Turney House


The Turney House is a historic house in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a designated Pittsburgh historic landmark. It was built around 1851 by Lucian B. Turney, a carpenter who also served on the Lawrenceville Borough Council during the 1850s. It was also the residence of Turney's daughter Margaret, who at age 17 was one of 78 workers killed in the 1862 Allegheny Arsenal Explosion, the deadliest civilian disaster during the U.S. Civil War. After the demolition of 184 38th Street in 2011, the Turney House is the only surviving house known to be associated with a victim of the explosion. Another one of Turney's children, Olive, became a successful artist. In 1996, the house was purchased by architectural historian Carol Peterson, who restored it to a period-appropriate appearance.
The house is a small, two-story frame building with a front-gabled slate roof, clapboard siding, and modest Greek Revival style wooden trim. It stands on a corner lot at the relatively busy intersection of 43rd Street and Foster Street. The front elevation has a single bay with a centered door and window, while the rear elevation has three bays with one large window on the second floor and one large window, one small window, and a door on the first floor. The Foster Street elevation has one window on each floor near the front, and the opposite elevation has two large windows on each floor as well as one small window on the second floor and a side door on the first floor. Most of the window openings are fitted with 6-over-6 sash windows. The property also contains the only known outhouse remaining in Lawrenceville.