852 N Lincoln Avenue

Local historical records indicate that Theodore H. Nevin and John Irwin Jr. had the row of party wall houses at 850-858 North Lincoln Avenue built between 1872 and 1873.

Theodore H. Nevin, Robert P. Nevin, and Samuel M. Finley purchased property that included the site of the five houses on November 26, 1861. Following transactions in 1863 and 1870, title to the site of the houses was held by Theodore H. Nevin (two thirds interest) and John Irwin Jr. (one third interest). The first plat map of the area, published in 1872, shows that the row of houses had not been built.

Theodore H. Nevin and John Irwin Jr. had 850-858 North Lincoln Avenue built in the Second Empire style.

Second Empire buildings were characterized by mansard roofs, by prominent door and window hoods or lintels, arched window openings, and sometimes by central towers. The Second Empire style was used in the construction of thousands of houses built for occupancy by middle-class and wealthy families in Pittsburgh neighborhoods between approximately 1870 and 1885. The style shares some features with the contemporaneous Italianate style, particularly when used in rowhouse settings, but is distinguished from the Italianate style by its use of a mansard roof.

Interior details of Second Empire and Italianate houses and commercial buildings usually 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 with diagonally mitered corners.

Harry P. Teufel purchased 840 North Lincoln Avenue on December 12, 1917, paying $6,500. The Builders’ Bulletin, a weekly Pittsburgh construction industry magazine, reported in its issue of April 3, 1918, that Teufel had hired J.A. Cornelius for work at 840 North Lincoln Avenue that had been designed by the Pittsburgh architectural firm Kiehnel and Elliott.

he 1918 remodeling of 840 North Lincoln Avenue combined elements of the Mission style and the Spanish Eclectic style. Some of the remodeling features, such as the house’s stucco cladding and tile roof, were used with both architectural styles. The large square porch supports are components of the Mission style, and the round-arched openings between the supports are Spanish Eclectic components. The remodeled eaves, with wide overhangs, are typical of Mission homes but not those built in the Spanish Eclectic style. Although the house has some Mission features, it lacks the distinctive curved parapet with which nearly all houses in the style were built.

The Mission and Spanish Eclectic styles were both popular at the time that 840 North Lincoln Avenue was remodeled. A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester (1992) states that the Mission style was popular between about 1890 and 1920, and the Spanish Eclectic style was in use between about 1915 and 1940.

The form of 840 North Lincoln Avenue and the house’s original construction in the 1860s indicate that the house was almost certainly built in the ltalianate style, the most popular architectural in the Pittsburgh area between the late 1850s and the mid-1880s.

Thomas B. Updike and W.S. Updike were listed at 852 North Lincoln Avenue (then 55 Lincoln Avenue) in the 1873 Pittsburgh directory, and were apparently the house’s first occupants. The directory listed Thomas B. Updike as a cashier, and W.S. Updike as a clerk.

Members of the Alsop family lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue between 1874 and 1880. Rev. Reese F. Alsop was the rector of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Ninth Street near the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh. Edward B. Alsop, probably his brother, was a clerk. He worked for Bissell & Company, a manufacturer of stoves, grates, and mantels, during at least part of the time that he lived in the house. Edward B. Alsop moved from 852 North Lincoln Avenue to Centre Avenue in the East End in the late 1870s.

The 1880 census was the first census taken following the construction of 852 North Lincoln Avenue. Census records list Reese F. Alsop, 30, as a preacher and the head of the household. He had been born in Indiana, like his parents. His wife, Mary, also 30, kept house. She had been born in Pennsylvania, like her parents. Maria Alsop, 70, Reese’s widowed mother, also lived in the house.

The Alsops employed two servants who lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue in 1880. They were Margaret Dawson, 43, and Kate McElvay, 25. Both were Irish immigrants and unmarried.
Pittsburgh directories listed Benjamin B. Warfield at 852 North Lincoln Avenue in 1882 and 1883. Warfield was a professor at the Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny City. Occupants of the house between 1884 and 1886 are not known.

Rev. John Fox, the pastor of the North Presbyterian Church at North Lincoln and Galveston avenues, lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue between 1887 and 1891. Records of the 1890 census, which would provide information on Fox and any other occupants of the house in that year, were destroyed in a warehouse fire in Washington D.C. in the 1920s.

Albert F. and E. Essie Steigleder rented 852 North Lincoln Avenue at the time of the 1910 census, 11 years before they purchased the house from a member of the Nevin family.

Albert F. Steigleder, 46, was the treasurer of a brewery. He had been born in Pennsylvania to German immigrant parents. E. Essie Steigleder, 48, had been born in Pennsylvania, like her parents. The couple had been married for three years, and had no children. Alwild Moore, 45, a sister of E. Essie, lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue, as did Roy E. Moore, 15, who was one of her five children. Alwild Moore was a private nurse.

Albert F. and E. Essie Steigleder owned and lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue at the time of the 1930 census.

Albert F. Steigleder, 66, was the treasurer of a food products company. E. Essie Steigleder, 60, had no occupation. A seven-year-old named Robert Steigleder lived at 852 North Lincoln Avenue and was listed as a son of Albert and Essie.

The Steigleders supplemented Albert’s income by sharing their home with two lodgers, both unmarried.

n 1940, Margaret Roseman and Guy and Betty Lizito rented apartments at 852 North Lincoln Avenue.

Margaret Roseman, 66, rented for $30 per month. She was a widow with no occupation, and received income other than from salary or wages. She was a Pennsylvania native and had completed two years of high school. She shared her apartment with her son, Neal, 23, who worked as a timekeeper for a railroad. Neal had been born in Illinois, was unmarried, and had completed three years of high school. In 1939, he had worked 44 weeks and earned $960.