Minnetonka Building, 5425-5431 Walnut Street

It's been a while, but I have two updates for you today.

The Scheibler house at 2619 Shady Avenue is listed for sale, so I updated its post with new photos of the inside of the house. You can see them here.

And, I recently grabbed some shots of the Minnetonka Building at 5425-5431 Walnut Street in Shadyside. This building is home to Shadyside Variety Store, Mazur Galleries, Cappy’s Cafe, and 8 one-bedroom apartments.

You should start here to see photos and a complete description by Martin Aurand, author of The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr. He writes that the building was designed for Edward C. Wefing, a real estate man with visionary expectations for Walnut Street. When the store and apartment building was erected in 1908, it was one of the most urbane commercial buildings in the entire city, and was by far the grandest structure on a street with only a few shops.

Photograph by Martin Aurand

Aurand writes, "The building’s three-story height, horizontality, and the arrangement of the apartments around two entries recall Scheibler’s Old Heidelberg apartment building; but here the roof is flat, the entries are accented rather than minimized, and there are no suburban amenities like porches and plantings.

White brick yields a hard planar surface on the building’s upper stories and sides. The nearly flush windows (now altered) feature Scheibler’s trademark exposed steel I-beam lintels.  A stucco panel at the center of the facade features half-timbering and narrow green art-glass windows.  Scars remain from a pair of metalwork light fixtures that originally broke the plane of the façade.  Bands of stucco and bowed windows round the corners of the building to unify the front and sides.  Such rounded corner treatments were popular urban devices in contemporary Vienna, and Scheibler may have referred to such buildings in developing his design."

Keep reading here.

Minnetonka Building, 1908

Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr.

Abigail thanks you for reading.

423 South Braddock Avenue, Old Heidelberg Cottage, and 425 South Braddock Avenue, attached house

It makes me feel a little wistful to finish showing you my very favorite building! Here are the last additions to the Old Heidelberg. The final cottage was built in 1908. You can see, below, how it attaches to the Old Heidelberg and becomes yet another element that saves the building from perfect symmetry. The attachments on the right side of the building (from the sidewalk) help the building sprawl closer toward the street in an elegant and ambling way. Reportedly, the adjoining cottages were never part of the original plan for the Old Heidelberg, but now I can't imagine the sprawling structure without them. 

Rear window

Here are some interior photos from Mozart Management's website. (You can see more gorgeous photos of the inside of this cottage and the interesting floorplan if you click here.) I once entered during the tenant's yard sale and wished I'd had my camera then!

Then in 1909, Scheibler added a single home and attached it to the Old Heidelberg with an archway. While I believe it was once a single-family home, today it is four apartments. While Mozart Management owns the Old Heidelberg, this building is owned by an individual.

This is that home. 

An arch over a walkway connects the two buildings. A Beagle butt made it into the photo!

Love the stained glass.

Today, the home has been turned into apartments. I love the big back window, which I imagine should overlook a beach or pastoral scene, not an urban alley where all the area dog owners seem to leave their dogs' poop.  (Watch your step on Flotilla Way!) Anyway, yes indeed, this photo, taken through the front door, is a little creepy of me. This could be remedied if Scheibler owners would invite me inside for tours.

I've now blogged the entire Old Heidelberg--a beautiful site to behold!

Update! Today my heart skipped a beat when I realized that the second-floor dweller of 425 Braddock Avenue was holding a moving sale. I got to meet him - a very nice guy with great adventures ahead -- and see inside the building.

A hallway takes you from the front door to each unit. The apartment I visited today took up the entire second floor.

This hallway has an incredible amount of light! I was so excited to get inside, I neglected to look outside...I wish I would have peered into the curious and fenced back yard. 

Old Heidelberg Cottages, 401-403 South Braddock Avenue and 7612-7614 Waverly

Before I go to bed tonight, let's head back to my favorite Scheibler spot, the Old Heidelberg. In 1908, Scheibler added 2-story cottages to apartment building. They wrap around the property from Braddock Avenue to Waverly.

Like this:

Credit for this goes to, as usual, Martin Aurand

You can see photos of the interiors if you click here. 

But first, check out how the crocuses (croci?) bloomed all the heck over the East End this week!

Porter: always ready to share my enthusiasm 

In The Progressive Architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Martin Aurand writes that there is no evidence that Scheibler originally intended to expand the Old Heidelberg. Robinson and Bruckman, who commissioned the apartments, didn't own all of the property around it until after the Old Heidelberg was built.

But in 1908-09, Scheibler added four cottages to the building's north end, a single cottage on the south end, and a house on the adjacent property.  They definitely add to the building's rambling and random quality.

 

All of the Old Heidelberg dwellings have front and back doors, which lends to lots of nooks and crannies. Check out the arch!

Close-up on the cattails!

Rear windows

Here is a post card depicting the Old Heidelberg with the Waverly Cottages.