ALCOA/Wear-Ever Building
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Kensington Arms Apartments (ALCOA/Wear-Ever Building)
1914, J. H. Giesey. 400 11th St.
Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), once the largest employer in the area, commissioned several architecturally distinguished buildings in this industrial boomtown, founded in 1891 eighteen miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River. The Wear-Ever Division, ALCOA's cooking utensil company, expanded rapidly in the early 1900s, and commissioned Pittsburgh architect J. H. Giesey to design these distinctive and substantial offices. Giesey's inspiration was English Tudor, evidenced by the twin domed towers flanking the oriel window above the recessed entrance and the grouped windows with limestone window surrounds. The brick building was sold to the city of New Kensington in 1968 and transformed into apartments, retaining much of its original exterior appearance.
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Location: New Kensington, PennsylvaniaRegional Overviews:Architect:Styles:
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Citation
Lu Donnelly et al., "Kensington Arms Apartments (ALCOA/Wear-Ever Building)", [New Kensington, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-WE19.
Print Source
Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 221-221.
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