Ewalt House | |
Location | 186 Home St. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°28′25″N79°57′32″W / 40.47367°N 79.959°W |
Built | before 1841 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
Part of | Lawrenceville Historic District (ID100004020) |
Designated CP | July 8, 2019 |
The Ewalt House was a historic house in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a contributing property in the Lawrenceville Historic District. [1] It was built as a country estate sometime between 1787 and 1840 by Samuel Ewalt, and remained standing after most of the land was subdivided for residential lots in the 1870s. The house was notable as a rare example of an antebellum style Greek Revival house in Pittsburgh, and exemplified the typical pattern of development in Lawrenceville in the mid to late 19th century. In 2019, the building was nominated as a Pittsburgh historic landmark. [2]
The house was built sometime before 1840 by Samuel Ewalt (1750–1847), a merchant and landowner who was a prominent citizen during Pittsburgh's early history. He was also the first sheriff of Allegheny County and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1787, he bought a tract of land in present-day Lawrenceville for a country estate. The land in this area was divided into narrow strips perpendicular to the Allegheny River, providing riverfront access to each landowner. Ewalt's parcel spanned from present-day 43rd Street to 47th Street and inland as far as the Bloomfield vicinity, covering just over 263 acres (106 ha) in total.
The house's date of construction is unknown, but it was mentioned in Ewalt's will, dated 1841. A newspaper article from 1889 described the house as one of "the principal landmarks in that section of the three-quarters of a century ago." [3] Later, the property was owned by Anna H. Irwin. After she died around 1871, most of the land was subdivided into residential lots like the other country estates in the area, and began to be densely developed. Unlike many of the other country houses, the Ewalt house remained standing, though a rear wing was demolished around 1890. From 1887 to 1890, it was the home of Charles Bickel, a notable architect, and from 1945 to 1977 it was used as a social hall by a Polish-American organization. [2]
In August 2019, the house was hit by a windburst which damaged the roof supports and put pressure on the foundation which already was bowed and faltering. A structural engineer deemed the house uninhabitable and dangerous. [4] [ failed verification ] A developer, who was going to purchase the house, was approved to build five townhomes on the Ewalt site. The house was nominated as a Pittsburgh historic landmark by the Lawrenceville Stakeholders advocacy group over the development of the five townhomes so they filed a historical nomination on December 3. The landmark nomination was approved by the Historic Review Commission and the City Planning Commission, after which it went before the Pittsburgh City Council in July, 2020. [5] The City Council voted to delay the vote on the property until after July 22, meaning it would become a historic landmark by default on that date. [4] However, the City Council later voted on August 26 to withdraw the nomination, and on September 24, they approved the owner's demolition permit. On October 7, the Ewalt House was torn down. [6]
The Ewalt House was a two-story vernacular Greek Revival style building with a hipped roof. It was constructed from American bond brick, with corner pilasters and an entablature with a brick dentil course and wooden cornice. The house had a symmetrical five-bay facade with wood-framed window openings which had been retrofitted with smaller modern windows. An entrance porch and rear garage were later additions. [2]
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough has a population of 14,349 as of the 2020 census. Wilkinsburg is located as part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army officer who served as Quartermaster General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1802.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city. Like hundreds of other Carnegie libraries, the construction of the main library, which opened in 1895, and several neighborhood branches, was funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The Pittsburgh area houses the first branches in the United States.
Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by the Ohio River, and is known today as the North Side. The city's waterfront district, along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, became Pittsburgh's North Shore neighborhood.
Allegheny West is a historic neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's North Side. The Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission voted in favor of designating the neighborhood as a city historic district in September 1989.
Fineview — known to older generations as Nunnery Hill — is a neighborhood on Pittsburgh's North Side with expansive views of downtown Pittsburgh. The most famous of these views is from the Fineview Overlook at the corner of Catoma Street and Meadville Street.
Lawrenceville is one of the largest neighborhood areas in Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located northeast of downtown, and like many of the city's riverfront neighborhoods, it has an industrial past. The city officially divides Lawrenceville into three neighborhoods, Upper Lawrenceville, Central Lawrenceville, and Lower Lawrenceville, but these distinctions have little practical effect. Accordingly, Lawrenceville is almost universally treated as a single large neighborhood.
The Mexican War Streets, originally known as the "Buena Vista Tract," is a historic district that is located in the Central Northside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The district is densely filled with restored row houses, community gardens, and tree-lined streets and alleyways. The area dates to around the time of the Mexican–American War and a number of streets are named after battles and generals of the war.
