Westinghouse Park: Eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
In March 2021, the Pennsylvania Historcal and Museum Commission determined Westinghouse Park to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Here’s the letter of certification followed by the application that was prepared by Christine Davis Consultants.
Although the application has been redacted for security issues and photographs do not appear, it still documents a great deal of information about the park. As of May 2025, archeological investigations are proceeding and the application for the National Registry is on the drawing board.
DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY REPORT
SOLITUDE/WESTINGHOUSE SITE (36AL0525) CITY OF PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
A cultural resource management report prepared for:
Point Breeze North Development Corporation and The Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition
October 2020
CHRISTINE DAVIS CONSULTANTS, INC. 560 Penn Street, Verona, Pennsylvania 15147 Phone: 412/826-0443 Fax: 412/826-0458 christinedavisconsultants.com
DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY REPORT
SOLITUDE/WESTINGHOUSE SITE (36AL0525) PITTSBURGH CITY,
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
BY: CHRISTINE E. DAVIS Principal Investigator
BRANDON DAVIS Project Manager
MINDY LABELLE Project Manager
KIRA M. HEINRICH Cultural Resource Manager
For final submission to:
Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Commonwealth Keystone Building, 2nd Floor 400 North Street; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1
1.1 PROPOSED PROJECT ................................................................................... 1
1.2 PROJECT AREA ........................................................................................... 2
1.3 PROJECT HISTORY ....................................................................................... 5
2.0 HISTORIC CONTEXT .............................................................................................8
3.0 RESOURCE DESCRIPTION.................................................................................19
3.1 THE WESTINGHOUSE RESIDENCE ............................................................ 19
3.2 WESTINGHOUSE LABORATORY/STABLE.................................................. 26
3.3 BRICK ARCH TUNNEL BETWEEL HOUSE AND LABORATORY................. 28
3.4 LANG AVENUE TUNNEL FROM RAILROAD STATION TO SOLITUDE ....... 29
3.5 WESTINGHOUSE GAS WELLS .................................................................... 33
3.6 GREENHOUSE AND POTTING SHEDS ....................................................... 36
3.7 WATER WELL ......................................................................................... 38
3.7 LANDSCAPE FEATURES ............................................................................. 39
4.0 INTEGRITY ...........................................................................................................42
4.1 PHASE I SURVEY ......................................................................................... 42
4.2 GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY.............................................................................. 42
4.3 INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT .......................................................................... 43
5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................................44
5.1 THREE GAS WELLS ..................................................................................... 44
5.2 LABORATORY FOUNDATION AND TUNNEL BETWEEN LABORATORY
AND HOUSE .........................................................................................44
5.3 OTHER TUNNELS......................................................................................... 45
5.4 WESTINGHOUSE FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD ............................................ 45
6.0 SIGNIFICANCE.....................................................................................................46 7.0 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 49
APPENDICES:
I PHASE I ARTIFACT INVENTORY
II HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM
III GEOPHYSICAL REPORT
ii FIGURES
1 GENERAL LOCATION, PENNSYLVANIA TRANSPORTATION MAP 3
2 PROPERTY BOUNDARY, PITTSBURGH EAST, PA, 7.5’ USGS MAP 4
3 PROPERTY BOUNDARY, WESTINGHOUSE PARK
4 HISTORIC MAP OF THE PROJECT AREA (HOPKINS
5 HISTORIC MAP OF THE PROJECT AREA (HOPKINS
6 HISTORIC MAP OF THE PROJECT AREA (HOPKINS
7 HISTORIC MAP OF THE PROJECT AREA (HOPKINS
8 WESTINGHOUSE PARK, SHOWING THE LOCATION STRUCTURES AND LANDSCAPE FEATURES
5 1872) 9 1890) 10 1904) 10 1924) 11
OF HISTORIC
9 PHASE I ARCHAEOLOGICAL TESTING LOCATIONS
10 CLOSE-UP OF PHASE I TESTING NEAR RESIDENCE 25
PHOTOGRAPHS
1 FEATURE 5, LOOKING WEST 21
2 HAND-PAINTED STAINED-GLASS FRAGMENTS 22
3 STAINED-GLASS FRAGMENTS 22
4 EXISTING CA. 1960’S RECREATION BUILDING 28
5 ORIGINAL TICE & JACOBS, NEW YORK VAULT COVER 30
6 WESTINGHOUSE SITE TUNNEL INTERIOR 31
7 LABORATORY TUNNEL ACCESS 31
8 PHOTO 8: LANG AVENUE TUNNEL ENTRANCE 32
9 LANG AVENUE TUNNEL IRON GATE 32
10 LANG AVENUE STONE PLATFORM 33
11 FEATURE 1, CAPPED GAS WELL 35
12 FEATURE 2, CAST IRON PIPE 36
13 FEATURE 3, BRICK AND CLAY OVERLYING GAS WELL 37
14 FEATURE 4, CONCRETE CAPPED GAS WELL 37
15 CONCRETE CAPPED WATER WELL 38
24
iii PHOTOGRAPHS (cont.)
16 ASHLAR STAIRS ACCESSING SOLITUDE FROM MURTLAND AVENUE 40
17 ASHLAR STAIRS ACCESSING SOLITUDE FROM MURTLAND AVENUE 40
18 ASHLAR STAIRS ACCESSING SOLITUDE FROM LANG AVENUE 41
HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS
1 HISTORIC POSTCARD OF “SOLITUDE” 9
2 GEORGE AND MARGUERITE WESTINGHOUSE 16
3 SOLITUDE 20
4 SOLITUDE STABLE AND WESTINGHOUSE LABORATORY 27
5 ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPH OF LARGE WOOD DERRICKS AND SMALL BUILDINGS OCCUPYING THE SOUTHERN LAWNS OF SOLITUDE (LEONARD 1889) 34
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Historic properties of national, state, and local significance may be nominated to the National Register following an evaluation in accordance with an established set of criteria. The evaluation process is conducted at the state level by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and at the federal level by the National Register staff of the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service administers the National Register and has established four criteria for the evaluation of the potential significance of historic and archeological properties. These criteria are described in Title 36, Part 60 of the Code of Federal Regulations and are summarized as follows:
Criterion A: A property is associated with historically significant events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. To meet this criterion, a historic property needs:
o 1) to have existed at the time of the important event; and
o 2) be associated in a significant way with the event.
