Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?

Some Houses on Broadway, Dormont

2815 Broadway

Father Pitt continues documenting the domestic architecture of the Pittsburgh area, in the hope that some of his readers will begin to appreciate the character of the neighborhoods they live in.

Broadway in Dormont is the boulevard where the streetcars run in the median. That makes it a prominent street, and on one side some of the better-off citizens of the middle-class borough built houses on a lavishly upper-middle-class scale. The Tudor house above has had its porch enclosed, which disguises what would have been an interesting design with an overhanging second-floor sunroom. (Update: Note the comment from a kind correspondent who has pleasant memories of this house when the porch was still there.)

2817

This one has had vinyl siding applied with fairly good taste, but it would originally have been shingled above the ground floor.

2821
2821
2825

Here we have arts-and-crafts style applied to the standard Pittsburgh Foursquare arrangement. The wood trim has been replaced with aluminum; there would probably have been prominent carved brackets to add to the arts-and-crafts appeal.

2827
2831
2831
2835

The archetypal Pittsburgh Foursquare.

2841
2845
2849
Houses along Broadway

When these houses were built, the big attraction of this street was its direct trolley link to downtown Pittsburgh.

Trolley passing

That is still true today.

See a random picture
and become a better person

You could buy this book
if you wanted a book.

Father Pitt

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3 responses to “Some Houses on Broadway, Dormont”

  1. Gretchen Mueller

    The first house (2815 Broadway Avenue) belonged to my beloved grandparents Hugh and Dorothy Cleary. I remember playing on the big porch but unfortunately it was removed by a subsequent owner. Many happy memories in that house. Thank you for including it.

    Sincerely, Gretchen Mueller

    Reply
  2. Joyce cleary

    Gretchen was incorrect I about the porch. When I dated her uncle the porch was wooden with two sets of steps leading to the French doors on either side of the fringes of the house. Dorothy and Hugh had the wooden porch removed and a concrete one put up in the center of the porch. The ones seen in the picture. Future owners enclosed the porch not removed it. Gretchen my niece was quite young when her grandparents died.

    Reply
  3. Joyce cleary

    Gretchen was incorrect about the porch. When I dated her uncle the porch was wooden with two sets of steps leading to the French doors on either side of the front of the house. Dorothy and Hugh had the wooden porch removed and a concrete one put on. The center steps were put on at that time.The ones seen in the picture. Future owners enclosed the porch not removed it. Gretchen my niece was quite young when her grandparents died and her memoirs are not quite right. She should ask her mother about the house.

    Reply

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