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 universit ...

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 for ...

Historic Landmark in Shadyside just east of the main

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

campus approximately one half mile from the center of campus at the Cathedral of Learning and adjacent to the rear property of the

University Child Development Center The University Child Development Center (UCDC) at the University of Pittsburgh is a child care and early childhood education center located on Clyde Street in Shadyside just east of the main Oakland campus approximately one half mile from the cen ...

on the Oakland-Shadyside border in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Architecture

The residence is the former Harvey Childs house built by Peabody & Stearns in 1896. It is an example of Colonial Revival, 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 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