851 Beech Avenue

851 Beech Avenue

Introduction

Alfred McDonald constructed 851 Beech Avenue in 1869. McDonald, a building contractor who lived at 853 Beech Avenue, constructed the house as a speculative venture. He purchased the lot on which the house stands in April 1869 for $2836, and sold the lot and house four months later for $9,000. The house is a good example of the Italianate style applied to a somewhat narrow urban house form, with arched front door surround and window hoods, rounded ornamental panels on its front door surround, and paired brackets below the box gutter and along the roofline on the east elevation.

Pittsburgh attorney Joseph J. Siebeneck bought 851 Beech Avenue from McDonald, and lived there for 27 years. Siebeneck, a German immigrant, settled in Pittsburgh in 1857 or 1858 after working on civil engineering projects and then studying law in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Margaret McKinney Siebeneck, lived in the lower Hill District from the time that they married until they moved to Beech Avenue. Joseph Siebeneck may have walked or taken a horsecar from Allegheny West to his law office in Grant Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The Siebenecks had no children who lived at 851 Beech Avenue. Census records document the presence of servants who lived in the house. Margaret Siebeneck died in 1877, and Joseph lived at 851 Beech until he died in 1896.

Charles Holmes purchased 851 Beech Avenue in 1899. Holmes was then vice-president of the Mercantile Trust Company and president of the First National Bank of McKees Rocks, both of which he had helped found in the 1890s. He also helped establish the Mortgage Banking Company in 1902, and served as treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. Holmes and his wife, Sallie, lived in the house into the early 1910s. Sallie Holmes died in 1911, and in 1913 Charles sold 851 Beech Avenue to Ann Lattner Gerlach, whose family owned die house until 2007.

Detailed information on the history of 851 Beech Avenue is contained in the following report.

Ownership

April 3, 1869

Elizabeth F. Denny of Pittsburgh conveyed the lot on which 851 Beech Avenue now stands to Alfred McDonald of Pittsburgh for $2,836. The property was located on the south side of Beech Avenue, 71’ from Galveston (then Grant) Avenue, and measured 35’2.75” wide along Beech Avenue by 137’4.5” deep to an unnamed 20’ wide alley (now Dounton Way). The property was known as the east part of Lot 33 and all of Lot 32 in Block 1 of the Plan of Lots land out by Elizabeth F. Denny.

The property was in the Second Ward of Allegheny City, which became part of Pittsburgh on December 9, 1907.

(Deed Book Volume 244, Page 155)

August 6, 1869

Alfred and Mary A. McDonald of Allegheny City conveyed 851 Beech Avenue to James J. Siebeneck of Pittsburgh for $9,000.

James J. Siebeneck, a childless widower, died while owning 851 Beech Avenue. He left a will, recorded in Allegheny County Will Book Volume 50, Page 289, but died intestate as to 851 Beech Avenue. He was survived by as his sole heirs three siblings, all widowed: Joseph G. Siebeneck, Catherine Schreher and Julie Ansbach.

April 15, 1898

Julia Alsbach of Mayence, Germany, conveyed her one third interest in 851 Beech Avenue to Frank G. Alsbach of Allegheny City in consideration of love and affection.

(DBV 1000 P 590)

February 17, 1899

Joseph G. Siebeneck of Allegheny City, Frederick G. and Marietta Alsbach of Allegheny City, and Catherine Schreher of Mayence, Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, conveyed 851 Beech Avenue to Charles Holmes of Pittsburgh for $7,500.

(Deed Book 1016 P 493)

January 18, 1913

Charles Holmes of Pittsburgh conveyed 851 Beech Avenue to Ann Lattner Gerlach of Pittsburgh for $5,300.

(DBV 1757 P 509)

August 13, 1926

Ann Lattner Gerlach died on August 13, 1926. She left 851 Beech Avenue to her husband John Gerlach Jr. and to any of her children who would be living at the time of her death (WBV 199 P 596). The Gerlach children were Lawrence A., Crescentia, Marie, Anna, Claude and John E.

