Linden Avenue in Point Breeze filled up fairly slowly from the 1880s on, and it has always been a desirable neighborhood, so it is a museum of good domestic architecture from many different eras. The wide variety of houses makes it a very pleasant street for an afternoon stroll. We have already seen the Frank Alden house and the Joseph Langfitt mansion; here are some more Linden Avenue houses from the 1880s to the 1930s.
Frank Alden of Longfellow, Alden & Harlow (later just Alden & Harlow, after the partners agreed to divide up the business) designed this house for himself; it was built in 1890, when most of Linden Avenue was vacant. As we might expect, he lavished attention on the details. It surprised old Pa Pitt to discover that there were no pictures of the house in Wikimedia Commons. That lacuna has now been filled.
It is a legal principle that a man’s home is his castle. The attorney Joseph Langfitt took that principle quite seriously. Charles J. Rieger designed this stony turreted and battlemented mansion for him, which indicates that his client was prospering in his profession when it was built in 1901.
For those who are interested or obsessive enough to care, here is the chain of evidence that identified the architect for us.
A Hopkins plat map from 1904 shows the house, which does not appear on earlier maps, as owned by M. A. Langfitt.
Since Langfitt is an unusual name, old Pa Pitt guessed that he might have some luck finding it in construction listings, and indeed his first search in the old reliable Philadelphia Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide found exactly what he was looking for.
Record & Guide, March 28, 1900, p. 200.
Joseph A. Langfitt, attorney at law, has bought a building site on Linden avenue, East end, and will improve it by the erection of a handsome dwelling to cost about $15,000.
The initials M. A. on the map probably belong to Mrs. Langfitt, since property was often put in the name of the wife. To confirm that this is our Langfitt, we looked in the 1904 Social Register, where we find “Langfitt Mr & Mrs Jos A” at this address.
Record & Guide, October 24, 1900, p. 687.
Charles J. Rieger, Smith Building, has prepared plans for a dwelling to be erected for J. Langfitt, and will receive estimates for its construction about November 1st.
Record & Guide, December 5, 1905, p. 795.
Charles Rieger, Smith Building,…is receiving estimates for the erection of a stone veneered dwelling to be erected on Linden avenue for Attorney Langfitt.