Criterion B: A property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.
Criterion C: A property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represents the work of a master, or that possesses high artistic values, or that represents a distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction.
Criterion D: A property that has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
PROPOSED PROJECT
The proposed project involves a property historically known as Solitude, the
former estate of George Westinghouse, and currently known as Westinghouse 1
Christine Davis Consultants, Inc. Determination of Eligibility Report Solitude/Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Park, a neighborhood city park that was transformed from Solitude after the property was donated to the city by the Westinghouse estate. Solitude/ Westinghouse Park is located in the North Point Breeze neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Point Breeze North Development Corporation (PBNDC), a not-for-profit, volunteer run organization consisting of Point Breeze residents and landowners. PBNDC, The Westinghouse Park Second Century Coalition (WP2CC), the City of Pittsburgh, Department of City Planning (DCP), and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) have partnered to undertake the Westinghouse Park Advanced Planning Project.
The Advanced Planning Project will gather input from the community and stakeholders about the future of Westinghouse Park. The information gathered as part of this project will be used by the DCP to develop a management plan for Westinghouse Park. To further support the advance planning process, PBNDC is pursuing a National Register of Historic Places Determination of Eligibility (DOE) for Solitude/Westinghouse Park. The project is funded by a grant from the URA Neighborhood Initiatives Fund. The subject report provides updated information for a DOE as well as the additional information requested as part of a previous eligibility review.
1.2 PROJECT AREA
The project area encompasses the Westinghouse Park property boundary, which is located in the neighborhood of North Point Breeze in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Figures 1 and 2). The site is bounded on the north by the East Busway (formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad), on the west by Murtland Avenue, on the east by Lang Avenue, and on the south by Thomas Boulevard (Figure 3). Westinghouse Park is approximately 10 acres in size and is owned by the City of Pittsburgh.
REFERENCES:
PA DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION
Project Location Solitude/Westinghouse Park
City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
PROJECT NO. 20-016
FIGURE 1
REFERENCES: City of Pittsburgh
USGS 7.5 MINUTE QUADRANGLE
Westinghouse Park Boundary Solitude/Westinghouse Park
City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
PROJECT NO. 20-016
FIGURE 2
1.3 PROJECT HISTORY
Results of Phase I Archaeological Survey Performed in 2005
Phase I Archaeological Survey and assessment of Westinghouse Park was conducted in 2005 for the City of Pittsburgh, Department of City Planning. The report of investigations was not submitted to the SHPO at that time but remains on file in City records. The Phase I Archaeological Survey identified ten existing, standing elements associated with the Solitude estate and nine associated archaeological features (Table 1). Two of these features identified former estate structures that have no remaining visible above ground elements. One feature exposed the intact foundations of the Solitude residence. Six of the features confirmed the presence of visible but buried structural elements. In total,1550 artifacts were recovered through the excavation of 27 Shovel Test Pits (STP) and 26 Excavation Units (EU) (Appendix I). Based on the results of the Phase I survey the Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) historic archaeological site was identified. The archaeological site encompasses the entirety of the current Westinghouse Park.
TABLE 1:
SUMMARY RESULTS OF PHASE I SURVEY
Historic Structural Element Standing Structural Associated Phase I Element Feature Solitude (Residence)
Stable/Laboratory Residence-Laboratory Tunnel Lang Avenue Tunnel
Gas Wells
Greenhouse
Potting Shed
Water Well (capped) Murtland Avenue Pillars
Lang Avenue Pillars
Murtland Avenue Steps
Lang Avenue Steps
Stone Wall
Fence
Foundation remains, buried
Present, buried Present
Present, buried -
-
Present, buried Present Present Present Present Present Present
6 Christine Davis Consultants, Inc. Determination of Eligibility Report Solitude/Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Results of Geotechnical Survey Performed in 2018
The Geophysical Survey was conducted on November 21 and 30, 2018 by THG Geophysics, Ltd. (THG) (Appendix III). This survey identified five shallow GPR anomalies and six deep anomalies (Table 2). Three anomalies could be preliminarily associated with known Solitude Estate or Westinghouse Park features. The remaining anomalies cannot be associated with current known elements. Anomaly ground truthing is planned for a future phase of investigation.
TABLE 2:
SUMMARY RESULTS OF GEOTECHNICAL SURVEY
Geophysical Anomaly Potentially Associated Structural Element
GPR A
GPR B
GPR C
GPR D
GPR E
Deep Anomaly 1
Deep Anomaly 2 Deep Anomaly 3 Deep Anomaly 4 Deep Anomaly 5 Deep Anomaly 6
Agency Coordination
Unknown
Solitude
Park Basketball Court
Unknown
Unknown
Tunnel System, with potential additional tunnels
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
In April 2006, a Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) form and Historic Resource Survey Form were submitted to SHPO with a request for a DOE. The Westinghouse archaeological site was assigned PASS number 36AL0525 and the overall Solitude/Westinghouse Park resource was assigned Key No. 141994. The SHPO requested additional information about the resource in a letter dated June 2006. There have been no additional submissions to date.
2.0 HISTORIC CONTEXT
George Westinghouse was born in Central Bridge, New York on October 6, 1846. As a young man, Westinghouse worked in his father’s agricultural machinery factory where he began his early experiments. During the Civil War, he joined the Union troops and served as an assistant engineer in the Navy from 1864 to 1865 (Leupp 1918:299). After the war was over, at the age of only 19, Westinghouse designed a rotary steam engine and received his first patent. Two years after receiving this patent, Westinghouse married Marguerite Erskine Walker on August 8, 1867 and the couple moved to Pittsburgh (U.S. Federal Census Bureau 1870).
