Built 1886 Opened 1886 | NRHP Reference # 12001093 Added to NRHP 26 December 2012 | |
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Location 1954 Perrysville Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | ||
The John A. Brashear House and Factory in the Perry South neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was built in 1886. Former home of astronomer John Brashear (1840–1920), the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 2012.
The site consists of a Second Empire style house (1886) and a two story 105’ x 38’ brick factory building (1886). A small brick wash house was added around 1900. The site was Brashear’s primary residence in the latter part of this life. His Brashear Company factory manufactured optical instruments for science and industry. The company continued to operate from the factory after his death in 1920, at one point making components for the World War II era Norden bombsight. The company moved out of the factory around 1954.
The factory was demolished by Pittsburgh on March 17, 2015, after one of the factory's walls had partially collapsed onto an adjacent apartment building the night before. The factory had been owned by the city since 2012, but it was unable to allocate funds to correct structural and roof deficiencies. The demolition contract was valued at $235,000.