Chatham Village is a community within the larger Mount Washington neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and an internationally acclaimed model of community design. It is roughly bounded by Virginia Avenue, Bigham Street, Woodruff Street, Saw Mill Run Boulevard, and Olympia Road, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005 as a remarkably well-preserved example of Garden City Movement design.
The Allegheny Arsenal, established in 1814, was an important supply and manufacturing center for the Union Army during the American Civil War, and the site of the single largest civilian disaster during the war. It was located in the community of Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, which was annexed by the city of Pittsburgh in 1868.
184 38th Street, also known as McBride Log House, was a historic log house in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before its demolition, it was thought to be the oldest log house in any major American city to be used as a residence.
The Walker-Ewing Log House is an historic, eighteenth century loghouse located in Collier Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Owned and managed by the Pioneers West Historical Society beginning in the 1990s, the home and land were acquired by the Allegheny Land Trust in 2020 with oversight responsibility for the building's preservation and easement given to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
The Albright United Methodist Church is a disused church building at 486 S. Graham Street at the nexus of the Bloomfield, Shadyside, and Friendship neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. The church was designed by architect Chancey W. Hodgdon in an Eclectic, Richardson Romanesque style with prominent elements of Gothic Revival, and was built in 1905-1906.
The Carol Peterson House is located at 172 46th Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The house was built in 1886–1887 in the Italianate architectural style, and is named after the architectural historian, Carol Peterson.
The Turney House is a historic house in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a designated Pittsburgh historic landmark. It was built circa 1851 by Lucian B. Turney, a carpenter who also served on the Lawrenceville Borough Council during the 1850s. It was also the residence of Turney's daughter Margaret, who at age 17 was one of 78 workers killed in the 1862 Allegheny Arsenal Explosion, the deadliest civilian disaster during the U.S. Civil War. After the demolition of 184 38th Street in 2011, the Turney House is the only surviving house known to be associated with a victim of the explosion. Another one of Turney's children, Olive, became a successful artist. In 1996, the house was purchased by architectural historian Carol Peterson, who restored it to a period-appropriate appearance.
Naser's Tavern is a historic building in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a designated Pittsburgh historic landmark. It is thought to be the oldest surviving building on Butler Street, the main commercial street in Lawrenceville. The structure was probably built by John Kingan between 1833 and 1846, as the price of the property when Kingan sold it indicates there was already a substantial building on the site. At the time, it was at the edge of the built-up area of Butler Street, which spanned approximately one block on either side of the Allegheny Arsenal. John Naser, a German immigrant, bought the property in 1846 and operated an inn and tavern there which he called "Our House". His son Charles took over the business in the 1870s and expanded the building with several additions, including a second floor which was built sometime between 1893 and 1905. The Naser family sold the building in 1943. As of 2018 it houses a branch of Pennsylvania's state-run liquor store, Fine Wine & Good Spirits.
The Lawrenceville Historic District is a U.S. historic district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which encompasses the majority of the Lawrenceville neighborhood. The historic district includes 3,217 contributing resources, many of which are rowhouses, commercial buildings, and former industrial properties built between the 1830s and early 20th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
The Mowry-Addison Mansion is a historic house in the Upper Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a contributing property in the Lawrenceville Historic District. It was built in 1830–32 by Peter Mowry, a physician, and was originally part of a large estate that was subdivided into residential lots in 1872. The house is notable as a rare example of relatively well preserved Greek Revival architecture in Pittsburgh, and exemplifies the typical pattern of development in Lawrenceville in the mid to late 19th century. In 2020, the building was nominated as a Pittsburgh historic landmark by Preservation Pittsburgh, which stated that the mansion "is one of the last remaining and most significantly preserved regional ribbon farm dwellings from its period of construction."
The Abrams House was an architecturally notable residence in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1979–82 and was considered Pittsburgh's earliest example of Postmodern architecture. The house was designed by postmodernist pioneer Robert Venturi, who called the design "one of the best that has come out of our office".
Two buildings in Pittsburgh were known as the United States Marine Hospital. They were part of the U.S. Marine Hospital system, which was run by the Marine Hospital Service and its successor the Public Health Service, primarily for the benefit of the civilian merchant marine. The original hospital was located in Allegheny City and was used as a Marine Hospital during 1851–1875, after which it was sold. It was demolished in the late 1880s for construction of the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge.