Abandoned, boarded up and stripped clean of its original architectural details, the 150-year-old townhouse in Pittsburgh, Pa., wasn't long for this Earth when David McAnallen decided to rescue it from the wrecking ball.
The city had already condemned the once-gracious property, built sometime in the 1860s. Yet plenty of other homes in similarly bad straits had successfully been renovated, and so McAnallen, who at the time was living nearby, was pretty sure this sad old lady could be coaxed back to life, too –– good call.
Ten years in the making, McAnallen's home-renovation project is arguably among the neighborhood's finest, from the meticulously restored cornice brackets and window surrounds brightening the red brick exterior, to the exquisite caramel-colored heart pine floors that greet you at the top of the stairs, to the second-floor deck that's decked out with a gas brick fireplace and provides a bird's-eye view of the courtyard.
McAnallen's house is too big to be considered an actual diamond in the rough, but even boarded up, there was no mistaking its potential. Blessed with beautiful arching windows, high ceilings and elaborate moldings and brackets, the three-story house reflected the Manchester neighborhood's wave of prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Still, it took some cajoling from his good friend Jim Spiegel, a real-estate broker and developer in Erie, Pa., for the psychologist to make that leap of faith.
"He was always pestering me, asking, 'Did you buy it yet? Did you buy it?'"
The red-tape hassles that come with buying a condemned property were just the first of many headaches. Given the size and scope of the project, McAnallen would also need to find a capable, not to mention versatile and collaborative, general contractor who would turn his vision into something concrete.
He found all that and then some in Eddie Pinto of Bellevue, Pa. With the hint of a smile, McAnallen recalls being told he was "nuts" when he offered Pinto the job. But three weeks later, the contractor was at his door, negotiating his fee.
Kudos also go to plasterer Roger Eades, heating guy Randy Kaczor of New Kensington, Pa., and Pittsburgh electrician Ron "Sparky" Matthews.
The bulk of the work, which included turning the first floor into an apartment for rent, took the better part of two years. Floors had to be sanded and varnished; walls required patching and painting; new windows had to be installed; and, of course, the house needed all-new plumbing, heating and electric. There also was the matter of a leaking roof, and the (very) slow process of acquiring the eight lots next door from the city so he could create a side courtyard.