John A. Brashear House and Factory
John A. Brashear House and Factory | |
Location | 1954 Perrysville Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
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Coordinates | 40°27′47″N 80°0′48″W / 40.46306°N 80.01333°W |
Built | 1886 |
NRHP reference No. | 12001093[1] |
Added to NRHP | December 26, 2012 |
The John A. Brashear House and Factory in the Perry South neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was built in 1886. Former home of astronomer John Brashear (1840–1920), the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 2012.[1]
The site consists of a Second Empire style house (1886) and a two story 105’ x 38’ brick factory building (1886). A small brick wash house was added around 1900. The site was Brashear’s primary residence in the latter part of this life. His Brashear Company factory manufactured optical instruments for science and industry. The company continued to operate from the factory after his death in 1920, at one point making components for the World War II era Norden bombsight. The company moved out of the factory around 1954.[2]
The factory was demolished by Pittsburgh on March 17, 2015, after one of the factory's walls had partially collapsed onto an adjacent apartment building the night before. The factory had been owned by the city since 2012, but it was unable to allocate funds to correct structural and roof deficiencies. The demolition contract was valued at $235,000.[3][4]
References
- ^ a b "Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/26/12 through 12/28/12". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-11-05.
- ^ Belculfine, Lexi (2015-03-18). "Historic Pittsburgh factory being leveled after wall collapse". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
- ^ Bauder, Bob (2015-03-18). "Wall collapse forces Pittsburgh to raze historic Brashear lens factory". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review TribLive. Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2015-03-18.