Father Pitt

Tag: Craftsman Style

An Eclectic Group of Houses on Perrysville Avenue, Observatory Hill

A few houses in different styles within one block of Perrysville Avenue. We begin with a house that, in its layout, is a typical Pittsburgh Foursquare, but blown up to mansion dimensions.

The porch with its rounded ends is a treasure, and we hope it can be preserved. Porches are the first things to decay in a house like this, and it would be hard to find a craftsman who could duplicate this one.

A later generation of foursquare; this one preserves a fine tile roof.

Yet another generously sized foursquare. This one combines some classical detailing with a bit of the Victorian incised decoration of a generation earlier.

This one is clearly a traditional Pennsylvania I-house from the days when this area was way out in the country on the Perrysville Plank Road. If we interpret the old maps correctly, it was there at least as early as 1882, but probably well before then. It was a frame house, however. At some point probably in the 1920s or later, it was neatly dressed in a new coat of bricks and given a new front porch.

This little cottage has a distinctive angular Craftsman style, and many of the details of its woodwork are well preserved.

Finally, here is a unique house that has just come out from under sentence of condemnation and is now being refurbished for a new life. The entrance with classical pilasters and rounded pediment is unusual and attractive, and the bright sunroom in front would make a fine small conservatory for an orchid collector.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90.

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March 14, 2026
A Few Houses on Berkshire Avenue, Brookline

Brookline is a museum of early-twentieth-century middle-class housing. You can stop almost anywhere in the neighborhood and find an eclectic mixture of houses in interesting styles—many of them altered over the years, but usually a few in nearly original condition. Here are five quite different houses from half a block of Berkshire Avenue, beginning with a solid-looking brick bungalow.

This stone Tudor is the most recent house in our collection; it probably dates from the late 1930s.

A typical Pittsburgh Foursquare in form, but with the somewhat unusual variation of a shingled second floor.

A Craftsman cottage that would have looked even more Craftsman with its original three-over-one windows.

Kodak EasyShare Max Z990.

A more unusual form of Craftsman cottage whose carved wooden brackets are well preserved. If the porch rail is not original, it is a well-chosen replacement that fits with the spirit of the house. Painting the aluminum awnings to match the trim makes them almost attractive.

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February 1, 2026
Not Frederick Scheibler

This row of houses on Alder Street in Shadyside has been attributed to Frederick Scheibler, Pittsburgh’s most famous home-grown modernist, by the guesswork of certain architectural historians. But Martin Aurand, Scheibler’s biographer, could find no evidence that Scheibler designed them. Then who was responsible for this strikingly modern early-twentieth-century terrace?

Old Pa Pitt is confident that he has the answer. The architect was T. Ed. Cornelius, who lived all his life in Coraopolis but was busy throughout the Pittsburgh area. We can be almost certain of that attribution because the houses in the middle of the row are identical to the ones in the Kleber row in Brighton Heights:

And the Brighton Heights houses were the subject of a photo feature in the Daily Post of March 5, 1916, in which T. Ed. Cornelius is named as the architect.

The Alder Street houses are bookended by larger double houses, one of which—this being Pittsburgh, of course—is an odd shape to fit the odd lot.

So remember the name of T. Ed. (which stands for Thomas Edward) Cornelius when you think of distinctive Pittsburgh architecture. It is quite a compliment to have your work mistaken for Frederick Scheibler’s.

Kodak EasyShare Max Z990; Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR.

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December 26, 2025
A Museum of the Craftsman Style in Brookline

In a city architectural inventory of Brookline, Knowlson Avenue between McNeilly and Dorchester was singled out as a potential historic district.

Knowlson Avenue is a two-block-long, brick-paved street lined with Craftsman Style houses. Their design and integrity make Knowlson Avenue an excellent representative concentration of the Craftsman Style residential character integral to Brookline. While the types of houses are similar to those found in the rest of the neighborhood, the level of integrity, and therefore the articulation of the houses’ original materials and design, is greater here than in any other contiguous area in Brookline.… Beyond its buildings, Knowlson Avenue’s brick-paved street and mature street trees contribute to its strong evocation of Brookline as it appeared ca. 1930.

That made it seem worth a visit, so last week, when old Pa Pitt happened to be in Brookline for other reasons, he made a pilgrimage to this street. It really is an unusually fine collection of houses, and the brick pavement does add to the laid-back atmosphere. (Among other things, bricks encourage drivers to slow down.)

The sun was shining from directly behind the houses on the southwest side of the street, so those will have to wait for another day. But Father Pitt has photographed every single house on the northeast side of the two blocks the architectural inventory mentioned, and here they are.

This picturesque corner cottage in a style the architect probably called “French” actually faces Dorchester Avenue, but it is addressed to Knowlson Avenue, so it counts.

Nikon COOLPIX P100.

From the birth of Christ to the evolution of the first giant inflatable took nearly two thousand years. How did Christmas happen in all that time?

To avoid weighing down the front page, we’ll put the rest of the pictures behind a link, so that you actually have to decide to look at them.

Many more pictures…

December 19, 2025