For almost 50 years, George Westinghouse and his wife Marguerite lived in ‘Solitude,’ a beautiful Pittsburgh mansion built in North Point Breeze (Historic Photo 1). When Solitude was built, the young couple did not have enough money to furnish the rooms. At the time, Westinghouse was a 25-year-old Civil War veteran with a bride of less than three years, but he was also a young entrepreneur with his own company, a firm built on the success of the air brake, a devise that vastly improved railroad safety and made Westinghouse famous. By 1876, Westinghouse Air Brake Company employed 120 workers and shipped their product all over America and to international customers as far away as Peru, Australia, and Europe (Durant 1876). By the end of the century, Westinghouse owned 60 companies worth more than 120 million dollars.
Solitude was built on land George Westinghouse purchased in March of 1871 from James H. Hopkins, who later became a Congressman and bank president. Hopkins sold Westinghouse the vacant northern half of a property located on the Pennsylvania Railroad in an area of large rural estates built away from the smoke and bustle of Pittsburgh yet with easy access to the city via the railroad and the old Greensburg Turnpike, now Penn Avenue (Hopkins 1872). Between 1871 and 1901, Westinghouse purchased seven parcels of land, including all of the land around the Homewood Railroad Station, as well as tracts on the north side of the railroad (Figures 4 through 7).
HISTORIC PHOTO 1: Historic Postcard of “Solitude”
FIGURE 4: Historic Map of the Project Area (Hopkins 1872)
FIGURE 5: Historic Map of the Project Area (Hopkins 1890)
FIGURE 6: Historic Map of the Project Area (Hopkins 1904)
FIGURE 7: Historic Map of the Project Area (Hopkins 1924)
It was at Solitude that Westinghouse conducted one of his most extraordinary and daring experiments, an experiment that led to numerous patent inventions in the gas industry. In December of 1883, Westinghouse signed a contract with Gillespie Tool Company of Pittsburgh to construct a derrick and drill a gas well in the backyard of his home. Once the drillers were underway, Westinghouse and his pregnant wife left Pittsburgh to winter in New York where their son, George Jr., was born. The family returned to Pittsburgh in the following spring of 1884. Workers continued drilling in the backyard for another three weeks when they a hit a level of gravel, sand, mud, and water at 1,560 feet below ground surface. The explosion damaged the big derrick causing the pulley tackle and engine to overturn. Mud covered Mrs. Westinghouse’s gardens and grape arbor. Westinghouse ordered the drilling to continue and natural gas was discovered.
Westinghouse had been experimenting with ways to tackle the problem of controlling the gas flow from a well and in July of 1884, he patented a devise to regulate gas under pressure (Prout 1921). He moved on to create inventions using gas for lighting homes, streets, and businesses. Westinghouse began this research by devising a pulley system to haul a torch of burning rags to the top of a pipe rising 60 feet into the air above the gas well. There the gas and rags ignited, and an incredible roaring jet of light shot 100 feet into the air. The light was so brilliant that people living a mile away could read newspapers at night. Visitors and neighbors sat on the lawns at Solitude watching with amazement as Westinghouse demonstrated his new invention (Leupp 1918).
The successful natural gas discovery in his own backyard stimulated Westinghouse to invent ways to control and transmit natural gas to both industrial and residential consumers. At first, consumers feared that natural gas was flammable and dangerous to use (Leupp 1918:113). By 1886, within two years of his famous gas well strike, Westinghouse had invented a natural gas meter, an automatic cut-off regulator, and a leak-proof piping system. Westinghouse patented a system of gas pipelines that could be regulated as to the amount of gas conveyed to specific places and of testing these lines to reduce leaking.
Confident with his success, Westinghouse drilled more wells in his yard and rapidly continued his work inventing ways to transmit gas from these backyard wells to Pittsburgh residences and industries. Huge wood derricks covered the gas wells in Solitude’s backyard near the Victorian gardens and greenhouse. The smog from burning coal lifted and the city had clean air for the first time in many years. Without coal smoke spewing from chimneys, Point Breeze and the East End enjoyed the city’s cleanest air. People painted their houses white for the first time (Leupp 1918).
But most importantly, natural gas was a new source of clean and cheap fuel for the iron and steel industries at a critical time when the industry was beginning to boom. Now, Pittsburgh had the fuel and the means for transmitting it. Thus, it was in Pittsburgh that the iron and steel industry emerged as one of the most powerful in the nation. “From the workings of a simple well in his back yard, he figured out an efficient way to transmit clean, natural gas to homes - for lighting and heating - and to industry for fuel. The natural gas industry owes its existence to George Westinghouse” (Anonymous 1886).
Within months of the initial strike in the spring of 1884, Westinghouse had formed the Philadelphia Company to control the gas wells on his property and also to own the patent for “conveying and utilizing as under pressure (Van Trump 1959). Recognizing the potential need, Westinghouse purchased additional easements for natural gas lines and wells in the region including Murrysville where the first natural gas well was drilled in 1878. By 1886, the Philadelphia Company dominated Pittsburgh’s natural gas industry and supplied over 3,000 families, 34 iron and steel mills, 60 glass factories, and 300 other small factories and hotels with fuel. The company estimated a 40 percent savings in fuel costs by using gas instead of coal (d’Invilliers 1887). The success of the system was due to the “fertile genius of George Westinghouse” (Anonymous 1886). However, once the industry was established, natural gas sources were soon depleted, and coal emerged again as the primary fuel. Pittsburgh was again the Smoky City.
