HOME 52 WEEKS

 

What do I remember.?  Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I remember an apartment on the second floor on Electric Avenue in East Pittsburgh PA.   I have a vague memory of going up stairs and being in the apartment.   Is this where my parents lived with my grandmother?

I know when my father came home from the War my parents lived with my grandmother, or where we visiting someone else in this memory.

My parents bought a lot in Patton Township which is now MONROEVILLE PA   I know he researched this move for a long time, and he and my mother also designed the house.

My father had a cousin about his own age, Thomas O'Rourke, who was a contractor.   His cousin came and dug the foundation for the house.   If he did the concrete and foundation work for the house I do not know.   I do remember a pot bellied stove in the basement which served as the source of heat.   I can still picture my mother burning things in it, it was black and had a little door on the side.   I also remember there was a bathroom with a toilet and shower.  

After the foundation work was done we moved into the basement.  There was a shower and a toilet, which later were both moved to the back of the basement.  My parents had a laundry room and I think that this is where the kitchen was located.

My parents designed and built the house.   I think he was unsure if he could do it but his buddies at work said if others could do it so could he.     I remember the work that was done, the sawing, framing and I remember the smell of the plaster over a metal wire frame on the walls.   When he died I never found the drawings of the house plans, they would have been interesting.

I suppose I was a toddler because I have pictures of myself and they tethered me to the playpen.   The neighbor said she did not know what the new couple names were but she knew the child's name was Claudia. 

The house was a story and two-thirds.  On the first floor was a combination living room and dinning room.   Behind that large room was the kitchen and a bedroom.    There is a center staircase and two large bedrooms and one bath.    My father but in large closets, which are small by today's standards.   

The think that I remember was the outrageous color scheme of the front room.   They had painted the walls two different colors, a forest green and pink.    I thing think they should have researched color schemes a little more on that selection, or perhaps this was the time of aqua and pink refrigerators, in the early fifties I would guess.

I will look on the other computer and post the pictures to accompany this post.