Updated update: Our correspondent David Schwing has been studying the career of the developer John McSorley. See his comment below, where he identifies these as two of McSorley’s buildings. The one for which old Pa Pitt could not find a name is called the Ontario. The architects were the Chicago firm of Perry & Thomas.(1)
The intersection of Maryland and Ellsworth Avenues in Shadyside is flanked by apartment buildings with distinctive rounded corners. Above, the Panama. Below, a building that must have looked very modern when it was put up (in the original version of this article, we said “probably around 1920,” but it turns out to have been 1911, which makes it even more strikingly modern); it seems to have no name but its addresses. (Addendum: It was originally called the Ontario.)
Footnotes
- For the Ontario, we have three entries from the Construction Record in 1911:
John McSorley, 309 Lloyd building, is taking bids on constructing a four-story brick apartment building, on Maryland avenue, from plans drawn by Architects Perry & Thomas of Chicago. Building will contain 24 apartments and cost $100,000. (February 11, 1911.)
PITTSBURGH BUILDING PERMITS. Seventh Ward — Ellsworth & Maryland avenues. One 3-story and basement brick. Cost $80,000. Owner and builder, John McSorley, 1912 Baum street. (July 22, 1911.)
Foundations have been started for a four-story brick apartment building, to be constructed on Maryland and Ellsworth avenues, for John McSorley, 309 Lloyd building. Plans were drawn by Architects Perry & Thomas, Chicago. Cost $100,000. (July 29, 1911.)
The building permit reflects the structure as actually put up, with three floors instead of four. (↩)
2 responses to “Rounded Corners in Shadyside”
Both The Ontario (the larger of the two) and The Panama were constructed by builder/developer John McSorley. McSorley hired an unnamed “Chicago Architect” to design The Ontario. McSorley also built The Belvedere Apartments at Ellsworth and Graham, which has a similar rounded corner. The Ontario and The Belvedere were built in 1911. I have not been able to confirm the date of The Panama.
[…] and Squirrel Hill. The rounded corner seems to have been a favorite device of theirs for a while: two other Perry & Thomas buildings on Ellsworth Avenue also have prominent rounded […]