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Buy the Moltrup Steel Mansion in Beaver Falls for $80,500

Update 1/18/2018: Open house on Saturday, January 20, 2018.
Update 9/25/2017: Price Drop. The Moltrup Steel Mansion in Beaver Falls Reduced to $62,500

Today’s post for preservation month was shared by Jonathan Denson on his Facebook Page Discovering Historic Pittsburgh. If you are interested in historic buildings, the Discovering Historic Pittsburgh Facebook page should be on your radar. Check out some of his recent posts on homes in Titusville and McKeesport.

Jonathan shared a link to the post about the Moltrup Steel Mansion on the blog Circa, which is an entire blog about old homes all across the country. I could spend all afternoon browsing through the houses on here.

History of the Moltrup Steel Mansion & Moltrup Steel

This house was also featured on the Old House Dreams website and there are lots of comments with more history of this house. Here is what I have pieced together about the history of the house and of the Moltrup Steel Company. I was surprised that there is not much information about Molthup Steel on the internet.

1914 – House was built with a steel frame
1924 – Stephen Moltrup dies, his wife Ellen stayed in the house with her daughter Helen
1964 – Helen Moltrup Townsend bought the house from her mother for $5,256
1989 – Moltrup Steel plants sold to Fort Pitt Acquisition Inc
1999 – Helen Moltrup Townsend’s son, Stpehen Townsend, sold the house for $122,000
2001 – The house was sold for $129,000
2004 – The house was sold to Shane Bowser for $144,000
2002 – Moltrup Steel plant shut down
2007 – Moltrup Steel plant demolished

Fire & water damage, but woodwork, marble & stained glass still intact

While the house definitely needs a restoration, the woodwork and marble are still in place. The house has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a 3 car garage.

There is a unique stained glass window in the photos, I have already emailed the stained glass experts at Preservation Pittsburgh to see what they know about this window.

From a comment on the Circa Facebook page:

I was in this house today and it is magnificent! Full disclosure there have been 3 fires in the house and it has severe water damage. Repair estimates are at least $150k-250k. It is a concrete and steel frame but water has wreaked havoc. Still, the woodwork, staircases, and stained glass are in incredible shape.

More photos of the house are available on the listing and on the Old House Dreams blog.

The Google street view image of the house is dated August 2011 and it looks like the house was lived in at the time, or at least decorated with flags for the holiday.

The house is located just a few blocks away from the Beaver River.

Moltrup Steel Mansion Listing

Address: 914 8th Ave, Beaver Falls, PA 15010

Listing Agent: Melissa Hill, Northwood Realty

Asking Price: $89,500

Visit the listing on Northwood for a virtual tour of the house.

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March Monster Madness: Will Godzilla be the beast that beats them all?

If basketball isn’t your thing, there are some other interesting ways to join in on the March Madness craze this year. Pittsburgh artists and author, Matthew Buchholz, has been sharing monsters through his creative cards and prints which you may have spotted around town. Buchholz is bringing the big monsters to the bracket with March Monster Madness, a daily match-up of famous monsters and zombies face off each day to see who will move to the next round. Each weekday you can vote for the winner of each battle on the Alternate Histories website. Share your thoughts on your pick for the day and you could win a prize. Follow the March Monster Madness via Alternate Histories on Facebook and Twitter @AltHistories for updates on each battle.

Here are the current standings in Monster March Madness:

Round 1: Godzilla vs The Giant Octopus: GODZILLA
Round 2: Nosferatu vs The Deadites: NOSFERATU
Round 3: Flying Saucers vs The Blob: FLYING SAUCERS
Round 4: Ro-Man vs Lobo: RO-MAN
Round 5: Gamera vs Graboids: GAMERA

Interested in more monster history? Before Kellyanne Conaway introduced us to the concept of “alternative facts,” Buchholtz published a fictional history book Alternate Histories. You can order a signed copy of Buchholz’s book from the Alternate Histories website. The book is also available at Wildcard in Lawrenceville and Amazon.

More ways to celebrate March Madness in Pittsburgh:

Vote for your favorite fish fry in The Incline’s Fish Fry Bracket.
Stop by Everyday Cafe in Homewood to submit your bracket before Thursday and you could win $25 gift card to the cafe.

And now, a word from our sponsors…

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Redhawk Coffee Now Open in Oakland

For a neighborhood that is home to a population of guaranteed coffee drinkers, Oakland has 3 universities and a handful of hospitals, there has been a lack of coffee shops especially since the Pete’s Coffee closed a few years ago.

Redhawk Coffee which launched a coffee truck last year now has a storefront at 120 Meyran in Oakland. Thank you for Natrona Bottling for sharing this snapshot on Instagram. The shop opened in January and is just a popup location through March. You can read more about Redhawk coffee’s Oakland location in the Pitt News here.

Follow Redhawk coffe online:

A word from our sponsors…

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An Update on the Three Rivers Postcard Club

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When I first started blogging, I set up a google calendar to keep track of and share Pittsburgh events. In 2008 we wrote a post about the Three Rivers Postcard Club and I added a recurring event for their monthly meetings to the calendar. While the IheartPGH Google calendar has not been updated in years, each month I still get a reminder for the monthly meeting of the Three Rivers Postcard Club. And each month I’ve wondered if the club still exists.

As much as I love social media and I love looking at and sharing photos of Pittsburgh, I still love postcards. In many ways, postcards were the original Instagram or Facebook post. A quick photo and a short message to send someone an update. I love sending them and I love browsing through stacks of old postcards when I visit a flea market or Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (which is an excellent source for both new and used postcards and greeting cards). Who doesn’t like getting a piece of mail that isn’t a bill or a solicitation from Comcast.

Last week, Diana Nelson-Jones published a lovely article about the Three Rivers Postcard club – Diana Nelson Jones’ Walkabout: Recalling postcards: underrated sources of folk history (Post-Gazette, January 9, 2017). The postcard club still exists and still meets at the same time and place as they did in 2008, 7 p.m. every third Thursday at the Fairhaven United Methodist Church, 2415 Saw Mill Run Blvd., in Overbrook.

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Pittsburgh Postcards then and now…

Would anyone be interested in helping to recreate some old postcard photos and share what those places look like now? I think it would be interesting to see what some of these places look like now and if they even still exist. The Fort Pitt Hotel, pictured above, was built in 1905 and demolished in 1967. You can read more about the Fort Pitt Hotel here.