Tag Archives: Frank Lloyd Wright

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 ParkEdgar 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.

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.

Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired House for Sale in Stanton Heights $115,000

I spent most of this morning trying to find out more about the history of the homes that were recently demolished at the corner of Centre & Craig in Oakland to make may for a new development. It turns  out they may have had some historic significance.  I know we can’t save every historic building, but if we can’t I would certainly like to document these properties before they are gone. (If you know anything about the Centre & Craig houses please leave a comment!)

After a morning of google searches, I had moved on to another topic and clicked over to Next Pittsburgh where I discovered THIS house in Stanton Heights:

The Fineman House

Currently listed on Zillow for $115,000 (website say offer pending).

Click here to read the post on Next Pittsburgh by Charles Rosenblum about the history of this house and see much better photos of the property.

History of the Fineman House ownership:

  • Completed in 1952 for $18,500
  • 1991 sold for $50,000
  • 2016 listed for $115,000

Pittsburgh is the perfect place for not-too-big and not-too-tiny house

At 1,032 square feet, this is a bit too big to be a tiny house, but a nice right sized house located in the city of Pittsburgh. I thought this New York times article from 2014 on the 700 square foot house makes a great case for living a little bit smaller.  I have been thinking that Pittsburgh and the first ring suburbs are perfect for those looking for a not-too-tiny house, there are lots of houses like the Fineman House that are the right size that were built in the 1950 that are just in need of new ownership.

If you are interested in historic architecture of Pittsburgh, join the Pittsburgh Historic Preservation MeetUp group.

Here is another recent article about about a farming project in Stanton Heights…