October 2, 1931

John Gerlach Jr. conveyed his interest in 851 Beech Avenue to his six children: Lawrence A. Gerlach of Flushing, New York, Crescentia Gerlach Shutrump of Cleveland and Marie E. Gerlach, Anna A. Gerlach, Claude J. Gerlach and John E. Gerlach of Pittsburgh for $1 and other considerations.

(DBV 2462 P 101)

March 7, 1947

Lawrence A. and Edna Gerlach of Middletown, Delaware, George and Crescentia Gerlach Shutrump and Chaude J. and Muriel Gerlach of Youngstown, Ohio, Robert and Marie Gerlach Jackson of Ligonier, Westmoreland County and William H. and Anna Gerlach Fuellenwarth of West View conveyed their 5/6 interest in 851 Beech Avenue to John E. Gerlach of Pittsburgh for $7,500.

(DBV 2939 P 395)

April 29, 1947

Title to 851 Beech Avenue was placed in the names of John E. and Lauretta H. Gerlach.

(DBV 2954 P 122)

January 22, 1971

Title to 851 Beech Avenue was placed in the name of Lauretta Henderson Gerlach.

Lauretta H. Bohonick, formerly Lauretta Henderson Gerlach, died on March 28, 2006.

(DBV 4513 P 710)

July 27, 2007

Catherine M. Serventi and Eugene T. Wilson purchased 851 Beech Avenue from the estate of Lauretta H. Bohonick, also known as Lauretta H. Gerlach or Lauretta Henderson Gerlach, on July 27, 2007.

(DBV 13328 P 422)

Age of the House

Construction

Local historical records indicate that Alfred McDonald constructed 851 Beech Avenue in 1869.

Alfred McDonald purchased the lot on which 851 Beech Avenue stands on April 3,1869. He paid $2,836 for the property, measuring 35’2.75” wide by 137’4.5” deep. This purchase, at 59 cents per square foot, was comparable to prices paid for other undeveloped lots in and near Allegheny West at the time.

McDonald and his wife, Mary A., sold the lot to James J. Siebeneck for $9,000 on August 6, 1869. The significant increase in property value indicates that a house had been built on the property after the April sale. The 1870 Pittsburgh directory listed James J. Siebeneck as living at 68 Beach Street (now 851 Beech Avenue) for the first time. The first plat map of the area, published in 1872, depicts the house.

Architectural Style

Alfred McDonald built 851 Beech Avenue in the Italianate style, which is shown in the house’s arched front door surround and window hoods, the rounded ornamental panels of the front door surround, and paired brackets below its box gutter and along the roofline on the east elevation. The Italianate style was the most popular architectural style in the Pittsburgh area between the late 1850s and the mid-1880s. In urban neighborhoods like Allegheny West, where high land costs encouraged construction of houses of about 25’ or less in width, Italianate house exteriors were characterized primarily by side-gabled roofs, arched door and window openings, prominent or projecting door and window hoods, and decorative brackets.

Interior details of Italianate houses often included flared newel posts and spindles, marble or wood mantels with arched openings, four-panel doors with porcelain knobs and ornamented cast iron hinges and non-symmetrical door and window trim. In the Pittsburgh area, many Italianate houses were built with stairways that incorporated landings located about three steps below the main level of the second floor. Most local Italianate houses also featured two-over-two double-hung windows, although some later or larger examples were constructed with one-over-one double-hung windows.

The Developer: Alfred McDonald

Alfred McDonald was a bricklaying contractor in Allegheny City and Pittsburgh in the 1860s and 1870s. He moved from Arthur Street in the lower Hill District in Pittsburgh to Beech Avenue in Allegheny in 1866-1867, when he constructed a house at 853 Beech Avenue for himself and his family. The McDonald family lived at 853 Beech Avenue until 1869 or 1870, and later lived at various addresses on the Mexican War Streets and in Manchester.

Street Name and Numbering

The house at 851 Beech Avenue was originally known as 68 Beach or Beech Street. The street became known as Beech Avenue in 1892-1893. The house became 851 Beech Avenue when the North Side’s modern street numbering system was put in place in 1899.

Garage Construction

Plat maps of the area around 851 Beech Avenue published in and before 1910 show that the large garage at the rear of the property had not been built. City of Pittsburgh building permit dockets show that in October 1913, Ann Gerlach received a permit for the construction of a brick garage at the rear of 851 Beech Avenue. The garage was to measure 35’ wide by 56’ deep, and have a slate roof. Its estimated construction cost was $3,130.

