Frederick John Osterling (1865 in Duquesne, Pennsylvania – 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an accomplished architect, particularly in the Pittsburgh region of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Osterling received his architectural training from Joseph Stillburg. Following a period of European travel, he launched his own office in 1888. He went on to design many great buildings, such as the Union Trust Building in 1915-17. According to Martin Aurand, Osterling's practice faltered after controversy relating to his anticipated alteration to the landmark Richardson Allegheny County Courthouse and a public lawsuit filed by Henry Clay Frick.
Osterling's studio was in a self-designed building (1917) at 228 Isabella Street on the North Side.
Significant buildings designed by Osterling in chronological order:
All buildings are in Pittsburgh unless otherwise stated:
- Holland house, now the Music Building at the University of Pittsburgh and formerly the original production site of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, (Bellefield and Fifth Avenues), 1884
- Westinghouse Air-Brake Company (Wilmerding, Pennsylvania), 1889
- Charles Schwab House (541 Jones Avenue), 1889
- Allegheny High School, now Allegheny Middle School (810 Arch Street), 1889
- Heinz Company Factories, now Heinz Lofts (300 Heinz Street), 1889
- Bellefield Presbyterian Church (Bellefield and 5th Ave, only the bell tower remains), 1889[1]
- Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania Building, now Verizon Building (416-420 Seventh Avenue), 1890
- Marine Bank Building, later known as Fort Pitt Federal Building (301 Smithfield Street), 1890
- Times Building, now Magee Building (334-336 Fourth Avenue), 1892
- Byrnes & Kiefer Building (1133 Penn Avenue),1892
- Clayton, now the Frick Art & Historical Center, 1892 remodeling by Osterling of an 1860s house at 7200 Penn Avenue. This was the home of Henry Clay Frick, the industrialist.
- First Methodist Church, now Shadyside Seventh Day Adventist Church (821 South Aiken Avenue), 1893
- Chautauqua Lake Ice Company Warehouse, now the Heinz History Center (1212 Smallman Street), 1898
- Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania), 1899
- Washington County Courthouse & Jail (Washington, Pennsylvania), 1900
- Allegheny County Morgue (Originally on Forbes Avenue; the building was physically moved to 542 Fourth Avenue in 1929), built 1901
- Armstrong Cork Company Building, now The Cork Factory Lofts (2349 Railroad Street at 23rd Street), 1901
- Arrott Building (401 Wood Street), 1902
- Colonial Trust Company Building, now part of the Bank Center of Point Park University (Wood Street, between Forbes and Fourth Avenues), 1902. Also, Osterling designed a T-shaped lobby that was added to his original building in 1926.
- Iroquois Apartments, now offices (3600 Forbes Avenue), 1903
- Allegheny County Jail (Ross Street), 1903-1905 additions by Osterling to the 1886 building by Henry Hobson Richardson
- Commonwealth Trust Building (312 Fourth Avenue), 1907
- Luzerne County Courthouse (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), 1909
- Union Trust Building (501 Grant Street), 1917
- Gwinner-Hartner House, also known as the William B. Negley House (5061 Fifth Avenue) was designed by an unknown architect and built 1871-1872. However, Osterling was responsible for additions between 1912 and 1923.
- Osterling Flats, date unavailable. These are three houses at 3603-3607 California Avenue with Dutch design elements, which were converted into condos by the Brighton Heights Citizens' Federation in 2003.[2]
(Italics denote a registered Historic Landmark)
Notes
- ^ Kidney, Walter C. (2005). Oakland. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 24. ISBN 0-7385-3867-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=IggMl-86oK0C&lpg=PP1&dq=oakland&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q=osterling&f=false. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
- ^ Post-Gazette, May 3, 2003 [1]
External links
References
- Nelson, J. Franklin, comp. Works of F. J. Osterling, Architect, Pittsburg. Pittsburgh: Murdoch-Kerr Press, 1904.
- Toker, Franklin, Buildings of Pittsburgh, Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0813926506.
- Toker, Franklin, Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0822954347..
- Van Trump, James D., & Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1967, No ISBN.
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