During the period when the gas wells were found at Solitude, George Westinghouse’s stable was transformed into a private laboratory and he constructed an extraordinary brick tunnel to connect the laboratory with his home (Sanborn 1893). As this underground tunnel was built, newspaper reporters speculated that Westinghouse was secretly working on inventions in the underground passage (Leupp 1918:262). At the time (1884), the competition between Edison and Westinghouse in the “War for Electricity” had accelerated.
These two great inventors were experiencing a fundamental shift in the way they organized their businesses. Both Westinghouse and Edison began as master craftsmen who employed apprentices and assistants to work with on their inventions in small laboratories. By the 1880s, a fundamental change in this system became essential with the increased value of the intellectual property created by these new concepts and ultimately by their patents. Employees possessed valuable knowledge that could be transmitted to competitors. Lawsuits between Westinghouse and Edison involved large sums of money and increasingly larger companies. What happened was specialization. Individuals concentrated on one part of the invention but did not have knowledge of the entire concept. Edison became so worried about industrial espionage and sabotage that he secured his patents, laboratory notebooks, models, and other information in a secret underground brick vault found by archaeologists in Menlo Park. The vault was used from 1876 to 1882 (Gall 2004). The private laboratory and brick tunnel at Solitude possessed a similar mystery.
Westinghouse’s successful gas wells led to several dozen inventions for the control and distribution of natural gas. The knowledge gained from this work pointed the great inventor in the direction of a better distribution system for electric current. Based on this work, Westinghouse invented a transformer that proved to be the key to widespread distribution of electricity, a concept of international significance (Jonnes 2003).
In the 1880s Westinghouse had diversified into the production of electrical equipment and electric lamps. At the time he bought U.S. Electric Lighting Company and began making lamps, but the company was sued by Thomas Edison for patent infringement. In 1892, the courts decided in Edison's favor and forced Westinghouse to stop production; however, Westinghouse had obtained rights to the Sawyer-Man patents and quickly retooled to make non-infringing lamps based on those patents. He produced these "Stopper lamps" until Edison's patents. The two men - Westinghouse and Edison - fiercely competed in their “race to electrify the world” and engaged in many famous disputes, notably the efficacy of Alternating versus Direct currents (Jonnes 2003).
In 1893, Westinghouse proved the viability of using the alternating current when he won the contract to provide a lighting system for the entire Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Two years later, in 1895, the Westinghouse Electric Company harnessed the power of Niagara Falls to supply low-cost energy for hundreds of miles. This was the first practical demonstration of large-scale power generation. Lord Kelvin of the University of Glasgow, and a close friend of Westinghouse who visited Solitude many times, served as Chairman of the International Niagara Commission (Jonnes 2003).
Scientists, chemists, railroad executives, and other guests from all over the world visited Solitude to dine with Westinghouse. “It was their normal life to have several guests in the house and to have a dinner-party every night” (Leupp 1918). Marguerite “lives in greater style, entertains more splendidly, and wears more gorgeous, varied, elegant toilets, has more and finer diamonds, than any woman in Pittsburg... Dresden china, Sevres, and fine porcelain, cut glass, silver, and gold adorned the table. The house was a “perfect palace” and the grounds worthy of it” (Nevin 1888). George Westinghouse enjoyed discussions on the porch or in his den near the main entrance. He would often engage visitors with a brilliant new idea and spread out drawings in the billiard room (Leupp 1918:260-61). At Solitude, visitors also experienced first-hand the successful results of Westinghouse’s inventions relating with steam heat from gas and electric lights (Sanborn 1893).
In the late 1880s, Marguerite Westinghouse became ill and her doctors advised her to spend more time in clean mountain air. Westinghouse purchased a second home in Lenox, Massachusetts and the entire home was completely decorated in white (Anonymous 1890). The Westinghouse family also maintained a home in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. as well as a private rail car and an apartment in New York City. The elaborate private rail car, named Glen Eyre, contained a bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and office (Leupp 1918:259). The car would be parked on the rail line at the Homewood Station ready for Westinghouse to embark on his travels and local commutes.
HISTORIC PHOTO 2: George and Marguerite Westinghouse
George and Marguerite Westinghouse entertained a number of boarders and servants at Solitude including, for a time, William A. Stewart, the family physician from New York. A young chemist, Henry Noel Potter, his wife Lillian, and three small children also lived there in 1900. Potter, age 31, had graduated from Amherst College in 1891 and attended school in Germany. Potter brought George Westinghouse’s attention to an incandescent lamp invented by a German physicist. Westinghouse became interested in the lamp, bought the American rights and subsequently founded a lamp company in Pittsburgh. Potter was hired by Westinghouse to work as a special engineer between 1898 and 1907 when he was in “charge of his private research laboratory” for four years (U.S. Federal Census Bureau 1900; Prout 1921:234; Amherst College 2005).
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Westinghouse companies were worth about 120 million dollars. Despite his phenomenal success, the Depression of 1907 caused Westinghouse to lose control of the companies he had founded. To protect his home, Westinghouse transferred ownership of Solitude to his wife for $1.00 (Deed Book 1543:285).
In April of 1910, George and Marguerite were living at Solitude with six servants including their 56-year old housekeeper, Catherine (Katie) Griffin who had been with the Westinghouse family since at least 1880. Also residing at the Pittsburgh homestead was the valet, Albert Hammond, house maid Catherine Nichols, the French chef Francois Bizet and two recent Swedish immigrants - Anna Larson, a cook, and Emilie Abrahamson, the kitchen maid. Westinghouse’s only child, George, lived only a block from his parents’ home at 201 North Murtland Avenue (U.S. Federal Census Bureau 1880; 1910).
By 1911, George Westinghouse had severed all ties with his former companies and within two years, was diagnosed with a heart ailment. On March 12, 1914, Westinghouse died. As a Civil War Veteran, he was buried in Arlington Cemetery. Within three months, Marguerite was dead and buried beside her husband. The following year, Francis E. Leupp who was a friend and biographer of Westinghouse, visited Solitude and noted that the “house stood just as he and his wife left it, except that it had been stripped of most of the finer furniture, and the bric-a-brac and curios with which they filled it.” Yet, objects did remain in the house including a huge photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Westinghouse from their first visit to England (Leupp 1918).