The name of the contractor who was to construct the garage is illegible in hand-written building permit records.

A 1925 fire insurance map shows that the garage had been built.

The Home Today

840 N Lincoln Avenue Fireplace
840 N Lincoln Avenue Detail
840 N Lincoln Avenue Dining Room
840 N Lincoln Avenue Kitchen

Residents

The Grahams

Pittsburgh city directories, U.S. census records, an obituary, a will, and other sources provide information on Robert and Martha Graham, the first owners of 840 North Lincoln Avenue, and their daughter, Martha Jane Graham, who owned and lived in the house until 1896.

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The Teufels

The Teufels’ purchase and remodeling of 840 North Lincoln Avenue represented a considerable investment within a short time, and suggests that the couple did well financially in the second half of the 1920s.

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Occupants, 1897-1917

Occupants of 840 North Lincoln Avenue between 1896 and 1899 are unknown. Members of the Gregg family rented the house between 1900 and 1915.

The 1900 census enumerated William P. Gregg as the head of the household at 840 North Lincoln Avenue. Gregg, 55, was unmarried and had been born in Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants. The census recorded Gregg with no occupation; some Pittsburgh directories listed him as a hatter, a hat salesman, or as a clerk.

Other members of Gregg’s household in 1900 were:

  • his sister, Anna Gregg Roberts, 45, who was living apart from her husband; she had no occupation
  • Mary C. Roberts, 15, the only child of Anna Gregg Roberts
  • Martha Gregg Atwell, 59, a sister of William and Anna, and the widow of Charles Atwell

Mary C. Roberts began working as a public school teacher during the first decade of the new century. James P. Gregg, a Bureau of Health clerk and a brother of William P. Gregg, moved to the house by 1910.

The 1917 Pittsburgh directory listed Florence Place, a teacher at Latimer Junior High School at Tripoli and James Streets in Deutschtown, as living at 840 North Lincoln Avenue. James Place, a laborer, and Lula Place, with no occupation, also lived in the house.

The 1930 Census

The 1930 census enumerated William C. and Mary McNamara and their children living at 840 North Lincoln Avenue. William C. McNamara, 51, was a clerk in the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. He had been born in Pennsylvania, like his parents; Mary McNamara had been born in Pennsylvania to German immigrants.

In 1930, the McNamaras had been married for 11 years. They had two children: Catherine, ten, and Patrick, nine.

Records of the 1930 census also show that 840 North Lincoln Avenue had an estimated value of $13,000, and that the McNamara family owned a “radio set”.

The 1930 census is the last census that provides information on residents of 840 North Lincoln Avenue. Manuscript census records are withheld from public view for 72 years, to protect the privacy of persons who were enumerated.

Neighborhood Development

During and immediately after the Civil War, following the 1858 subdivision of the rope walk property, North Lincoln Avenue developed as a mixture of middle-class housing and mansions. The new Allegheny West neighborhood became a desirable alternative to older sections of Allegheny City like the East and South Commons and lower Federal Street, which contained residential, commercial and industrial land uses. Many of the original residents of the mansions and middle-class houses that line North Lincoln Avenue were merchants and manufacturers who previously lived in Downtown Pittsburgh or older sections of Allegheny City.

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Rope Walk

840 North Lincoln Avenue occupies part of the site of a rope walk, or factory, that was operated by members of the Irwin family until 1858.

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Supplementary Material

The following materials accompany this report:
 

Maps

  • a copy of part of an 1872 plat map of the Second Ward of Allegheny City
  • copies of parts of fire insurance maps of the area around 840 North Lincoln Avenue, published in 1884, 1893, 1906 and 1926

Graham

  • a copy of the will of Martha Graham (Allegheny County Will Book Volume 22, Page 52)
  • information on Martha Jane Graham, from The Social Mirror (1888)
  • the obituary of Martha Jane Graham, from the Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 23, 1919

Teufel

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A Researched History
By: Carol J. Peterson

all photos by Chris Siewers, unless otherwise noted