Marylynn Uricchio is the former film critic and SEEN/society editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She now writes fiction in addition to articles about architecture and design.
Starting Fresh
Most young couples embarking on a life together might buy a starter home, combine the furniture that survived their single days, and dream about a dream house. But not Alison and Matthew Weiss. They became engaged, bought a plot of land in Upper St. Clair, got married, built a house, and had a baby almost …
Fun in the Sun
Though they had lived in Manhattan for 20 years, being stuck in an apartment with two children during COVID caused a young couple to consider a change. They had often visited his parents in Naples, Florida, and enjoyed it even more during the pandemic when the husband worked remotely. “We realized this could be our real …
The Wonders of Iceland
When you check into the luxurious Silica Hotel at Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon, the receptionist mentions the possibility that the nearby volcano might erupt. The resort is built on lava fields that date back to the 1200s, but there are miles of fresh lava that stretch endlessly on either side of the highway in this …
Livable Luxury
Interior designers Lindsey Longacre and Kate Tomalis became close friends while working at Restoration Hardware. They discovered they shared a similar aesthetic, and as their friendship grew, so did the requests for help from customers that went beyond the scope of the store. “Clients continued to ask us to work on projects beyond picking furniture,” …
Mid-Century Modernized
The house was unremarkable, a single-story, three-bedroom structure built in 1952 and designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, though who and exactly where the architect studied is unknown. What was remarkable, even extraordinary, was the setting. It abuts the Schenley Golf Course, with a sweeping view of the greens and beyond, to the …
A Second Chapter
When most people become empty-nesters, they think about downsizing, buying a vacation home, perhaps, or seeing the world with their newfound freedom. But one Fox Chapel couple decided to pursue a different dream — staying home and making the renovations to their 1965 Colonial that years spent traveling with two children active in sports had …
Design Happy
As a child, Betsy Wentz had the best playroom — the carriage house her mother Kay Wiegand used as the office for her interior design firm. It was packed with color, wallpaper, fabrics and furniture, instilling in Wentz a passion that guided her years later when she decided to switch careers. She had been a …
Putting on the Glitz
It takes restraint and an appreciation for the sculptural lines of modern architecture to let a house speak for itself. Jeff and Erica McIlroy have done just that in their hillside home overlooking a scenic valley in Fox Chapel. There is no clutter, no adornment, no need to gussy up the space with the accoutrements of …
Passion and Purpose
Those who know Anne Dickson are at once astonished and not the least bit surprised by all she has accomplished in such a short time. With her husband, Andrew, she is raising three young boys and the evidence is everywhere in the Fox Chapel home the couple purchased seven years ago. They bought the house …
Full of Flavor
Wanderlust quite literally means a lust for wandering, and Richard DeShantz has it big time. One moment he’s skiing out West, the next he’s exploring the food and culture in Turkey. Trying to catch up with the chef and owner of nine successful Pittsburgh restaurants can be a challenge, but it also explains the myriad …
A Touch of Whimsy
Walk into the living room of Suzanne and Peter Friday’s historic home and the first thing you notice are the crows. Big black crows, perched on branches nestled into wall panels placed between the large windows. They inject a note of whimsy into the stately room, which is anchored by a large, cabbage rose-patterned Wilton …
A Classic Colonial
Houses are like people in many ways. They tend to get better with age as they develop character and the rich patina that comes from living, and being lived in. Up to a point, that is. And then they start to require maintenance, and eventually, if they last long enough, more serious renovation. Such was …
An Urban Farmhouse
Like many couples, the owners of this Shadyside residence decided to sell the sprawling home they had lived in since 1972 when their children were grown and gone. That was 20 years ago. “We were early with the downsizing,” the wife says with a laugh. But they retained an acre of prime property next to …
Little Flower Blossoms
Little Flower stands with stately elegance where it has always stood, on a small bluff overlooking Woodland Road in Shadyside. Built in 1910 by Daniel Clemson, a steel executive who lived at Highmont on the corner of Fifth and Shady, it was a gift for his son, Ralph. With nine bedrooms and a large carriage …
Big Time
If you are not yet awoke, Pittsburgh native Jen Spyra is on your side. Her jaw-dropping debut of 14 short stories runs the gamut from totally un-PC to downright offensive, but with such imagination and dark, disturbing humor that it’s kind of refreshing. Remember when it was okay to laugh at ourselves, to acknowledge that …
Pusadee’s Garden of Delights
Pusadee’s Garden closed even before the virus shuttered restaurants across the globe, and like a butterfly leaving its cocoon, it has emerged from hibernation with a resplendent new look. It took close to four years for the transformation, but the popular Lawrenceville Thai restaurant that once boasted a pretty garden and a small indoor space …
Light as Air
Leanne Ford is working from home these days, just like everyone else. But home for Ford means Pittsburgh, as in the entire city and its environs. The interior designer and star of HGTV’s “Restored by the Fords” is positioning her new season, “Home Again with the Fords,” as part of a national trend. People across …
Eleven Mile Farm
“To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose, under heaven.” So says the book of Ecclesiastes, pirated by Pete Seeger for a song recorded by the Byrds. Those words come to mind when visiting Eleven Mile Farm, an old sheep farm in Indiana Township that has found new life with new …
A Colorful Life
The Shadyside home interior designer Colleen Simonds created for her family seems to radiate with vibrancy and joy. A riot of color, light, pattern and design envelops the residence, which was formerly a traditional, 1911 Colonial. At once youthful and sophisticated, the home is unabashedly personal. “It’s kind of a family joke. When we bought …
Welcome to Cherry Hill
In 1935, financier Jerome Hill and his second wife, Adelaide, commissioned famed architect Benno Janssen to design a home for them in Sewickley Heights. They named it Cherry Hill, perhaps a play on their name, and probably built it as a second home to escape from the smoky city. Sewickley historians classify the house as …
Family First
Drive up into the heights above Edgeworth and the topography creates all sorts of geographic nooks and crannies. This house sits on the crest of a hill, with sweeping views both directly below and far into the distance. A vintage 1950s mansion, as they were called back then and meant to be, it boasts classic …
California Dreaming
Back when his parents built the Fox Chapel home he now owns, it was called modern. And modern it was in 1955, when architects Derek Martin and Grant Curry designed the sprawling, boxy residence. “My parents were devotees of Frank Lloyd Wright. They loved his style and wanted to do something different. At the time …