, based on what I could find here is a found  timeline of the building and some key dates for both Colonel James Anderson and Andrew Carnegie:

  • 1812 – James Anderson serves in the War of 1812
  • 1830 – Anderson House is Built
  • 1835 – Andrew Carnegie is born
  • 1850s – Andrew Carnegie borrows books from Colonel James Anderson on Saturdays
  • 1881 – Building Owned by Women’s Christian Association (Allegheny County Real Estate Website)
  • 1904 – Colonel James Anderson Monument is dedicated. Monument was located at the corner of Federal & East Ohio Streets  (via Pittsburgh Art Places)
  • 1905 – Large addition is added to the house (via Post-Gazette)
  • 1919 – Andrew Carnegie dies.
  • 1960s – Anderson Monument was dismantled as part of Urban Redevelopment and creation of Allegheny Center.
  • 1984 – Pittsburgh History and Landmark’s recreated the Anderson Monument and installed the origional sculptures  (via Pittsburgh Art Places)
  • 1989 – Anderson House added to Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Historic Landmark’s list.
  • 1999 – Anderson House is included on the Manchester House Tour (via Post-Gazette)
  • 2003 – Family Hospice & Palliative Care used the building for personal care & hospice facility
  • 2014 – Family Hospice & Palliative Care listed the building for sale for $500,000
  • March 2016 – Manchester Historic Society acquires the Anderson House
  • August 2016 – Anderson House included on the Manchester House & Garden Tour (via Post-Gazette)

Photo Tour of the Anderson House

The following photo tour of the Colonel James Anderson House was published on the Post-Gazette website on July, 29, 2016. If the slide show does not load you can view the photos on the Post-Gazette website here.

Colonel James Anserson House Location

The Anderson House is located at 1423 Liverpool Street in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Mother’s Day Tea to Benefit the Colonel James Anderson House

This Sunday, the Manchester Historic Society has planned a Mother’s Day tea which will be held at a historic mansion in the Manchester neighborhood.  Proceeds from the tea will be used in the restoration of the Anderson House. The tea is open to everyone, you don’t have to be a mom or bring your mom to attend, anyone who is interested in history is welcome for tea.

Tickets are $45 per person and there will be two seatings, 11am-1pm & 2pm-4pm.

Victorian Tea to Benefit Colonel James Anderson House Restoration
Sunday, May 14, 2017
11am or 2pm
Location: The tea will be held in a private mansion in Machester, exact address will be sent to ticket holders.
$45 per person, purchase tickets online here
Facebook Event

TaskRabbit Now Available in Pittsburgh

There is a new on-demand services app in town, TaskRabbit has quietly launched in Pittsburgh. The big news last week was that UberEATS launched in Pittsburgh. In addition to taking people from point A to point B, Uber now delivers food from a long list of restaurants to your house or other location. The Incline put together a list of 100+ restaurants that offer delivery from UberEATS in Pittsburgh. The Trib put together a nice article that compares all of the food delivery services that currently operate in Pittsburgh, UberEATS, Postmates, GrubHub, Wheel Deliver, & Happy Bellies.

Task Rabbit is an app that helps customers hire taskers to help with all kinds of chores. I first learned about TaskRabbit during a visit to Los Angeles in 2011, but the company was founded back in 2008. TaskRabbit has made a few pivots to their business model over the years, but many have been asking when TaskRabbit would be available in Pittsburgh.

I was just talking with a friend about how Pittsburgh is lacking in on-demand movers. There have been many treasures that I have left behind at Construction Junction because I didn’t have anyone to help me move them. There is an app, Lugg, that offers on-demand moving, but it is not yet available in Pittsburgh.

Earlier this week a thread appeared on the Pittsburgh sub-reddit asking if anyone uses Task Rabbit around Pittsburgh. I decided to do some research to see if Task Rabbit was really live in Pittsburgh. A quick Google search and there has been no formal announcement about a Pittsburgh launch. The Twitter handle @KathrynKellyPR replied to some older tweets that TaskRabbit launched in Pittsburgh on April 28, 2017.

So I thought I would signup and see if TaskRabbit is really now live in Pittsburgh. I posted a task and there are a few taskers in Pittsburgh who are available for hire.

TaskRabbit Pittsburgh

Photo credit: TaskRabbit Facebook Page.

When you post a task, TaskRabbit gives you four default options for types of task:

  • Minor repairs
  • Assembly
  • Mounting
  • Help Moving

But if you start typing many more task types are available (it is not really clear that you can type something in the box and that you don’t have to suggest one of the default tasks). You can see a list of types of tasks on the TaskRabbit support page, taskers can help everything from arts & crafts to waiting in line. Some tasks are limited by location so I am not sure what is and is not available in Pittsburgh yet.

From the few tasks I posted rates are $26-$38 per hour, per tasker. All taskers have been vetted by Task Rabbit and have passed a background check.

Task Disasters?

With most of these on-demand platforms, there are always some sort of disasters. Much has been written about AirB&B issues. This Medium post from 2015, Living and Dying on Airbnb, definitely raised some issues about renting a place to stay that I had not thought of before. When I tried to use Postmates to order lunch from Piper’s Pub on Saint Patrick’s Day. When I couldn’t find Piper’s listed on the Postmates app, I had to take an old fashioned approach and use the phone to place the order. The folks at Piper’s Pub explained that they had some bad experience with Postmates and that I would have to come pick up the food myself.

