Thomas Scott designed this terrace of four houses, built in 1912,1 and they are kept in remarkably fine shape. The updates have been handled with taste and an understanding of the original style, so that today there is hardly a finer Beaux-Arts terrace of cheap little rowhouses in the city. We have talked before about the challenge of making inexpensive housing seem attractive; it was a challenge that Scott met and conquered.
The doors of the two end units are framed in scrupulously proper Doric fashion.
The two inner units have these unique sawed-off arches over their front doors.
Source: The Construction Record, December 2, 1911: “Architect T. M. Scott, Machesney building, has completed plans for four 2-story brick residences, to be erected on Bergman street, Sheraden, for W. McCausland, 3022 Zephyr avenue, Sheridan. Cost $15,000.” McCausland still owned them in 1923, according to plat maps. ↩︎
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.
This dignified Renaissance mansion was built earlier than the rest of the houses on its street, probably in about 1900, when it would have been just about the finest house in the up-and-coming borough of Sheraden. It has been turned into apartments, but the exterior details are well maintained.
The architect had fun drawing this front entrance, and we praise the current owners for keeping it in good shape.
This pretty and whimsical house would be right at home in Mission Hills or Beverly Heights, but here it is on a pleasant back street in Sheraden. The original windows add much to its appeal—God, as Mr. Mies said, is in the details. The porch is a classic of the Fairy-Tale Style.
Even the tiniest houses could be romanticized in the age of what Father Pitt calls the Fairy-Tale Style of domestic architecture. The little bungalow above and the mirror-image cottages below probably date from the 1930s. A coating of snow helps the fairy-tale atmosphere.
Except for the replaced and filled-in porch, this house is in remarkably good shape, with most of its characteristic details intact. By chance the Pittsburgh City Photographer happened to capture it on May 27, 1910, while it was still under construction, so we can compare its current state to what it looked like when it was new.
A typical Pittsburgh Foursquare, just like hundreds of others in Beechview and thousands upon thousands in the city and inner suburbs, except that by random chance we happen to know the architect of this one: William Wolfshafer (or Wolfschaffer; like many German architects in Pittsburgh, he had a German and an Anglicized spelling of his name). He was a fairly successful architect, to judge by the occasional substantial apartment buildings we find with his name attached, and he was obviously capable of delivering just the kind of conservative but up-to-date house merchant-class Pittsburghers craved. Note the well-preserved classical details in the dormer.
Four different houses in four different styles. We begin with the biggest: a Georgian mansion with a gambrel roof, built a little before 1910.
A classic foursquare on a generous scale, with “modern Ionic” porch columns and classical detailing in the dormer and oriel.
This “old English” design has some fancy brickwork and even fancier woodwork in the gable, partly obscured by vines.
Finally, an eclectic design of the type Pa Pitt often calls “center-hall foursquare,” with a harmonious mixture of influences from Georgian to Prairie Style.
Espy Avenue is perhaps the highest-toned street in Dormont, lined with fine houses by distinguished architects. We’ve seen a bunch of them before; here are four from the other side of the street.
The beautiful birches make it a little hard to photograph the house behind; old Pa Pitt did the best he could.
A giant standing skeleton was very amusing when it was the first one on your block. It tends to stand around forever, because otherwise you have to figure out where to put it.
We’ve seen this double before, with the sun behind it. Here it is again in cloudy weather, when the details may be a little easier to see.
