521 Holmes St., Wilkinsburg

Frederick G. Scheibler's 521 Holmes Street is for sale, with a listing here. As I write this, the asking price is $38,500. It's described as:

Perfect investment property located in the heart of convenience with 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and over 1700 square feet of living space. This home is minutes away from the parkway, East End, and the Wilkinsburg Shopping District that includes shopping, food, bus stops and more. This home has been owned by the same owner for 25 years and has been updated in the past few years with newer windows, roof, repaired sidewalk, stairs and landing. Home is being sold in 100% AS-IS condition with all remaining contents.

Frederick Scheibler designed 521-523 Holmes Steet in Wilkinsburg, as well as the similar 525-527 Holmes, for Robert P. McDowell. Around 1913, Scheibler also designed 3 since-demolished row houses for McDowell at 404-408 Ross Avenue in Wilksinsburg. 

(Martin Aurand writes that two of those demolished houses "shared a single semi-circular bay window, so that each had a quarter-round wedge-like extension of its living room. How I would have liked to have seen that!)

According to Martin Aurand's book, 521-523 Holmes are the same design as the row houses at 6363-6371 Aurelia Street, 7902-7924 Hamilton Avenue, 425-435 Biddle Avenue and 204-206 West Street. You can see the similarities. 

Aurand has a great chapter on "Group Cottages," Scheibler's term for his row houses. He writes, "One manifestation of the progressive movement was a reformist effort led by architects and planners to improve living conditions for the working and middle classes. This effort took place most prominently in England as the Garden City movement ... "

I love this part:

"Unlike his English colleagues, Scheibler left no clear evidence of social activism, but he must have shared some of their concerns. His group cottage developed a willingness to address the need for multifamily housing and to seek worthy solutions. .... Many of the group cottages proved to be successful speculative ventures for their clients, while they also supplied decent affordable housing at a time when many Pittsburgh-area residents were notoriously ill-housed." 

Aurand goes on with more wonderful details, but I'll stop there. A full century after Scheibler designed such "decent affordable housing" for Pittsburghers, I was able to benefit from his work. As a young professional working at a non-profit, I couldn't afford to buy a home or rent anything outside my modest budget. But I was enchanted by the Old Heidelberg, and was thrilled to be able to rent the spacious, high-ceilinged space with art glass, mosiacs, built-in cabinets, a balcony, whimsical mushrooms and so much more. I was grateful that it was accessible to me.

Here are more photos of 521 Holmes.

 

 

1306 Penn Avenue Home, Wilkinsburg

Today's post comes to you thanks to someone who sent me a message about 1306 Penn Avenue. He wanted to confirm that this now-vacant house is a Scheibler house.

It is. It was built in 1909 for Dr. James M. McNall. At the time, it had a garage, which has since been demolished. This was during the period in which Scheibler's homes were modest, but still included sophisticated artistic details and stunning art glass. In his book The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Martin Aurand uses a photo of a window in this house to exemplify how Scheibler "embraced the seeming dichotomy of nature vis-à-vis technology, as he revealed by his art-glass irises and I-beam lintels."

from The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler by Martin Aurand

It appears that the most recent inhabitant has passed away, and the property is becoming a bit overgrown.

I'm grateful to the reader for sending me the following photos so we can check out the details. When I asked him if he could send me a picture, he offered me 13! Now you can enjoy them too and imagine the thrill of exploring it in person! They have a bit of a haunted quality as the house has been left alone for a while.

501 Hill Avenue is on Craigslist Today

Well this is exciting! A unit in a building by Frederick Scheibler is available for rent, with photos posted online. 

Here's the description and photos:

"This is a wonderful 2-bedroom 1st-floor apartment, in an original Scheibler building. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes a spacious Living Room, Dining Room, small Office/Den, Bedrom and Kitchen with dishwasher and appliances. Original woodwork throughout, including decorative fireplaces, built-in bookcases and lots of big windows with wonderful light. Hardwood floors throughout, including wood parquet floor in kitchen. Please note there is only a shower and NO BATHTUB. Lots of storage space. Coin-op Laundry on the second floor. Outdoor Patio space in front and rear (kitchen tiled terrace) of building. Short walk to the East Busway. Easy by bus or car to Oakland, Downtown, and the Parkway. Rent is $635 per month. Tenant pays own gas ($75 montly budget), electric and annual garbage collection fee.

1330 - 1366 Singer Place, row houses

Tonight, we headed into Wilkinsburg, which is just brimming with Scheibler buildings. 

Porter hitches a ride.

The Singer Place row houses (or "group cottages," as Scheibler called them) sit perched on a grassy hill.
These 19 homes were designed in 1914. They have lovely windowed sun porches and make great use of the yard. In his book Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh, James Van D. Trump writes that Frederick Scheibler had "an almost unearthly sense of the connection between the house and the land." He writes of these homes:

"The long terraces of row houses in the 1300 block of Singer Place are good examples of the designer's middle period- beautifully simple, they seem like strata of brick and glass emerging from the wooded hillside."

Each pair of homes also has its own tile on the front.

Frederick G. Scheibler was among the progressive architects of his time who sought to improve living for the working and middle class.

Just another reason why I love him!

425 - 435 Biddle Avenue Row Houses

I was excited to see Biddle Avenue addresses on the list of Scheibler buildings, because I like any chance to scope out the coffee shop Biddle's Escape. So, this morning, Porter and I hit the sidewalk. 

He doesn't have a twinkle in his eye here, because he's mad that I'm holding up our walk to make him pose for photos. As a rescue, his personal motto is "Never look back!" So, alright Porter--onward!

We found these row houses from 1910. Once again, not so obviously Scheibler-y, unless you're really looking for the details. I wonder what they look like inside? There was a woman tending to her yard when I got there, and I regret not introducing myself and telling her about my project. She would have either gotten irritated ("Get off my lawn!") or talked to me about her Scheibler home. 

 

Whimsical, windy walkway

The rear is not quite elegant, but I do like Scheibler's nooks and crannies.

The brick building you see on the left side of this photo is 204 West Street, which is presented in the post right below this one. The two buildings are directly next to each other. 

Update: I went back and took another photo after Spring sprung!

Even better!

Update again: Regent Square Rentals posted photos of the interior of 425 on their website!