I wanted to see if there were any horror stories online about hiring a tasker. The first three pages of Google results were all tasker horror stories and most of them are pretty funny. I did find a blog, The Traveling Rabbit, about a women who quit her job and traveled around working as tasker. There is a post on the TaskRabbit blog about partnering with the White House on disaster response from 2014. I am not sure if that program is still active, but I am impressed to see a partnership like that as early as 2014. I also found this hilarious article from the Chicago Tribune, 10 random things Cubs fans hired someone to do on TaskRabbit. I am now looking forward to seeing how Steelers fans will utilize this service.

Every task booked on Task Rabbit is backed by $1 million dollar insurance and the Task Rabbit Happiness Pledge, which is quite extensive.

Digging into the gig economy

There are plenty of posts from the taskers about difficult tasks or how it can be difficult to make money, similar concerns that have been echoed from those who work as Uber divers and deliver for Postmates. While there are a lot of good things, less drinking and driving, that these gig economy has brought to Pittsburgh it is not without some downsides.

Here are a few articles that offer some information about TaskRabbit and other on-demand businesses. Interesting timing that the most recent issue of The New Yorker digs into the subject of the gig economy.

Interested in hiring a TaskRabbit in Pittsburgh?

If you want to try Task Rabbit, you can sign up with this link to get a $20 credit on your first task.

Looking to make some extra money? Apply to become a TaskRabbit tasker in Pittsburgh

When Lyft first launched in Pittsburgh back in 2014, I wanted to learn more about how it worked. I was looking for a job, but I was curious how the process worked, so I signed up as a driver. So to fully research the Task Rabbit experience I have applied to be a taskers.

To apply to be a tasker:

  • Fill out a quick form with contact information.
  • Select what types of tasks you would be willing to help with. Sadly blogging is not one of those tasks. I’ve signed up to help move and to assemble Ikea furniture and rate myself “some experience.”
  • Pay a $20 nonrefundable registration processing fee, which does not guarantee I will be hired.
  • Enter gender, social security number, bank deposit info
  • Submit and wait for a reply from Task Rabbit.

I will let you know if I make the cut to become a tasker.

Share your TaskRabbit Stories

Have you used TaskRabbit before in other cities? What was your experience? Have you worked as a tasker before? If you give TaskRabbit a try here in Pittsburgh, let us know how it goes.

The Alcoa Headquarters and US Steel Building

I had dinner at the restaurant Talia Cucina & Rosticerra this evening. Talia is located at the corner of 6th and William Penn Place on the first floor of the Regional Enterprise Building, which used to the Alcoa headquarters.

The following photo and history of the Alcoa building is from Darren Toth’s Instagram account @Yinztergram. Darren was kind enough to meet me for coffee last year to talk Pittsburgh history when I was working on a historic designation. I have really enjoyed following Darren’s posts of fascinating photos of Pittsburgh people and places accompanied by some unique local facts.

While I knew the Alcoa building was made with aluminum and the US Steel Building was made with steel, I had never heard about the the beams filled with saltwater.

This building received a historic landmark plaque from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 2004. More information about the history of the Regional Enterprise Tower is available on the Pittsburgh Art Places website here.

In addition to local history, he occasionally posts some wonderful photos of Pittsburgh today. I am glad he posted about the blind runner from the Pittsburgh Marathon as I found that to be the most inspiring thing of the day. There were so many great things to share from the race, bust as a first time runner I was too afraid that I would fall if I tried to take a photo while running.

May is Preservation Month

The National Trust for Historic Preservation celebrates historic preservation successes each May. I have been posting about a different historic building each day since the beginning of the month. Have a building you would like to learn more about? Know of a history lovers we should follow on Instagram? Leave a comment below.

Giovannitti House & Pittsburgh Modern

Update: Visit Very Local Pittsburgh for an updated version of this story. 

Most of the houses that surround Chatham University on Woodland Road, look the same, a version of a brick Tudor-style house. Even if you cannot see into the houses, you just sense that the interiors of theses house have lots of woodwork and some heavy draperies covering each window. But there is one house on Woodland Road that stands out from the Tudor line up. If you have driven down Woodland Road, you have likely seen the Giovannitti House.

Photo credit: Coldwell Banker.

I don’t believe this house has a historic designation, but it is such a unique building that it is worth sharing for preservation month. The house was designed by architect Richard Meier, and was built 1979-1983.

In 2013, someone started making a documentary about this house. I don’t know if they ever completed the entire episode but the trailer offers a look inside the house and an introduction to the owners, who were moving back into the house after having been away.

You can read more about the Giovannitti house here:

While researching this house, I came across the Pittsburgh Modern website, which has a detailed list of other modern buildings around Pittsburgh. It looks like the site has not been updated in a few years, in spite of that it is still a good starting point to learn more about modern architecture and architects in Pittsburgh.

I am not sure if they are currently living there, the house was put up for sale in June 2016. The Coldwell Banker site lists the house as currently “under contract.”

 

May is Preservation Month

If you like Pittsburgh history, you might be interested in reading about these buildings and preservation organizations:

 

The Fineman House in Stanton Heights

This is possibly one of my favorite buildings in Pittsburgh and one of my favorite posts from 2016. Only in Pittsburgh, can you find a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentices almost hidden in plain sight in a neighborhood like Stanton Heights and listed for just $115,000. Charles Rosenblum, who often covers local architecture, wrote about the Fineman House for NextPittsburgh last year.  The Fineman House was built in 1952 by  Peter Berndtson and Cornelia Brierly. Peter Berndtson was an Apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright.

I just looked at the Zillow page for this house and it looks like it sold for $152,000, $37,000 more than the listing price.