Potato Head. Only the stone gateposts remain from the Mellon home, Quote: Mistake: Choose. And even fewer managed to hold onto their money and influence the way the Mellons have. The memorial stone indicates that the remains of some 50 other East End pioneer families are interred therebaouts, although I have not been able to find a comprehensive list. Now, striking pictures show the white-panel exterior of the large house, the ornate tiled pathway leading to the front door and the slightly overgrown garden that features palm trees. I vividly recall being 5 years old and placing my chin on a walnut handrail after clambering up a marble step to peer into display cases at the Carnegie Museum. came to visit, but it was not her home. Saddened, I pressed on in my research, discovering The Punk Priest's blog, where I learned that the house lives on in some small fashion today. Mellon's personal sense of style was exemplified by a hat-rack made of mirrors and buffalo horns and half a taxidermied buffalo head (yes, half), both of which he kept on display as After a heart attack in 1967, he became the "honorary" chairman of Mellon Bank until he died on June 3, 1970. Instead, take heed of this: a monument to one woman's love of family, and her desire to honor the past. Five years later, the Mellon brothers founded the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research as a memorial to their father, An abandoned bathroom at the sprawling property. On what was described as a stormy and "bleak" November evening in Pittsburgh, Sarah Cordelia Mellon, 24, married Alan Magee Scaife, 27, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. The gap between the rich and poor could not continue to exist to the extent that it had during industrialization. She had to, if this anecdote from William Larimer Mellon describing his involvement in ".a parasitical business based on selling the produce of my grandparents' country place" is any indication of what life was like in household filled with entrepreneurially enterprising men and boys: It's tempting to think that through all the bustle of testosterone-driven family life, Sarah Jane remained vastly competent, cool, and collected -- if also emotionally detached and The splendor of the Gilded Age couldnt last forever. William Larimer's parents were not believers, and he wrote sympathetically but scathingly in his memoirs about his grandfather's doty adventures with Spiritualism. I recently knocked one off my list of 2012 Pittsburgh Resolutions when I toured Clayton, the home of Henry Clay Frick. Congressman and president of the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Co., predecessor to Western Union Telegraph Co. Facing Shady Avenue is the Tudor revival house once home to the Scaife family and donated in 1943. Oblong folio. Her legacy remains forever entwined and eclipsed by that of the men in her life, just as Judge Mellon's actions and desires shaped the core of her adult experiences. Perhaps her detachment only went so far. The church is located along the Allegheny River and is approximately 25 mi (40 km) north-east of the city of Pittsburgh within the Diocese of Greensburg. You can find all of of our more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments in our archives. A fountain stands between the garden and the rest of the park. Howard Heinz chaired it until his death in 1941 1960s The name seeped into my consciousness at an astonishingly early age. Several other architects added their own touch to the landscape, including the Olmsted Brothers and some seventeen years after the garden began, Vitale and Geiffert. ', During their years in Florida the Mellons were very involved in the community and supported the education system. Sacred to the memory of those noble Christian pioneers who moulded It was erected to house the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. Perhaps it did a bit of both. Richard Mellon Scaife is the best-known living member of Pittsburgh's storied Mellon clan, whose eponymous bank made the family a 19th-century fortune, which grew steadily with diversified . Andrew also built, designed, gifted and endowed the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC to which he donated much of his personal art collection (as would his two children). Indeed, there was much here that had ecclesiastical potentialities. _____________________________________________________________. The rail ties and lumber used to build the railroad were furnished by the lumber company the Mellon brothers owned. In 1929, Mellon hired landscape architects Vitale and Geiffert to develop the Walled Garden of his estate grounds. Mellon has been recognized as one of the most important private benefactors of environmental causes, achieving his significant stature quietly and humbly. Did Sarah Jane feel "fairly settled"? Built in 1910, it included a bowling alley and carriage house. Mellon estate was located on Pittsburghs Fifth Avenue. 'In 1899, the Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh was organized by the Mellon family, to be followed by the Union Savings Bank. One NorthShore Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S.A. (412) 323-4600. Richard B. Mellon, vice president of that institution, and James R. Mellon, president of the City Deposit bank. of astounding history she orchestrated by providing a serene life This game of Tag lasted for nearly seven decades. The panel's design makes brilliant use of the reforms brought to glassmaking by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Take the wealthiest Mellon, Andrew, a Gilded Age venture capitalist who became the longest-serving Secretary of the Treasury and eventually President Hoover's economic scapegoat in the lead-up to the Great Depression (rightly or wrongly depending upon your read of history). This monument marks the center of a burial ground located on the former The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. He believed the old man's sentimentality had been taken advantage