Father Pitt

Tag: Center Street (Wilkinsburg)

  • Central Apartments, Wilkinsburg

    Front elevation of the Central Apartments

    Here is a building with personality, and we are happy to see it getting a restoration that respects its individual quirks. The building was sold in 1907 by Adelbert E. Dudgeon & Son;1 and since the Dudgeons were architects and builders, and the building shows obvious similarities to some of their other apartment buildings, we are justified in assuming that they designed and built it.

    Window
    Porch

    Note the new porch columns. The original columns might have been more correctly classical, but these are a big improvement over the spindly metal supports that preceded them, which were easily bent out of shape by drunken teenagers.

    Central Apartments
    Central Apartments

    If you moved into one of these apartments in the front, you would have an excellent view of the utility cables. You would also be a short walk from the shops of downtown Wilkinsburg, where interesting things are happening, and from the Wilkinsburg station on the East Busway.

    Central Apartments from the side
    Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.
    1. “Investor Secures Wilkinsburg Flats,” Pittsburgh Post, October 17, 1907, p. 13. ↩︎
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  • Row of Houses by L. A. Raisig, Wilkinsburg

    1100 block of Center Street

    If Wilkinsburg were a trendier neighborhood, it would be profitable to restore this row of fine houses. They are not only distinguished works individually, but as a unit they also form a unique streetscape that was carefully thought out. They were all built at once, all designed by Louis A. Raisig,1 the Wilkinsburg architect who is now most famous for briefly taking on the young Frederick Scheibler as a partner before Raisig suddenly died in 1901. Raisig’s taste was much more traditional than Scheibler’s, but within the conventions of the time he was an artist.

    Looking down the street from the top of the block

    The whole row is capped off by a corner turret at the upper end. That corner house is still in good shape, though the turret has been wrapped in fake siding.

    1116 Center Street

    The houses all fit together, but each one is different. We are sorry to say it is not likely that the row will remain intact for many more years; houses will probably start disappearing one by one.

    1114
    1112
    1110
    1108
    1106
    1104

    The second floor of this house burned out; it will probably be the first of the row to go.

    1102
    Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.
    1. Philadelphia Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide, July 20, 1898, p. 466. “L. A. Raisig, First National Bank Building, has prepared plans for eight brick dwellings, to be erected for A. T. Stoner, on Centre street, Wilkinsburg. They will each contain ten rooms, will be well finished throughout, cabinet mantels, hot air heating, fine bathroom fixtures, and all modern conveniences The owner is A. T. Stoner.” A Hopkins plat map for 1903 shows the eight houses on the east side of Center between Wallace and North owned by “Stoner.” ↩︎
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