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My friend Ken, Porter and I found this Squirrel Hill house today, and and Ken and I started lamenting that we were disappointed by the lack of Scheibler details. It hit me then that the owner of this lovely home was right behind us, unloading groceries from her car and giving us a friendly look.
She was very nice, though, and agreed with us that her home was not Scheibler-y. She was not aware of any significant renovation since it was built in 1910.
At any rate, it was fun to talk about Frederick Scheibler with someone!
This house reminds me of Scheibler's Baird house in some ways. It is restrained for Scheibler, especially for its 1910 time period. I could be wrong but there appear to be exposed steel lintels above the windows, which we know to be a favorite Scheibler feature. Also, there is a brick arched main entry, used on the Baird house and other Scheibler houses. The telescoping chimney stacks also appear to be a much loved Scheibler detail. There is also the projecting and somewhat cantilevered porch roof protecting a Scheibleresque recessed porch. All capped off with a medium pitched hip roof with horizontal bands ringing it. It could be that at the owner's request, Scheibler kept the design low key compared to his other designs. Also, you may have noticed that the windows are not original and these could have originally been beautiful art glass windows as he has used in so many of his other house designs. At the very least these windows could have been simple wooden casements with grid patterned wooden muntins or leaded glass. Wish we could access some old pictures to know for sure. At any rate, it is a very handsome house even if it's not very Scheiblery.
ReplyDeleteUpdate! Reading this blog entry again has reminded of another house that this house seems to have a visual connection to and that would be the Scheibler designed McLaughlin house in Squirrel Hill. Compare and see if you don't agree that these two houses share many similarities.
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