The Chancellor's Residence at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

is a

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolving Fund fo ...

Historic Landmark in Shadyside just east of the main Oakland campus approximately one half mile from the center of campus at the

Cathedral of Learning The Cathedral of Learning is a 42-story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's (Pitt) main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing at , the 42-story Late Gothic Revival Cat ...

and adjacent to the rear property of the University Child Development Center on the Oakland-Shadyside border in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Architecture

The residence is the former Harvey Childs house built by

Peabody & Stearns Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns ...

in 1896. It is an example of

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

, with the gambrel roof especially suggestive of New England Colonial. However, the home also incorporates some details reminiscent of Philadelphia's

Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

Mount Pleasant mansion. The structure overcomes what was at the time an architectural problem of including a porch that Pittsburghers wanted, but preventing the porch from obscuring the facade toward the street. The design of this house worked around this problem by placing the porch to the side of the house, balanced by a porte-cochere. A renovation designed by Landmark Design Associates later enclosed the porch at the Chancellor's Residence.

History

Harvey Childs, the original owner for whom the residence is sometimes named, was one of the three Pittsburgh citizens that played a role in the origins of the

Allegheny Observatory The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 79002157, ad ...

and thus the early years of University's Department of Astronomy and Physics. He also served as a trustee to the university, then called the Western University of Pennsylvania, from 1863 to 1876. The residence was also the home of John F. Casey, a University of Pittsburgh Trustee until his death in 1948. The home was given to the university to serve as a residence for its chancellor in 1966 by Leon Falk, Jr. who served as vice chairman of the university's Board of Trustees. Pitt's previous chancellor's residence was on Morehead Heights in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh and was sold to the Catholic Institute of Pittsburgh proceeding Falk's gift.

References

{{Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh buildings Peabody and Stearns buildings Colonial Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1896 Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Residential buildings in Pittsburgh