of. The wedding, which received national news coverage for its ostentatious display of wealth, took place at the estate of Sarah's father, Richard B. Mellon, brother of . tree" is no more. Wonderfull fotos parks, interesting article. That's a shame considering the century's worth The case is often cited in discussions of custody conflicts that result in parental child-napping, and eclipses his many good works, including the, Matthew T. Mellon, Sr., grandson of the eldest of the Mellon sons, obtained a PhD in history and was an American Studies professor at University of Freiburg from 1928-1939. Thomas devoted an entire memoir chapter to their trip. In his memoir, Judge Mellon's Sons, he described how ".every kind of activity associated with a farm, including the slaughtering and dressing of hogs, was regularly carried on there. Even Sarah Jane's small talk seemed to get on Thomas' nerves, for he notes in his memoirs: Apparently the Negleys didn't pay extra for those music lessons at the Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School. Privately produced photograph album to mark the occasion of the marriage of Sarah Mellon (1903-1965) and Alan Scaife (1900-1958). The chandeliers once graced a 1930s-era Los Angeles theater. In 1957 . On July 4, 1944, the church was dedicated. the character of this community in its struggling and formative period. Richard K. Mellon remained an outdoorsman and grew the family retreat in Ligonier into a grand estate. [volume] (Nome, Alaska) 1938-??? Stop in to reconnect with the history. later write a dry, clinical appraisal of Sarah Jane's charms and their Peggy Hitchcock participated in Leary's early psychedelic experiments. This is not surprising for such a self-contained woman, and is to be respected, despite the regrets it engenders for the curious historian! As a lifelong Pittsburgher there are many elements of the Mellon saga that I never knew, including Sara Jane's story. If you're from Pittsburgh, you know the name Mellon. I have to suspect that the Mellons' history is not well known because they like it that way. The Mellon Institute building was dedicated in May 1937 by brothers Andrew W. and Richard B. Mellon. 29 vintage silver prints (9 x 13 inches) mounted to album leaves, printed title-page. After her death, James continued to spend each winter in Palatka. (I certainly remember the unfortunate eviction of Graffiti and the obsessive muckraking and embarrassing divorces of Dickie Scaife). Only a few other families could influence urban or national destinies to such an extent in the modern era. Yet it was not really a farm but a country home." The park is on the list of landmarks recognized by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Macdonald, assumed control of Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Planning for the MI building began in 1927. Biography [ edit] He and his brother Andrew Mellon, sons of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. A grand jury found that the forcible removal of the girls to Pennsylvania was not subject to prosecution given the previous conflicting custody rulings involving competing jurisdictions of New York and Pennsylvania. The house was razed in 1940 after the City of Pittsburgh refused to forgive the taxes owed on the structure. for women throughout history, of course. I think its important for us to stress what the buildings truly stand for and that theyre more than just material, so we can save more buildings from being destroyed. Did Sarah? A number of . The controversial then-Lieutenant General Grant had been newly appointed as commander of the Union Army and the Battle of the Wilderness had just concluded, resulting in more than 25,000 casualties. 'The various railroad lines poured crowds of tourists into the cities along the St. Johns River, filling hotels to capacity for months. [1], R.B. And, really, did she miss the Judge while he was gone those five years? If not, would she have dared to tell him, to scoff at him? [3] LaQuatra Bonci Associates was responsible for the planning and supervising of the garden's redemption. Clayton curator Emilia Boehm told me that much of the furnishings and items in the museum were once at the summer estate. On July 1, 2007, as a result of the merger of Mellon Financial Corporation and the Bank of New York, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, doing business as BNY Mellon, was formed. Mrs. Negley would in fact live out her final days with Thomas and Sarah Jane, bequeathing the bulk of her considerable real estate holdings to Sarah Jane and other descendants (thereby providing the foundation for lucrative Mellon real estate development in the East End). From Troy Hill, a subsequent closing in 1888 meant the poor souls were re-interred one more time, to the Smithfield East End Cemetery in Squirrel Hill, now maintained by Homewood Cemetery. James Mellon often told his friends that his wife hated the cold weather. This isn't an unusual circumstance Somewhere in Highland Park lie the Negleys with their many friends and neighbors. The homes owner made his money through investment in such prosperous industries as oil, coal, and steel. I was afraid to even gaze at a gaudy Tiffany mantle clock for too long for fear my stare alone would cause it to fall to the floor and shatter. From an early age, Thomas Mellon entrusted his sons with business ventures. He and his brother, Andrew W. Mellon, another son of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. Whenever I encountered something fancy in my hometown, be it a staggeringly grand bank, college, building, or parks, it more often than not bore the Mellon name. Thomas finally reached his limit. Julia Rocchi explains that old buildings help communities retain a sense of permanancy and heritage. Buildings help us remember the human side of the past. The 64-room mansion, built from 1899 to 1902, is an impressive testament to the desire of Carnegie and his wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, to build a spacious, comfortable, and light-filled home in which to raise their daughter, Margaret. Forget the dollhouses of that other Sarah Mellon, or the myriad Mellon parks, businesses, and mansions built by the Mellon men. By the end of the century, the Mellon Bank was the largest banking institution in the country outside of New York. Over the course of his life, James Mellon became a successful businessman, banker, and philanthropist, The ceiling of the house is in a poor state, along with a dated interior. Famously private, for the most part Mellons and their kin have kept mostly to themselves in a removed, rarified social sphere. As to the rest, we must imagine and wonder, for we have no miniature dollhouses to prompt imagination. If you're on the look-out, you might spy his name on this bench that surrounds a fountain on a traffic island at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, between the west wing of the National Gallery and the former Newseum. The four who survived became famous men, two of whom - Andrew W. Mellon - and Richard B. Mellon - attained worldwide fame in banking, business, government, philanthropy and the arts. Even the venerable institutions associated with the family make news when scandal hits. In addition to diaries and valuable historical documents, the collection includes two hand-written letters from Sarah Jane, plus the title pages from school books that once belonged to each of his parents (see above for Sarah's). Built in 1910, it included a bowling alley and carriage house. But because Andrew Mellon deliberately disassociated his name from that institution he created (unlike Frick and Carnegie, who kept their names connected to their philanthropic cultural efforts), the nation's wonderful museum is not commonly associated with the Mellon legacy. He had a personal fortune of $1.4billion in his lifetime, mostly through inherited wealth. Sarah Jane didn't make a marriage of passion. After Mellon's sixty-room home was brought down during World War II, most of the garden still remained and was transformed into a city park known now as Mellon Park. We then hold some of these same things to be important. These are priceless artifacts we will never get back, and now we must rely on people like you to educate us on what used to be. It became the target of steelworker ire culminating in disruptive demonstrations, boycotts and mass withdrawals of funds. "They wanted almost the entire mansion. She didn't design or fund the building of mansions or imposing buildings. 2 DISTINGUISHED DAUGHTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA AWARDS; 3 9 - 4 THE PENNSYLVANIA MANUAL; 4 Harriet Duff Phillips' daughter was similarly honored in 1976: My family visited Mellon Square, situated mid-way between Kaufmann's and Gimbel's department stores on Smithfield Street, whenever we shopped downtown in the 1970s. He has served as a Trustee of both Foundations since 2005. The Nome nugget. Adherence to Law. His farm, Fertile Bottom, extended along the Allegheny River up over most of what is now Highland Park and the city reservoirs. behind-the-scenes for the Mellon men. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elms, was built for the Whitneys in 1710. . Richard A. Mellon, 56, was unanimously selected by the Boards of both Foundations. Presidential Administrations Arthur A. Hamerschlag, 1903-1922 Richard M. Cyert, 1972-1990 Thomas S. Baker, 1922-1935 Robert Mehrabian, 1990-1997 Robert E. Doherty, 1936-1950 Jared L. Cohon, 1997-2013 5 Copy quote. All this, while my mother smoked and rested for what seemed like an eternity. Address review: Street Light Condition Street Light Out Associated persons: Khalid O Abbasi, Mushtak U Ahmed, Happy Aktar, Kimberly T Alexander, Debbie Ali, Mir L Ali. He died in 2014 aged 82. It's all about ME. emotionally. We find Sarah Jane under the Mellon listing in a chapter entitled "Women of Wealth": There you have it. You become very aware of how gangly and awkward the human body is when you're surrounded by priceless artifacts. Poor Andrew remained "It" for four years until he died. Hitchcock himself kept his distance from Leary and his trippy team, and eventually evicted them from the "Big House" with things got out of control. For $200 a year (paid three months in advance) Sarah Jane would have studied reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, composition, geography, astronomy with the use of globes, natural philosophy, chemistry, history, and plain and ornamental needle work. name, as Mrs. So-and-so, it's hard not to make too much of the fact that Sarah used Thomas had his acknowledged favorites, but we don't know if Sarah had a favorite among her surviving sons. She sounds like any other mother lighting into her son for what she thinks is a bad idea. That "immense copper beech I'd pretend that each carefully landscaped section was a room in my make-believe mansion, then I'd hop-scotch around on the groovy terrazzo paving (reportedly those designs came from a suggestion by Sarah Mellon Scaife) and fantasize about climbing the magical cascading fountain. The way Thomas describes their courtship is intriguing for the boorish but earnest picture it paints of him, and the enigmatic portrait presented of Sarah Jane. It would be lovely to curl up with those books to see what she collected, to learn what held her interest and curiosity. I'd walked past this grove many times in the six years I lived in Highland Park. The 65-room mansion of Richard B. Mellon, brother of Andrew Mellon, built at 6500 Fifth Avenue in 1910: The Richard B. Mellons raised two children in that "house," which included a bowling alley in the basement and a carriage house. The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA, under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. A bare mattress on the floor also suggests that someone may be squatting in the building. They are not instantly recognizable the way other local tycoons like Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie are. You couldn't live in Pittsburgh without knowing that. You can also learn about the Gilded Age and its extreme wealth gap. Eventually even Judge Mellon himself concluded "There's nothing to it" and returned home. Sarah Jane Negley According to contemporary accounts, proud papa Richard B. spent $100,000 to build and decorate a pavilion at his East End mansion for the wedding feast and ball. Eagel Rock is one of my favorite Gilded Age mansions, and I hate having to write that it no longer exists. If we know our history, we know who we came from and what was important to them. According to contemporary accounts, proud papa Richard B. spent $100,000 to build and decorate a pavilion at his East End mansion for the wedding feast and ball. Thomas Mellon pursued his intended via weekly chaperoned visits at the Negley Mansion over six long months. His father, Judge Thomas Mellon, was the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch to the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is sort of a bittersweet ending to this blog to hear about all the beautiful mansions we will never be able to see again. It was a stones throw from the current Pittsburgh Center for the Arts on Fifth Ave. Here's a link to a pic. [4], Any form of an event can potentially take place in Mellon Park with permission from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works. James and his eldest brother Thomas agreed to pool their business interests together, becoming dealers in coal, lumber, and other building materials which were in high demand at the time in Pittsburgh. The couple moved back in with the widowed Mrs. Negley when Sarah was pregnant with their first child in 1844. The girls are probably grateful to be inside and removed from the elements, because Pittsburgh's industrial climate clearly did their complexions no favors! Nor do we know what she thought of their then-novel honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls, returning by way of Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. Architecture of the MI Building. I nevertheless felt a vague sense of loss when the races were shut down in 1982. She introduced Leary to her brother William "Billy" Mellon Hitchcock, and he in turn became the Daddy Warbucks of the Counterculture. Quiet, pleasant and self-possessed: Sarah Jane Neg What ho, blog writer? I had no idea that Judge Mellon had prudently created the park in 1878 for the sole purpose of providing a destination to increase profits for his already-existing narrow-gauge railroad. Even as I half-remembered old jokes about the haunted grove in the park, I was haunted by other musings. But the chapter is all about their itinerary, not their intimacy. During World War II, the current Catholic Church building was built by hand by parish members using materials from the dismantled Richard B. Mellon mansion in Pittsburgh. On January 2, 1870, he opened the T. Mellon & Sons' Bank with his sons Andrew W. and Richard B.Mellon, William Larimer and Sparkes, Boyden, , 1948. He also served as a trustee for the Athalia Daly Home for Working Girls, James died on October 20, 1934. Three of our most recent grants are highlighted below. James Ross Mellon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 14, 1846, son of Judge Thomas Mellon who is better known for being the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of the wealthy and influential Mellon family. He died on December 1, 1933, before the new building was completed. And there was all that fuss about her then-boyfriend former Allegheny County District Attorney Robert W. Duggan: his political scandals, their hasty marriage likely orchestrated to legally avoid being compelled to testify against him during a federal corruption investigation, and questions surrounding his sudden death (accident? And then there are drugs. 'The Mellon family ranked among the wealthiest and most prominent industrialists in the United States by the time of Judge Mellon's death in 1908. Heinz History Center, Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs. So while I'm sad the house is gone, because I could picture it being a breathtaking museum and tourist attraction, there's solace in knowing the land became a park for Pittsburgh, and the stones and wood became a church that to this day gives us a tiny glimpse of what once stood majestically at 6500 Fifth Avenue. However, he himself bankrolled an extensive black-market LSD manufacturing and distribution operation from the West Coast. He was founder and President of RAM Transit, Inc.,. After nearly a decade of marriage, Thomas and Sarah Jane built a new home for their growing family on Negley land adjacent to their existing cottage, with an eventual address of 401 Negley Avenue. Drs. Anna Maria Negley following her husband Alexander's death still exists We are very proud to have integrated various historical pieces within the store that really resonate with the city of Pittsburgh. Let's assume that these items were rendered less conspicuous by decorators who Mrs. Mellon was born in the old Negley mansion at Stanton and Negley avenues on February 3, 1817, the homestead being torn down only a few years ago. A direct line of correlation can be drawn from kid-me peering through windows into a miniature Mellon world in 1969, to adult-me reading articles and biographies about the family. His grandfather Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937) was worth around $350 million at the time of his death. This was a woman who had the means to do anything she wanted, and then some. The home's owner made his money through investment in such prosperous industries as oil, coal, and steel. MELLON, Richard B. Music, drawing and painting, and French cost extra. Yes, THAT Timothy Leary. Mellon organized the Citizens' Committee on City Plan, which sought to improve Pittsburgh through better urban planning and zoning. The Mellons built a 6,000-square-foot house on a corner lot in 1883, Old records and a record player left behind at the house.