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National Negro Opera Company

African-American history in PittsburghCity of Pittsburgh historic designationsHouses completed in 1894Musical groups disestablished in 1962Musical groups established in 1941
Pennsylvania state historical marker significationsPerforming arts in PittsburghPittsburgh stubsQueen Anne architecture in Pennsylvania
NationalNegroOperaCompanyHouse
NationalNegroOperaCompanyHouse

The National Negro Opera Company (1941–1962) was the first African-American opera company in the United States. Organized in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the direction of Mary Cardwell Dawson, the company was launched with a performance at the local Syria Mosque. The star was La Julia Rhea, and other members included Minto Cato, Carol Brice, Robert McFerrin, and Lillian Evanti. During its 21-year run, NNOC also mounted productions in Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago. The company disbanded in 1962 upon Dawson's death.Although the company toured nationally, its offices and studios were housed in a three-story Queen Anne-style house at 7101 Apple Street in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood. Constructed as a private residence, it was purchased by William A. "Woogie" Harris (brother of the photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris) in the 1930s. The NNOC moved to Washington, D.C. in 1942, but the company continued to use the third floor as a local guild office and studios until the company disbanded.After the Opera departed, the building transitioned into a social hub and boarding house known as Mystery Manor, often hosting visiting celebrities and athletes who were excluded from the local segregated hotels.In 1994 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission designated the NNOC's house on Apple Street a historic structure; it became a Pittsburgh City Historic Landmark in 2008. In 2003 and again in 2013, the Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh included the building on their "Top 10" preservation opportunities. Purchased in 2000 by Pittsburgh residents Jonnet Solomon and Miriam White, after years of plans to transform the historic building into a museum and arts center, it remains dilapidated.In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the building to its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Restoration work on the structure began in 2022, with a targeted completion date of 2024.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article National Negro Opera Company (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

National Negro Opera Company
Apple Avenue, Pittsburgh

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N 40.4642 ° E -79.89571 °
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Na­tional Ne­gro Opera Com­pany House

Apple Avenue
15206 Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, United States
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Westinghouse Park
Westinghouse Park

Westinghouse Park is a city-block sized municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The park land is the former estate of George Westinghouse, an American entrepreneur and engineer, and his wife Marguerite. With an area of about 10 acres, it was the site of his mansion known as Solitude. At this house, Westinghouse worked with his engineers, including Nikola Tesla, and entertained notable people of the day, including scientist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), and congressman and later president William McKinley. Close by was another building, a carriage house, that housed his private laboratory in the basement. There, he developed some of his residential electric lighting technology, installing a generator and running cables to the main house, with wires that were left exposed on the interior walls, so as not to cut into the woodwork. Also there, Westinghouse invented methods to control and transmit natural gas for both industrial and residential consumers. In the winter of 1883/1884, seeking a source of natural gas in his own "back yard," Westinghouse ordered drilling on his estate. When gas was struck on May 22, 1884, a blowout resulted in the uncontrolled release of gas for about a week. Westinghouse devised a way to cap the well. An illumination test was conducted by igniting the gas jet at the top of a tall pipe. It initially produced a 100-foot flame that illuminated a mile-wide area to a brightness sufficient to read a newspaper. This well was designated as "Westinghouse Well No. 1" or "Old No. 1" to distinguish it from several other wells that were drilled in the area. Eventually, several natural gas derricks towered above the estate's Victorian gardens. In modern times there is no above-ground trace left of these derricks.