Built for John F. Singer, who was made wealthy during the American Civil War by supplying the Union Army with iron and steel, this structure may have been designed by architect Joseph W. Kerr. Begun in 1863 as a summer residence for Singer, this thirty-five-room stone house was initially situated on thirty-five acres of land.[4] Completed in 1869, its construction cost roughly $65,000.[8]
Atypical of Kerr's pattern-book designs, it was a far more ostentatious finished product than anything Kerr had previously done. Among the effects achieved by the plasterers, stonemasons and woodcarvers that Singers had brought in from Austria, Germany and England were "delicate natural motifs in low relief under each bay window" and hand-carved, hardwood vergeboards, according to the Society of Architectural Historians.[4]
A cruciform-style design with four gables, multiple, ornate dormers, two crushed sandstone and gesso-dressed, mahogany porches, and front steps carved from Mexican slate, the design also incorporated an Italianate-tiled foyer.[4] The architectural plans show that it was a spacious home which had a living room, breakfast room, dining room, kitchen, library, and guest room on the first floor,[9] and five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sitting room on the second floor.[10]
Each of the eighteen rooms on the structure's first floor is characterized by its own unique marble mantel and is accented by mahogany doors and window frames.[4]
Street view of the John F. Singer House
The estate also initially included a gatehouse, carriage house, private Episcopal chapel, and an artificial lake that was one hundred and twenty-five feet wide and eight feet deep.[8][4]
Singer then had his estate landscaped with gardens, an orchard and a vineyard.[8]
Singer resided here with his wife and children until his death in 1872.[4] During the resolution of his estate, his widow was awarded one-third of the property while his children were awarded the remaining two-thirds.[11] Sometime after that, his widow and children moved out of the residence, but chose to leave clothing, jewelry, books, furniture, and other household items there, a significant number of which were stolen during a break-in by thieves at the home in 1875.[12][13]
Following the death of Singer's widow, Mary (Snyder) Singer, in 1893,[14] her one-third share of the property was awarded to Singer's children by way of a trust fund managed by the Safe Deposit & Trust Company.[11]
Sometime after that, Singer's home was converted, first, into a boarding house for Westinghouse executives[7] and, later, into individual apartments.[4]
Renovations on the historic building were undertaken by John Bos and Sally Lindsay-Bos during the 1960s and 1970s,[15] and, later, by Steven and Michele Saling.[16]
Allegheny County is a county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, after Philadelphia County. Its county seat and most populous city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's second most populous city. The county is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region of the commonwealth, and is the center of the Pittsburgh media market.
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 Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles (58 km) long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery.
Union Station, also known as Pennsylvania Station and commonly called Penn Station, is a historic train station in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was one of several passenger rail stations that served Pittsburgh during the 20th century; others included the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station, the Baltimore and Ohio Station, and Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, and it is the only surviving station in active use.
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.
The Allegheny County Courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh, is part of a complex designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style for which Richardson is well known.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Pittsburgh City-County Building is the seat of government for the City of Pittsburgh, and houses both city and Allegheny County offices. It is located in Downtown Pittsburgh at 414 Grant Street. Built from 1915 to 1917 it is the third seat of government of Pittsburgh. Today the building is occupied mostly by Pittsburgh offices with Allegheny County located in adjacent county facilities. It also contains a courtroom used for the Pittsburgh sessions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
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.
The Allegheny Post Office is a historic building in the Allegheny Center neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1897 as the main post office for what was then the independent city of Allegheny and later became part of Pittsburgh. After the post office closed in 1967, the building was slated for demolition as part of the Allegheny Center urban renewal project. However, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) mounted a successful campaign to save the building, raising about $835,000 to purchase and restore it for their own use. In 1972, the building reopened as the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Museum, exhibiting items from PHLF's collections of historic artifacts.
The John Frew House, also or formerly known as the Rachel and Robert Sterrett House, is an historic house in the Westwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The O'Hara Student Center, formerly the Concordia Club, is a three-story, 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh on O'Hara Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a contributing property to the Schenley Farms National Historic District and the City of Pittsburgh Oakland Civic Center Historic District. The building was acquired by the university in mid-December, 2009. and has since been renovated to house academic and student activity programs.
The Washington Crossing Bridge, commonly known as the Fortieth Street Bridge, is an arch bridge that carries vehicular traffic across the Allegheny River between the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville and the suburb of Millvale. The bridge is decorated with the seals representing the original 13 colonies of the US and that of Allegheny county.
Beulah Presbyterian Church is a historic church at Beulah and McCready Roads in Churchill, Pennsylvania. The hilltop location of the church gave the borough of Churchill its name.
The Wilkinsburg station is a former passenger station build by the Pennsylvania Railroad and is located in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, on Hay Street at the foot of Ross Avenue. The building was completed in 1916 when the railroad embankment through town was elevated above street level to eliminate hazardous grade crossings. The two previous stations had been located three blocks southeast along Wood Street between Franklin and Rebecca Avenues.
The William Penn Snyder House is an historic building, which is located at 850–854 Ridge Avenue in the Allegheny West neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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.
Pennsalt Historic District is a historic district in Natrona, Pennsylvania.
Vernon Royce Covell (1866–1949) was an American engineer. He was chief engineer of the Allegheny County Public Works Department.
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