George Westinghouse, Jr. and his wife Violet inherited Solitude and in 1918 sold the property to the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania for $150,000. Funding came from grants of $50,000 each from Westinghouse Airbrake Company and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. The neighborhood collected and contributed another $45,000 and a $5,000 donation from Westinghouse’s brother Herman, completed the transaction (Deed Book 1953:128). The Engineers’ Society gave the property to the City of Pittsburgh to be used “only for the purposes of a public park” and “although intended for the use of the public, including children, shall not be used as, nor made, a children’s playground especially devoted to children” (Deed Book 1962:34-35). As further requested in the deed, the City had six months to demolish the Westinghouse homestead. In 1919, the City demolished the house but retained the stable/laboratory for use as a recreation building until 1960 when the stable/laboratory was demolished, and the current recreational building constructed in the same location.
Although the Engineers Society had reserved the right to build a memorial to the memory of Westinghouse, the memorial was never built in Westinghouse Park. Instead, in 1930, nearly 60,000 employees funded a permanent memorial to Westinghouse in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. Westinghouse was known as one of the “most persistent and indefatigable worker upon problems involving the safety and comfort of mankind; and as an inventor and engineer was one of the most widely and favorably known men of his time” (Deed Book 1962:34-35).
3.0 RESOURCE DESCRIPTION
Solitude/Westinghouse Park is contained within an approximately 10-acre tract. Within this property, George Westinghouse had constructed a large home and stable/laboratory building within a planned landscape garden that included a greenhouse and potting shed, carriage ways, walkways, stone walls, stone pillars, and an elaborate stone stairway. Other site features include brick tunnels (connecting the house and laboratory as well as the house and railroad station), the location of gas wells, and a water well. Today, landscape features such as large mature trees, the carriage ways, walkways, stone walls, stone pillars, and stone stairways remain as part of the modern Westinghouse Park. Modern park features include a one-story concrete recreation building, an asphalt basketball court, and a playground area.
3.1 THE WESTINGHOUSE RESIDENCE
The Westinghouse estate residence was built in 1872 on the northeastern corner of the property and surrounded by a circular carriage drive (Figures 4 to 7). The foundation of this structure is still intact below the ground surface, but the above ground portion of the building was removed in 1919. Carriage entrances were located on both Murtland Avenue and Lang Avenue and a portico stood on the north side of the house. The three-story French Second Empire villa with a four-story tower on the main entrance faced Lang Avenue. The brick house measured approximately 70 feet by 40 feet and was painted white with dark shutters and white awnings. A one-story solarium wrapped around the southeast corner facing the front lawn and the side gardens. A large dining room with a high ceiling was added on the rear of the original house (Leupp 1918:260). The mansard roof of slate had iron cresting along the roof line, and, on the roof tower, a series of antennas projected from the roof. The walls and ceilings of the home were festooned with bare wires left uncovered by woodwork or plaster in order for Westinghouse to continue his experiments on residential gas and electrical power as well as telephone transmission (Leupp 1918). The majority of the family’s possessions were removed from the house before it was demolished.
HISTORIC PHOTO 3: Solitude
The archaeological remains of Solitude were discovered in Phase I Units 9, 10, 11, 20, 21, 29, and 30 and were identified as Feature 5 (Figures 8 to 10; Photo 1). Over 1,249 historic artifacts were recovered from this feature (Appendix I). The artifacts provided new information about the architecture of Solitude. For example, fragments of yellow, green, red, and blue hand-painted glass were recovered (Photo 2), along with examples of stained glass (Photo 3). Fragments of pink, black, blue, and white marble, travertine, and granite were used for floors and walls. Gray roof slate, green window glass, red brick, mortar samples, and nails also were recovered. While many visitors, laborers, boarders, and servants were allowed access within Solitude photographs and descriptions of the building’s details are rare. Additional excavation could reveal additional information about Solitude’s architectural details.
Photo 1: Feature 5, looking west
Photo 2: Hand-painted stained-glass fragments
Photo 3: Stained-glass fragments
FIGURE 10: Closeup of Phase I Testing Near Residence.
Artifacts suggesting the high socio-economic status of the Westinghouse family include a Havilland porcelain saucer and a crystal perfume bottle. Mason jars with porcelain and metal lids, and bottle glass represent objects left in the kitchen before demolition. Additional excavation and further artifact analysis could provide both additional evidence for the goods used by the Westinghouse’s and their guests, as well as potentially information about the goods used by their staff, boarders, and laborers.
3.2 WESTINGHOUSE LABORATORY/STABLE
Like the residence, the Westinghouse Laboratory/Stable building foundation remains below the ground surface. The above ground portion of the building was removed in 1960. While some experimentation was done within the walls of Solitude, George Westinghouse’s private laboratory was located in the original two- story brick stable with full basement (Historic Photo 4). The stable reflected the architecture of the main house with its painted white brick, mansard roof with iron cresting along the roof line and decorative brackets. The second floor was well lighted with double-hung dormer windows with Victorian peaked lintels on all facades. The stable’s roof was pierced by a tall brick chimney and several ventilators. An archival photograph of the laboratory dating from 1920 reveals many of these architectural details.
Historic Photo 4: Solitude stable and Westinghouse laboratory
Before the laboratory was demolished, the City prepared measured drawings of the exterior and interior of the building. The L-shaped building measured 62 feet on the east, 59 feet, 9 inches on the west, and 56 feet, 2 inches on the north and south facades. On the first floor were two offices, both with plaster walls and ceilings, wood wainscoting, and double-hung windows. The larger office had stairs leading to the second floor and a trap door to the basement. Two sets of exterior steps also served as entrances to the basement. The basement had brick arches with iron trusses and housed a generator and engine room for the heating and lighting systems (Sanborn 1893). An underground boiler room was constructed beyond the east wall of the basement at the connection point with the underground tunnel. Also located on the first floor were the wagon room and harness room with wood floors, beaded board ceilings, and stable doors. An exterior courtyard surrounded by a brick wall opened from one of the stable rooms.
