The house on 44th Street.

The 44th Street House is dripping with historical context. If you look online, you will find that it was built in the 1920s; however we believe it was built a little earlier. If you go into the basement of the house, you’ll notice an I-beam that reads “Carnegie.” Andrew Carnegie sold the steel company to J.P. Morgan in 1901, so this suggests the house was built earlier than that, despite the fact that this style of home was popularized a little later.

For those of you who may not know, the Craftsman-style home was essentially a product of the Victorian movement. It was around this time that lumber became more accessible due to machinery. This enabled people to put more wood in their house more efficiently and intricately. Along with wood, stained glass was also popular which explains the original stained glass above the front door of this particular house. These features add charm and character to the 44th Street House which is why we knew we wanted to take this project on and restore them to their full glory. The 44th Street House is evidently a product of this movement and that is what we wanted to restore when we took this project on.

Before we started house had clearly seen better days - peeling wallpaper, worn out floors and painted over pine trim hid the beautiful craftsmanship and history of the home. (The photo above is the house at the time or purchase and below is after the renovation.)



The goal was to preserve and restore the inherent craftsman quality of the home while updating it at the same time. This required hours of labor to strip and stain the trim, refinish the floors, and even repair the original doorknobs. A major challenge was to create more work space in the kitchen because the dining room fireplace prevented us from expanding it. So we added counter space, a butcher block, and more cabinet storage space both in the kitchen and downstairs to update the space.

Speaking of adding space, we felt is was best to expand the top floor (a glorified attic) to keep up with the current market demands and give this house three bedrooms and three bathrooms. We wanted to make the top floor into the master bed and bathroom. This endeavor went smoothly overall, but it was messy. Every ceiling in Lawrenceville has about three inches of soot resulting from years of coal power, so when we tore off the roof, everything was covered in a layer of dust.



And we still managed to keep the original tile!

It all paid off once we finished the top-floor balcony because the view is phenomenal. This house looks out over Lawrenceville, Butler Street, the river, and the downtown Pittsburgh skyline off in the distance. Whoever decides to live here is getting one excellent sunset every single day.

The view the top floor provides is one of our favorite aspects of the 44th Street House. We also love the original tile hearth at each fireplace. Additionally, Regent Penn exposes the brick in every home we restore, whenever possible. We usually find the brick hidden behind drywall or plaster. As this is a utilitarian house, we decided to preserve the original railing. It’s worn character shows that this house can now live another hundred years.



This house is special in so many ways, but this goes beyond the house itself. Take a step out the front door and you’ll find yourself on a quiet, residential street that is in walking distance to the Butler Street business district and UPMC Children’s Hospital up the hill. The neighbors are friendly and look out for one another, which makes this home beautiful and peaceful inside and out.

For more photos and to learn more about Regent Penn’s other projects, visit our website or find us on Facebook and Instagram!