Inglenook Row Houses and my last trip to Homewood

Today I drove to Homewood in search of the Inglenook Row Houses.

(Turns out, I'm not going back to Homewood. The rest of the Homewood buildings will be posted using photos that I can dig up online!)

Today I found the very short stretch that is Inglenook Place, which is almost entirely, if not exclusively, lined with Scheibler's row houses. I had checked out the properties online ahead of time and found that recent sale prices hover around $2,000, so I knew that they were not very desirable these days.

In 1907, Frederick G. Scheibler designed 7908-7930 and 7909-7923 Inglenook Place. 7900-7906 and 7901-7907 Inglenook Place were designed in 1909.

The yards and porches were full of people -- who did not appreciate a blogger with a camera. As a result, I only took these two photos.

Look - arches.

Here is a photo from Martin Aurand's The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler.

I wonder when this photo was taken. The yards look very different now.

Scheibler was a leader in the progressive movement to improve housing for the working and middle class. This movement took shape in England as the Garden City Movement, which Aurand writes, "was intended to be a vast improvement on the crowded conditions and architectural monotony of typical urban housing." I like how Aurand adds, "Special emphasis was laid on plantings and the provision of pleasant views and sunlight."

The Inglenook Row Houses, or Group Cottages, as Frederick Scheibler would have termed them, are an example of urban living that rescues us from monotony.

Aurand writes that Scheibler must have advocated for this kind of housing to his clients Robinson and Bruckman.

The Ingelnook Row Houses have planer brick walls, minimal detailing and flat roofs. Their front porches differentiate individual units. Aurand writes that the only exterior decoration is a checkerboard motif incised onto the butt ends of timbers at the eaves of porch roofs.

I am really glad that I visited the Meado'cots before I developed a healthy fear of Homewood.

Meado'cots: 425 - 447 Rosedale Street and 7817 - 1823 Madiera Street, group cottages

Visiting the Meado'cots, which are nestled in the neighborhood of Homewood, took me out of my comfort zone today!  This article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette references both Homewood's historic architecture and its history of violence.

So, when I first found Scheibler's Meado'cots in Homewood, it was dark outside, so I stayed in my car.  They're amazing, though, and they're also on the historic landmark registry, so I was dying to explore them.

So this morning at 6am, I enlisted my most fearless friend and headed over.

Ken, maybe hamming it up just a little.

I knew to take Ken seriously when, after a few minutes, he cheerfully urged me to hurry, and to try not to draw too much attention to myself.

I hurried and snapped my photos while Ken gallantly explained to an angry resident that I was only interested in "Frederick G. Scheibler, the architect."

Okay!

Back to the Meado'cots. They are amazing. Scheibler originally designed 20 cottages in 1912. Sixteen were built. This schematic plan is from (where else?!) Martin Aurand's book:

I actually managed to stumble into them the first time by complete accident while I was coming home from the Singer Place rowhouses. I recognized the Meado'cots instantly by two signature Scheibler elements: the corner windows and diagonal doors. It was them! The Meado'cots!!!

The Beacon Street houses, designed in the same year (1912) also have the diagonally-placed doors. See?

And, in another signature move, Scheibler makes great use of the outside, with a winding walkway through a sprawling yard.

The cluster seems, like the Old Heidelberg, both meticulously planned and delightfully random. Aurand writes about the "freedom of composition" here.

This photo didn't turn out very well but I include it to show you how walls join each group of cottages. 

However, the Meado'cots are not looking well these days. Another Scheibler fan  told me that the Meado'cots are being restored.

Ken with Meado'cots trash heap.

Aurand writes that Scheibler designed Meado'cots for middle class tenants. The fact that he created such aesthetically pleasing group homes (they may even have originally had tennis courts!) with the economy in mind made him truly progressive and even unique in America.

Once again, I'd love to see inside these homes... but this time, I'm pretty sure I never will!

So long, Meado'cots!

P.S. You can see even more photos over here! 

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.