After the City of Pittsburgh purchased Solitude, the laboratory remained in use as an office, picnic shelter, restrooms, and storage room until 1960 when the building was demolished (Stewart 1943). The existing building recreation building was constructed in 1960 partially within the footprint of the original laboratory (Photo 4). Most significantly, the new recreation building does not have a basement thus there is a high probability of preserved archaeological features in the basement area as well as beneath the asphalt surface surrounding the existing building. Based on field observations and mapping, George Westinghouse’s basement boiler room is now beneath asphalt pavement on the east façade of the building.
Photo 4: Existing ca. 1960’s recreation building
3.3 BRICK ARCH TUNNEL BETWEEL HOUSE AND LABORATORY
A brick arched tunnel connected the basement of the residence with the basement of the former laboratory (Sanborn 1893). This tunnel remains intact within Westinghouse Park today. As this underground tunnel was built, newspaper reporters speculated that Westinghouse was secretly working on inventions in the underground passage (Leupp 1918:262). The discovery of natural gas at Solitude and the patents developed by Westinghouse suggest that this assumption was correct. The tunnel was used as part of a system to design and develop patents for residential gas and lighting systems. Metal hangars for wires hang from the arch of the tunnel and pipes once entered the residence’s basement.
This brick arch tunnel is nearly 200 feet in length and measures approximately 8.6 feet high at the arch and 6.5 feet high on the side walls. The tunnel was first identified through archival mapping and the discovery of three extant vault covers. Two of these three covers were original iron illuminating vault covers patented by Tice & Jacobs in New York (Photo 5). The rubble stone top of the tunnel was identified at 76 cm below ground surface (b.g.s.) (30 inches) in Unit 23 as Feature 9.
The interior of the tunnel was examined in 2005 by Public Safety personal. Pittsburgh’s Mayor Tom Murphy, Cheryl Hall, and Curtis Biondich, formerly of CDC, entered the tunnel and explored the interior (Photo 6). Mr. Biondich photographed the structure and found a main and secondary entrance where the tunnel would have entered Solitude’s basement. The main entrance, which is filled with rubble from the demolition of the house, was in a straight line with the laboratory. Access to the laboratory was found to be infilled with bricks (Photo 7). The secondary entrance was for the utility pipes. Near the main entrance, an L shaped passageway runs off of the tunnel. At the end of this short passageway is an entrance that would have led to Solitude’s basement. This entrance was originally, and remains, partially bricked with an arch at the top for the utility pipes to access the basement.
3.4 LANG AVENUE TUNNEL FROM RAILROAD STATION TO SOLITUDE
George and Marguerite Westinghouse entertained at their Solitude home nearly every night. When guests arrived by rail, they were greeted at the Homewood Station and guided to an elaborate iron gate at the entrance of a tunnel beneath Lang Street. For the most important guests, a red carpet was rolled out and a canopy constructed between the house and tunnel entrance. Guests included President William McKinley, Michel Hilkov (Russian Minister of Ways and Means), and Prince Albert (later King of Belgium), as well as Pittsburgh’s great leaders including H. C. Frick, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Heinz, and Robert Pitcairn, among others (Van Trump 1959:160).
The Lang Avenue Tunnel with beautiful iron gate remains extant although both entrances have been infilled with brick (Photos 8 and 9). On the opposite side, or east side, of Lang Avenue, a stone platform is extant (Photo 10). This platform leads to the site of the former railroad station, which has since been demolished.
Photo 5: Original Tice & Jacobs, New York vault cover
Photo 6: Westinghouse Site tunnel interior
Photo 7: Laboratory tunnel access
Photo 8: Lang Avenue tunnel entrance
Photo 9: Lang Avenue tunnel iron gate
Photo 10: Lang Avenue stone platform
3.5 WESTINGHOUSE GAS WELLS
In 1884, Westinghouse successfully drilled a gas well behind his laboratory. By 1912, he had drilled three additional gas wells on the property (Sanborn 1893) and was distributing the gas through pipelines to the East End community. Large wood derricks and small buildings occupied the southern lawns of Solitude (Historic Photo 5).
While no evidence of the former above ground derricks remain, of the four gas wells drilled by Westinghouse between 1884 and 1912, there are archaeological remains for three of the wells. This includes the original Westinghouse #1 well drilled in 1884, as well as the 1885 and 1912 wells. The fourth well was destroyed when Thomas Boulevard was widened by approximately 30 feet.
Historic Photo 5: Archival photograph of large wood derricks and small buildings occupying the southern lawns of Solitude (Leonard 1889)
The original 1884 gas well, identified as Feature 1 in Unit 6, was located 30 feet south of the existing recreation building. Feature 1 was sealed with a concrete and metal cap stamped “Lincoln 5 1⁄2 S/S” (Photo 11). The surrounding soils were heavily mottled gray/black silty loam with brick fragments. Due to a cave-in around the well cap, the unit was not completed.
In Unit 5, a cast iron pipe found less than 10 cm b.g.s. was identified as Feature 2. The unit was not expanded or excavated below this level (Photo 12). The pipe continued west to connect with Feature 1 and east to the Lang Avenue border of the property. This pipe represents a 2-inch gas line installed by Westinghouse to provide local residents with natural gas.
Photo 11: Feature 1, capped gas well
Photo 12: Feature 2, cast iron pipe
Feature 3, found in Unit 8, was the last gas well drilled on the property in 1912 and later covered with a woodshed building. During the excavation, a 39 cm level of thick gray clay loam with brick fragments overlaid a level of dense bricks embedded in black oily soils with a strong smell of gas (Photo 13). Due to this odor, the unit was terminated.
