I recently stumbled across  Retrographer, a site being developed by students at CMU that provides  a mashup of images of historic Pittsburgh against locations on Google Maps along with the recent photos for the same location. The find was a launching point into an intriguing exploration of the history of  Summa’s downtown neighborhood and the Ewart Building, Summa’s home.

Here are a few of the interesting facts that I learned in my journey that  I thought worth sharing about our building’s history and our neighborhood:

• The Ewart Building was constructed in 1890/1891 and is an example of the Richardson Romanesque architecture. On the National Register of Historic Places, the building was one of the country’s first modern office buildings and was also one of the first American office buildings to use electricity.  (Ed. And seemingly one of the last to get proper broadband network access…)
• It was originally constructed to house the offices of a wholesale grocer  (Samuel Ewart & Company.)
• The first floor of the building was at one time in its earlier history a pawn/loan shop of sorts with the current day Gyro shop next door then also a restaurant but serving “Chop Suey” … (http://retrographer.org/photos/2676)



• … And later a jazz club named the Midway Lounge (Pittsburgh was once a jazz hotspot) where the likes of jazz legends Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Lee Konitz played in their early years according to an obituary for Jerry Betters in the Post Gazette. I also found that a  Lee Konitz Album was recorded at the lounge with the last track named after the Midway.
• The infamous 1936 flood waters reached the building and surrounding neighborhood. (http://retrographer.org/photos/1690)
• Our section of Liberty Avenue has been heavily renovated since its seedier red light district days of the 1970s and early 80′s including the recent construction and opening of the  August Wilson Center.

Be Sociable, Share!

•