206 West Has Been Rehabbed!

Wow!

Back in 2013, I wrote about 206 West Street. I updated that post with sad-looking photos a year later. Here is that post.

I just noticed that the house was sold again in 2016, and it looks beautiful! Check out the wonderful rehab work!

7124 - 7134 Churchland Street Row Houses

Poor 7124 - 7134 Churchland Avenue. 

These six units have not held up very well. They were designed in 1914 for William and Albert Kreuer.  Martin Aurand calls them a "reprise" of Vilsack Row, only with less visual impact. (Hey - click that link because I just added interior photos from Vilsack Row!) 

The best information I could dig up about the Churchland Row Houses today is as follows:

7130 Churchland St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

2 beds, 1 bath, 1,156 sqft

CAUTION: HAS MOLD & IS UNSAFE DUE TO CONDITION.

Last sold: Dec 2009 for $1,250

P.S. Porter helped me find these photos online. 

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.

Vilsack Row: 1659 - 1693 Jancey Street, row houses

We seem to have visited all the buildings in walking distance from our house! So, the Beagle and I drove past the Pittsburgh Zoo today to visit Vilsack Row in Morningside.

He makes that face when I sing to him. 

Vilsack Row is comprised of 18 row houses that Frederick G. Scheibler designed in 1913. They were commissioned by Leopold Vilsack, a prominent Pittsburgh business man who also rented office space to Scheibler.

They're grouped in four, eight, and then six flat-roofed units. You'll see geometric shapes and contrasting materials of red brick, white concrete and stucco.

These are a modest but interesting group of homes. Aurand writes, "There is no evidence that Scheibler or his client intended a radical undertaking; indeed, the commission was extremely modest in its program of eighteen row hoses, each just fifteen feet wide, with only five major rooms. The design was an outgrowth of Scheibler's early low-budget row house projects in both its sitting and design."

Sun rooms, which create two-story windowed walls, are cut inside the homes.  As for the signature Scheibler details, each set of doors is nestled under an arch.

But these homes must have been changed. Aurand writes about "the porches, suspended in space, [which are] just plain unnerving!" In this photo, you can see that the balconies were held up with only one thin post! Over the years, the porches that you see jutting into the air in the photo below must have been replaced with awnings.

Here is the same building, modified by 2013.

One more Scheibler detail: is that a stained glass window??

In The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Aurand offers a floorplan. He writes that the interiors are not as unique as the exteriors. 

Vilsack Row is another example of Frederick Scheibler using a modest design to create interesting, aesthetically pleasing yet affordable homes.

Update! On September 3, 2014, I found some shots of the interior of the end unit -- 1693. Its realtor called it a "Pottery Barn" style home. You'll recognize the rounded fireplaces from the Highland Towers!

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!