Feature 4 was found in Unit 7 and identified as a second gas well drilled by Westinghouse in 1885. The well is now capped with concrete (Photo 14).
Photo 13: Feature 3, brick and clay overlying gas well
Photo 14: Feature 4, concrete capped gas well
3.6 GREENHOUSE AND POTTING SHEDS
Neither the Greenhouse nor Potting Shed buildings remain within Westinghouse Park. The large, private greenhouse stood near the stable, while two small wood outbuildings were located east of the greenhouse (Sanborn 1893; Hopkins 1904; Sanborn 1906). Unit 15 was excavated to determine the location of the greenhouse. Based on the recovery of 75 window glass fragments and a portion of a redware flowerpot, the greenhouse remains were identified as Feature 6.
Units 16 and 17 were excavated to determine the function of two small wood outbuildings located near the greenhouse. The assemblage from these units included 39 redware flowerpot fragments and window glass suggesting these remains were from the potting sheds associated with the greenhouse. This area was designated as Feature 7.
3.7 WATER WELL
A circular water well, now covered with a concrete cap, formerly stood north of the laboratory. When the City purchased the property, the well was capped with a metal pump. The well was identified during the pedestrian survey (Feature 8) as a preserved feature capped with concrete (Photo 15). No excavations were undertaken in this area.
Photo 15: Feature 8, concrete capped water well
3.8 LANDSCAPE FEATURES Carriage Roads and Pillars
The carriage roads and circular drive that were present as early as 1886 (Hopkins 1886) remain today in nearly the same configurations. Three carriage entrances - two on Murtland Avenue and one on Lang Avenue – are marked by paired broken course ashlar pillars with stone caps (Photo 16). The drives are now covered with asphalt.
Stone Steps
Ashlar steps once provided access to Solitude from Lang and Murtland Avenues (Photos 17 and 18). Both sets of steps remain today, continuing to provide pedestrian access to Westinghouse Park.
Stone Wall and Fence at Railroad
A 24-inch stone wall with an iron fence lined the railroad north of Solitude. The stone wall is currently extant, but the railing is no longer present (City of Pittsburgh n.d.).
Photo 16: Ashlar pillars on Murtland Avenue
Photo 17: Ashlar stairs accessing Solitude from Murtland Avenue
Photo 18: Ashlar stairs accessing Solitude from Lang Avenue
4.0 INTEGRITY
4.1 ASSESSMENT OF PREVIOUS GROUND DISTURBANCE
Based on the results of the Phase I Survey, ground disturbance within Westinghouse Site and the grounds of Solitude has been minimal. Removal of the main house and stable/laboratory buildings has resulted in some disturbance within the immediate vicinity of the structures. As evidenced by the presence of intact below ground features, such as the tunnel, gas wells, gas piping, demolition did not impact the site to any significant degree below the ground surface. Given the overall good archaeological integrity of the site, geophysical survey was undertaken to further identify associated below ground features.
4.2 GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
The Geophysical Survey was conducted on November 21 and 30, 2018 by THG (Appendix III). The survey utilized a frequency-domain electromagnetic imaging (FDEM), an Overhauser magnetomerter/gradiometer, and ground penetrating radar (GPR). Five significant FDEM anomalies and six significant magnetic anomalies were identified. Several anomalies were concurrent. GPR data was acquired over all of the anomalies except one (C/2).
Known elements, such as the house, tunnel, and gas wells, were identified, as well as several additional areas with similar FDEM/GPR pattern results that have a potential for features though they remain uninvestigated. Historic research suggests that one of the unexplored areas may be a large cistern associated with the historic stable/laboratory. A second area has a signature similar to the existing tunnel, suggesting another tunnel segment may exist within the site. Further excavation, analysis, and background research are needed to explore these potential features.
4.3 INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT
The loss of the Westinghouse era above ground structures has resulted in a loss of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling for this property. However, above ground landscape features associated with the layout of the estate remain, such as the carriage paths, ashlar entrance pillars, stone steps and walls, and mature specimen trees. Further, the surrounding neighborhood has changed little since 1918 and the death of Marguerite Westinghouse. Consequently, Solitude/Westinghouse Park retains integrity in the areas of location, setting, and association.
However, although as noted no Westinghouse period buildings remain at the surface, this resource retains a high degree of archaeological integrity. Foundation remains within the Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) consist of the residence, the laboratory basement and foundation, two brick tunnels, the greenhouse, well, and three gas wells. All of these features are intact as confirmed through Phase I Archaeological Survey. Associated, intact, artifact- bearing deposits were also identified. The geophysical survey also identified additional unexplored potential features that, based on the overall absence of identified disturbance to date, retain a very high probability of containing additional significant archaeological information (see Table 2).
5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Solitude/Westinghouse Park and the Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) historic archaeological site have the ability answer research questions in several categories, including George Westinghouse’s invention and experimentation, the layout and features of the property, and the lives of the Westinghouse family and their household.
5.1 THREE GAS WELLS
Three capped experimental gas wells have been identified within the Solutude/Westinghouse Site. Westinghouse was experimenting with how to drill, capture gas, transmit, and distribute gas safely. What could excavation of these features tell us about how they were drilled? How do these wells reflect the advances he made through experimentation? An in-place gas pipeline was also identified during the Phase I Survey. Are there remnants of Westinghouse’s experimental distribution network on the property? What can this tell us about Westinghouse’s experiments?
5.2 LABORATORY FOUNDATION AND TUNNEL BETWEEN LABORATORY AND HOUSE
The laboratory and tunnels at Solitude/Westinghouse Site were the primary areas of invention and experimentation for Westinghouse. What physical remains are left that may show us what form Westinghouse’s experiments took? Are there any archaeological materials or features present that would provide information about Westinghouse’s experiments? There is a utility room present within the foundation of Solitude adjacent to the tunnel. Tunnel features indicate that utilities ran from this room, into the tunnel, and through the tunnel to the Laboratory. Is there still utility equipment or mountings within the utility room? What can this material if present tell us about Westinghouse’s experiments or the layout of his utility distribution network?
