Category Archives: Architechture

914 8th Ave Beaver Falls

The Multrup Steel Mansion is still for sale. Open house on Sat 1/20. Now $49,000 or less!

914 8th Ave Beaver Falls

Sooo…. who is up for a little road trip to Beaver Falls this weekend!

I’ve been noticing that the two previous posts on the Moltrup Steel Mansion have been getting a lot of visits recently. So I thought I would check back and see if this house was still for sale.

The Multrup Steel Mansion located at 914 8th Ave is still for sale and the price has been reduced to $49,000.  There is a new listing agent for the property, Carol Tomayko, her team has been very responsive to questions.

You can read a history of the Moltrup Steel Mansion on our previous post here.

The house has been featured on several old house blogs and you can read some of the comments on Old House Dreams to learn more about the current condition of the house. Long story short… not good.

Here are a few notes from comments left by Philip Poburka who toured the home over the summer:

  • “One of the thing I noticed which has not been mentioned are the tension failures in some areas of the Masonry, which have occurred from the Home’s differential settling over time.”
  • “There is no Wood in any of the construction, other than for the small and modest Back Porch, and, of course, the Sash Windows and Interior Wood Moldings and Paneling and Stair Treads and.”
  • “Let alone, all the lovely Wood work which has not ever had any second coats of varnish or other finish.”

914 8th Ave, Beaver Falls Open House This Saturday

I have just confirmed with the listing agent that there is an open house at 914 8th Ave, Beaver Falls for this Saturday, January 20 from 1-4pm.

Price Drop $49,900 or Less?

The realtor has also told me that while the price is listed at $49,900, the property is now in foreclosure and the bank intends to sell the home via auction in the next few weeks.

See more photos and learn more about 914 8th Ave:

 

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Allegheny County Airport

The Art Deco Allegheny County Airport

Today’s historic preservation post is inspired by airport architecture. I am writing this while I watch the sun set over Phoenix from the Sky Harbor airport. The design of the D terminal offers windows that let you look out over the mountain range and there is even a set of binoculars so you can get a better view.

Most of the the flights to Pittsburgh arrive at the Pittsburgh International Airport, but on the other side of town, there is a smaller airport that is still in service but mostly for private planes – The Allegehny County Airport. The Allegheny County Airport is located in West Mifflin, pretty close to Century Three Chevrolet (Lebanon Church Road Pittsburgh… minutes from the mall).

The Pittsburgh airport will likely be known as a prime example of 80’s architecture (which in someways is an architectural style that sums up Pittsburgh, practical, sensible, not too fancy). The Allegheny County Airport is an art deco gem.

Photo credit: Father Pitt.

The Architecture of the Allegheny County Airport

The Allegheny County Airport was built on an old slag heap, the building opened in 1931. The airport building was expanded with an addition by architect Henry Hornbostel in 1936 and served as the primary airport for the city until 1952 when the Greater Pittsburgh Airport opened.

The interior still has an art deco design as well. Visit the blog of author Robert Matzen to see several photos of the inside of the terminal.

Some Surprising Stats on The Allegheny County Airport

Allegheny County Airport

Allegheny County Airport, October 2016. Fountain was died pink for breast cancer awareness month.

The Allegheny County Airport …

  • is the fifth-busiest airport in Pennsylvania
  • has more than 50,000 takeoffs and landings per year
  • was the only hard-surface runway in the US when it was built

While the airport is now only used for smaller, private aircraft, last week a Southwest flight was forced to land at the Allegheny County Airport and passengers were then taken by bus to the Pittsburgh airport.

More information on the Allegheny County Airport & Art Deco

 

 

 

Rachel Carson’s Homesteads and her 110th Birthday Celebration

English: Pittsburgh Ninth Street Bridge, now R...

English: Pittsburgh Ninth Street Bridge, now Rachel Carson Bridge as seen from the top of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you have crossed the river from downtown to the Northside you probably know the name Rachel Carson because you have crossed the Rachel Carson Bridge.  The Rachel Carson Bridge is one of the Three Sister’s bridges, the other two bridges are named for Roberto Clemente and Andy Warhol. If you are not familiar with her work, this should give you a clue that Rachel Carson is an important Pittsburgher.

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale, just up the Allegheny river from Pittsburgh and her work as a scientist and conservationist continues to have a huge impact around the world today. She is In 1962, Carson published the book “Silent Spring” that launched the environmental movement and eventually led to a ban on DDT. Carson’s book was the catalyst for the environmental movement which led to the creation of the EPA.

