Highland Park The Highland Park Neighborhood of Pittsburgh

On Saturday, October 1, 2005 those attending the House Tour sponsored by the Highland Park Community Club will get a peek at the interior of the "King Estate" which the current owners have been restoring since they purchased it from the City of Pittsburgh in 1994.

The large Second-Empire home at 5501 Elgin Street was called "Baywood" by its original owner, Alexander King, when it was built in 1880 to replace the former home of General James S. Negley which was lost to fire in 1879.

After Alexander King died in 1890 his widow Cordelia added the greenhouse veranda across the front to raise exotic plants and butterflies. In 1898 his son Robert Burns King added the stone wall and parapets that look like a little castle and which was known as "King's Folly".

Robert inherited the house when Cordelia died in 1911. He fought a plan to construct a new auditorium for the Civic Light Opera on the land of the estate in 1949. The CLO plan was very unpopular with members of the Highland Park community as well. When Robert died in 1954 he bequeathed the house and estate to the City of Pittsburgh to be used for cultural and conservation purposes.

The City opened the new civic, cultural, and conservation center at the King Estate in 1956. Groups included were the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society, Isaac Walton League of America, the Speleological Society, the Photographic section of the Academy of Science and Art, and the Pittsburgh Plan for Art.

In 1982 Dr. Frank Brown first became interested in purchasing the King Estate. In April 1990 the exterior of the building only was featured on the second Highland Park House tour. Then in 1993 the city cleared the way for the private purchase of the property; the sale occurred in 1994.

Since then the Browns have been meticulously restoring the home and have won several awards for their efforts. The King Estate was designated as a historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 2000. And just this year it won a Preservation Award from the City's Historic Review Commission and won a second-place award for exterior rehabilitation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The King Estate and the restoration work done by the Browns has been featured in two recent articles in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Highland Park mansion rich with Pittsburgh history and Highland Park couple rescues 125-year-old Victorian mansion. Both articles were written by Bob Karlovits.

The restoration work of the exterior and the first floor will be available for viewing by those attending the House Tour on Saturday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Neighborhood volunteers will share the history of each of the rooms on the first floor. The Browns will be available to answer more specific questions.

Tickets will be available on Saturday for $20 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church at 5701 Hampton Street. Direct any questions about the tour to the House Tour committee at housetour@highlandparkpa.com.