A splendid row of Second Empire houses on Lincoln Avenue, with their wood trim picked out in tasteful polychrome paint. They were built in 1872 and 1873.
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Second-Empire Row in Allegheny West
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J & K Building, Allegheny West
This little building sits next to the old Western Theological Seminary. Old Pa Pitt has not been able to discover its history with the limited research he was willing to put into the question, so he would be delighted to be enlightened in the comments. It looks as though it might have been an addition to the seminary, done in a sort of late Gothic with Art Deco overtones.
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Niche on the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny West
This niche at the top of the central tower of the Western Theological Seminary seems to require a statue of some saint. Since the building was a Presbyterian seminary, it probably never had one. Perhaps we could fill it with a statue of Harry Thaw, patron saint of wastrel playboy sociopaths.
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Harry Darlington Jr. House, Allegheny West
Harry Darlington built this house in 1908 for his son, Harry Darlington Junior. The son’s house was two doors down from the father’s (separated by the widow Holmes’ house), but the two houses could hardly be more different in style. Where the father’s is tall, narrow, and massive, this is (comparatively) low and spreading. The architect was George S. Orth, who also designed the William Penn Snyder house a block away on Ridge Avenue.
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Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny West
Originally the Western Theological Seminary (a Presbyterian seminary), this building was designed by Thomas Hannah and finished in 1912. The seminary stayed here until 1959, when it merged with the other big Presbyterian seminary in town and became part of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Highland Park.
Like most of the other large buildings on Ridge Avenue, this one now belongs to the Community College of Allegheny County, which calls it West Hall.
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William Penn Snyder House, Allegheny West
Considering the traditional link between Pittsburgh and New York—the two cities shared millionaires, department stores, and many other cultural phenomena—it’s surprising that this is Pittsburgh’s only New-York-style brownstone palace. The architect was George S. Orth, who was also responsible for the Colonial Place development in Shadyside. The house was built in 1911, shortly before the millionaires began to flee the neighborhood. Since then it has been an office building, and the commercial addition to the right is a good example of how to expand a historic building sensitively without throwing money around like a Pittsburgh millionaire.
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Willock House, Allegheny West
Here is another one-room-wide mansion crammed into a tiny lot. William Willock, a clerk, married Alice Jones, the daughter of steel baron B. F. Jones. For his daughter and her new husband, B. F. built this nice little French chateau huddled next to his own considerably larger house. Of course, when you marry the big chief’s daughter and live in a little chateau right up against his house, the big chief has an opportunity to notice your talent and ability. Mr. Willock ended up with a snug little berth in the Jones & Laughlin empire as the manager of the Monongahela Connecting Railroad.
The house was built in about 1892. In 1898, the stable behind it was added—itself a bigger building than many of the houses in Allegheny West.
Like many grand houses in the neighborhood, this house has a very detailed history published at the Allegheny West neighborhood site.
When old Pa Pitt visited, the house was still gaily festooned with Christmas decorations.
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B. F. Jones House, Allegheny West
Benjamin Franklin Jones, Jr., was the Jones of Jones & Laughlin, the steel conglomerate. This 42-room Jacobean mansion was designed by Rutan & Russell. Like most of the ultragazillionaires’ mansions in Allegheny West, it now belongs to the Community College of Allegheny County.
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Letitia Holmes House, Allegheny West
The Letitia Holmes house, with Harry Darlington’s one-room-wide mansion clinging to the right of it. Mrs. Holmes’ splendidly dignified Italianate house was built in about 1870, and instead of repeating its history here old Pa Pitt will simply refer you to a well-researched page on the Holmes house in the Allegheny West neighborhood site. Letitia Holmes was a widow when she built this house, but she built it for elegant entertainments: the room with the tall windows to the right of the front door is a ballroom that spans the entire depth of the house.
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Harry Darlington House, Allegheny West
Half a block deep, four storeys tall, and one room wide—that is the adaptation railroad magnate Harry Darlington made to build a big mansion on a tiny lot. This narrow but substantial Romanesque pile was built in about 1890.
To the left of it is the Holmes house, about which more soon.
