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My Houzz: Reclaimed Style in an 1880s Loft

Budget-friendly finishes, books, vintage games and "big, cluttered art" warm up a 2-bedroom apartment in a historic Pittsburgh loft

Lauren Piasecki August 7, 2013

I'm a Pittsburgh-based Houzz home tour contributor and interior designer. Aside from interior design I also manage social media and help with creative direction for several Pittsburgh companies ranging from furniture stores to real estate development firms at Black Cherry Creative.

I'm a Pittsburgh-based Houzz home tour contributor and interior designer. Aside from... More

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Developer Brian Mendelssohn says his Pennsylvania loft looked like a "1980s office building with bad drop ceilings everywhere" when he first bought it. To cozy up the space, which is housed inside a 130-year-old building that was once home to Arsenal Bank, he spent a year renovating, adding thick wood trim, reproduction light fixtures, a 1920s-style bathroom with penny and subway tiles and more.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Brian Mendelssohn and his 2 cats, Oliver and Isabella
Location: Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh
Size: 900 square feet; 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Year built: 1883

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn and his team at Botero Development designed the kitchen using budget-friendly cabinets from Ikea and a white Corian countertop. He refinished the cabinets (originally brown) in a cheerful blue paint. Wade Caruso Woodworking installed built shelves out of reclaimed wood against classic white subway tiles. The large artwork is a mixed-media piece by Mendelssohn's former roommate, artist Peter Burr.

Wall paint: Morning Dew, Benjamin Moore; cabinet paint: Silver Sage, Restoration Hardware; double-hung windows: Architect Series, Pella; cabinets: Ädel, Ikea

Jason Snyder

Avid art and book collector Mendelssohn, shown here, likes "big, cluttered artwork," he says. His collection consists of vintage maps, photographs and art made by friends.

The loft's open layout came with its challenges. Mendelssohn had to work around a load-bearing wall (the brick wall seen here) and make a space with 15-foot ceilings feel cozy and inviting.

He coated the original pine floors with a water-based polyurethane from Bona to preserve their unique characteristics and imperfections.

Jason Snyder

Caruso used the same reclaimed wood and steel hardware as in the kitchen to make this bookshelf.

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn's cat Isabella stretches on a built-in window seat with a custom seat pad made locally at T's Upholstery Studio, which also made all of the drapery and hardware.

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn sits on his grandfather's old leather chair with his other cat, Oliver. He found the midcentury record cabinet on a jobsite in excellent working condition.

He installed giant double-hung windows and sheer period-looking drapery.

Jason Snyder

The main bedroom's highlights are a reclaimed wood wall and a built-in bed. Mendelssohn gathered the reclaimed planks from multiple projects and randomly assembled them together. Many of the planks are more than a hundred years old and boast a rich patina.

Wall paint: Scenic Drive, Benjamin Moore; bedding: Shangri La, Blissliving, AllModern

Jason Snyder

Original wainscoting and trim painted in slate gray wrap the bedroom. The same trim is featured throughout the loft.

All the doors were salvaged from other areas of the building and vary in width and height.

Bench: Tufted Bench, Restoration Hardware

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn's second bedroom is a sleeping space for guests, a workout room and a game room. To make the twin-size loft, he used 2-by-4 wood studs pulled from one of his development projects. "We save all old wood and reuse it somehow," he says. He pressure washed the wood, lightly sanded it with a palm sander, then sealed it with Bona Mega. The loft is bolted together 7 feet off the ground, leaving about 7 feet above the bed so guests can stand up in the space.

Wall paint: Scenic Drive, Benjamin Moore

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn restores and collects vintage pinball machines. "I'm a professional pinball player in the nights, and 1970s Gottlieb are my passion," he says. On the right is a June 1975 model of Quick Draw, a two-player game with original art. Mendelssohn says the back glass, cabinet and play field were all silk screened by the manufacturer. The game on the left, El Dorado, is a rare single-player wedgehead-style machine, on which the shape of the back cabinet is tapered.

Jason Snyder

Mendelssohn chose a cast iron tub, a pedestal sink and black and white penny tiles for his main bathroom. The subway tiles in the shower extend almost to the ceiling and are capped off with black-painted wood trim.

Jason Snyder

This 6-foot by 3-foot vintage panoramic photograph of Pittsburgh is Mendelssohn's favorite art piece and spans the entire entry wall; it's one of the many ways he tried to honor his building's history.

Wall paint: Scenic Drive, Benjamin Moore; photography: "Pittsburgh Panorama, Circa 1905," Shorpy Fine Art Prints

Jason Snyder

A graphic map of Pennsylvania hangs above a shelf (also made of reclaimed wood by Caruso) where Mendelssohn can drop his keys when he enters the loft.

Botero Development

Moss Architects designed the initial layouts for the building, and the renovated bank building is home to five loft apartments and the restaurant Tender, on its first floor.

Lauren Piasecki/Black Cherry Design

This is a historical photo of the Arsenal Bank building in its earlier days. It's is in the heart of the business district of Pittsburgh neighborhood Lawrenceville. According to Carol J. Peterson, a Lawrenceville resident and founder of Pittsburgh House Histories, the bank weathered the economic depressions of the 1870s and 1890s and the Great Depression, while providing a safe place for neighborhood residents to keep accounts. The Arsenal Bank ceased business in 1943, when it was bought by the People’s-Pittsburgh Trust Company, predecessor of PNC Bank and one of the first Pittsburgh banks to establish branches in city and suburban neighborhoods.

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