There are two historic buildings that served as homes for Rachel Carson that can be visited today:

  • Birthplace – The Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale, PA is where Carson was born. The house still exists today and is open for tours, educational events and this weekend will host a birthday celebration in honor of Carson’s 110th birthday.
  • Residence – The other Rachel Carson homestead is in Colesville, Maryland. This house in Maryland is where wrote “Silent Spring.” Ryan Morden visited the house in Colesville a few years ago and wrote a post, A Visit to Rachel Carson’s Other House,  about this house which was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

Rachel Carson Homestead, 613 Marion Ave, Springdale

Timeline of the Rachel Carson Homestead

  • 1901 – Carson family moves into home in Springdale
  • 1907 – Rachel Carson is born
  • 1929 – Rachel Carson graduates from Pennsylvania College for Women, now known as Chatham University
  • 1962 – Silent Spring is published
  • 1964 – Rachel Carson dies of a heart attack at her home in Maryland
  • 1975 – Rachel Carson Homestead Association is established
  • 1976 – Rachel Carson Homestead added to the National Register of Historic Places

More on the Rachel Carson Homestead

AUDIO POSTCARD: TURNING BACK TIME ON RACHEL CARSON’S CHILDHOOD HOME

Visit the Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale, PA

By ccbarr (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Docent led tours of the Rachel Carson Homestead are available on Saturdays from April 22, 2017 through November 2017.

  • Hours: Homestead is open 10:30am-1:30pm, tours starts on the hour at 11am, noon & 1pm.
  • Cost: A minimum donation of $10 is requested for each adult, $3 for children.
  • Website: rachelcarsonhomestead.org
  • Social Media: Facebook Page,

Tours are also available by appointment, email Info@RachelCarsonHomestead.org for details.

Special Events at the Rachel Carson Homestead

The Rachel Carson Homestead hosts a number of special events throughout the year, especially during the summer. In fact, my first visit to the Rachel Carson Homestead was for a welcome home party and lecture from Mark Dixon and the filmmakers, who spent a year traveling to all 50 states to make a documentary, YERT – Your Environmental Road Trip. The documentary is about how people are embracing sustainability. (I wrote a blog post about their homecoming back in 2008 , You Can See a Year of Garbage at the YERT Homecoming. Yes, they carried all of the trash from the entire trip with them)

Follow the Rachel Carson Homestead Association on Facebook to learn about upcoming events.

Saturday, May 27 – Rachel Carson 110th Birthday Celebration

Rachel Carson HomesteadThis Saturday, the Rachel Carson Homestead will host a birthday celebration.

  • Saturday, May 27, 2017
  • Noon-5pm
  • Music by Earth Mama, cake, raffles,
  • Free (please rsvp by sending an email to info@RachelCarsonHomestead.org)
  • Facebook Event

More information on the birthday celebration and the involvement of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is available here.

 

 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright Pittsburgh

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Design for a Civic Center at the Point

When I started this preservation month project of writing about a different historic Pittsburgh place every day in May, I thought it would be a fun way to share a little bit more about some of the places I have always known in Pittsburgh and to learn more about the history of theses places. Three weeks into preservation month, I have been amazed at the number of new places and local history that I have learned and the willingness of Pittsburghers to share more information.

Today’s post come from The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating History of Pittsburgh Facebook page. Pittsburgh history lover and fact finder John Schalcosky has been researching and sharing historic Pittsburgh information on Facebook since 2014. Learn more about this fascinating Facebook page of local facts and how John started the site on Episode #31 of the Marta on the Move podcast.

I reached out to John about preservation month and he suggested I take a look at some of the Facebook photo albums that he has put together. I thought I knew about all of the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in and around Pittsburgh but I had no idea that he had designed a civic center for the point.

Frank Lloyd Wright Pittsburgh

In the 1940s the Allegheny Conference on Community Development set out to rethink the land use of the point, the area that we now call Point State Park. Edgar J. Kaufmann, owner of the Kaufmann department store, was on the board of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development commissioned Frank Lloyd Write to create a design for a civic center at the point.

From the The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating History of Pittsburgh Facebook Album on Frank Lloyd Wrights design:

Imagine instead of The Point’s Water Fountain, this incredible building was built in its place! Frank Llyod Wright designed this circular building with it being more than 1,000 feet in diameter and 175 feet tall containing an opera house, sports arena, three movie theaters, and a convention hall all wrapped by a spiraling strip of road. During the course ofWW2, federal and local authorities established three goals for the site: “the creation of a park commemorating the site’s history, improved traffic circulation through the construction of new roads and bridges, and designation of a portion of the site for new office buildings, intended to stimulate private interest in the Golden Triangle”.

Read more about this design and see the other photos of Wright’s design on The Odd, Mysterious & Fascinating History of Pittsburgh Facebook page.

Read more about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Design for a Pittsburgh Civic Center

More Historic Pittsburgh Buildings

You might be interested in some of these Pittsburgh buildings…

Have a building you would like to learn more about? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Free Tours of Clayton Mansion at The Frick on Thursday for #ArtMuseumDay

The Frick compound takes up an entire city block between Penn Ave and Reynolds Street in Point Breeze. The large house on Penn Ave is know as Clayton and was lived in by members of the Frick Family until 1984. In 1990 the house was turned into a historical museum and other buildings on the property have become an art museum, car museum and cafe.


While the art museum and grounds are always free, there is a fee to take a tour of the Clayton house.  Thursday, May 18, 2017, is #ArtMuseumDay and to celebrate The Frick is offering free tours of Clayton.

Free Tours of the Clayton Mansion at The Frick
Thursday, May 18
10:00 am – 5:00 pm

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