Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Syria, Kismet and Nelda (were not there!) 7530, 7534 and 7540 Bennett Street

We were too late for Syria, Kismet and Nelda!

Today Porter and I drove into Homewood to find three apartment buildings from 1904. Instead, we found empty lots. Many of the homes on this street have been boarded up or torn down, so I guess these buildings were lost.

Empty, Scheibler-less space


Martin Aurand's The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, published in 1994, shows this photo:




Instead, I found the space beside this house:



Aurand writes that Syria, Kismet and Nelda had art glass transoms with oversized floral motifs and dining- and living room windows with exposed steel I-beams and art glass vines.




2 comments:

  1. What a shame that no effort was made to save these wonderful Scheibler apartment buildings simply because they had the misfortune to be located in Homewood. Too bad Bill Peduto wasn't mayor yet as he has plans to bring back this once beautiful and thriving Pittsburgh neighborhood. I'm shocked to find that these buildings have been torn down. I am lucky enough to have seen them. Thank you for the update and for this great blog about one of Pittsburgh's greatest architects, Frederick Scheibler.

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  2. Sadly, yes, they came down. Not all at once, either. I can't remember which once disappeared first, but had hoped that the other two would survive.

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