5.3 OTHER TUNNELS
George Westinghouse Jr.’s (Westinghouse’s son) home is located across Thomas Boulevard from the modern Westinghouse Park. GPR evidence shows deep anomalies, similar to the known tunnel area, in the area between the laboratory and Westinghouse, Jr.’s house. Westinghouse, Jr. was known to participate with his father in experimentation in the laboratory. Are these anomalies evidence of a second tunnel to allow Westinghouse, Jr. access to the laboratory from his home? GPR evidence shows similar anomalies in a second area to the east of Solitude, between the structure and North Lang Avenue. Do these anomalies mark the presence of a third tunnel in this location, potentially connecting Solitude to another structure?
5.4 WESTINGHOUSE FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD
No significant ground disturbance has taken place within the property excepting the demolition of the house and laboratory buildings. The demolition was kept small in size and only removed the buildings to the ground level. A historic use level within and throughout the property remains intact. Samples from this level from the Phase I Survey recovered diagnostic materials, including glass and ceramics. A capped well has been identified which may contain stratified fills dating to the Westinghouse occupation. GPR anomalies indicate the potential for other features, such as a cistern near the stable/laboratory building and other filled features that would contain materials dating to the use of the property by the Westinghouse family and their household. What do the artifacts recovered from the use surface and from other site features show about the Westinghouse household that cannot be ascertained through historic documentation? Can differences between the Westinghouse’s and their household help be seen within the site? Is there an observable difference between the discard activities of the wealthy Westinghouse household and other households of lesser socio-economic status during the same period?
6.0 SIGNIFICANCE
Solitude/Westinghouse Park (Key No. 141994) and the Westinghouse Site (36AL0525) historic archaeological site is recommended as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A, B, and D.
Under Criterion A, Solitude/Westinghouse Site (Key No. 141994; PASS 36AL0525) is strongly associated with historically significant events that have contributed to national, state, and local history. Solitude/Westinghouse Site was not only the home of George Westinghouse it was also his private laboratory. The laboratory/stable building and the brick tunnel that linked this building to Solitude were the location of invention and experimentation that lead to some of Westinghouse’s most important inventions. Contemporary newspaper accounts and historic records document the use of the laboratory building and the tunnels as the primary location for Westinghouse’s experimentation. This time period saw an important shift in how America’s premier inventors, such as Westinghouse, Edison, and Tesla, accomplished their work. Industrial espionage increasingly became a problem, and Westinghouse, like his peers, began to shift from large research and development groups employing large numbers of assistants to working in smaller laboratories, where assistants only had access to a portion of the overall information about the research. The most important research was done in personal, private laboratories, by the inventor’s themselves. Edison became so worried about industrial espionage and sabotage that he secured his patents, laboratory notebooks, models, and other information in a secret underground brick vault found by archaeologists in Menlo Park. The vault was used from 1876 to 1882 (Gall 2004). Westinghouse controlled access to his intellectual property by securing his materials and conducting his experiments within his home laboratory.
At Solitude, Westinghouse invented ways to control and transmit natural gas to both industrial and residential consumers. This experimentation was undertaken within the tunnels and laboratory. He was also a strong proponent for the use of natural gas, both in homes and in industry. Solitude was where he showed his successful inventions off to guests, with visitors experiencing first- hand steam heat from gas and electric lights and local residents being treated to views of Westinghouse’s experiments with gas well drilling on the grounds. Westinghouse’s support of natural gas use and his work to control and transmit natural gas were integral to the eventual successful utilization of natural gas.
The experiments conducted here made natural gas a new source of clean and cheap fuel for the iron and steel industries at a critical time when the industry was beginning to boom. Thus, it was in Pittsburgh that the iron and steel industry emerged as one of the most powerful in the nation. Pittsburgh’s famous smog, created by burning coal, lifted and the city had clean air for many years until the local natural gas sources were depleted. Experiments with the natural gas industry also ultimately led Westinghouse to his inventions in field of electrical transmission. Three of the four wells Westinghouse had drilled in his backyard remain capped and intact within Westinghouse Site today.
Under Criterion B, the site is associated with a nationally significant individual, George Westinghouse, who founded more than 60 companies and received 361 patents. Westinghouse was one of the most famous investors and industrialists of his era. The work Westinghouse undertook at Solitude/Westinghouse Site was the basis for several of his most important inventions. Archaeologically, the evidence for this work remains in the presence of the gas wells on the property, the laboratory foundation, and the brick tunnels.
Under Criterion D, the property would yield important information to the field of archaeology (see Section 5.0 Research Questions). Material elements and archeological features reflecting Westinghouse’s cultural landscape remain intact and there is a high probability that additional archaeological features relating to Westinghouse’s inventions and patents would be present in the area around the former laboratory. The presence of intact, related features has already been demonstrated based on the presence of capped gas wells and intact gas transmission line within the property.
Also, because the property was the home of the Westinghouse family, and archaeological integrity of the property is high, there is a high probability that artifacts and features containing archaeological information about the family, staff, and potentially visitors to the property remains. GPR anomalies, while yet tested, strongly suggest the presence of a filled cistern, for example, near the former stable as well as other potential feature areas.
Archaeological information for Westinghouse is more important than for many of his contemporary inventors and industrialists. There is a significant lack of archival documentation for the property as well as for Westinghouse’s activities overall. George Westinghouse did not retain a personal archive of letters and papers and he rarely gave interviews to the press. Archives from Westinghouse Corporation disappeared after CBS dismantled the company in the late 1990s. Today, the Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania has only a few materials relating to Solitude. Much of what can be learned about the property, and Westinghouse’s life and research there, will be from archaeological investigation.
7.0 REFERENCES
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