Frederick C. Sauer (1860,''Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County'' by James D. Van Trump and Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., page 161 (1967,

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolvi ...

, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, )

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

– 1942

Aspinwall, Pennsylvania Aspinwall is a borough on the Allegheny River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 2,916 at the 2020 census. History In the mid-1880s, the area which is now Aspinw ...

, United States) was a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, particularly in the

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, region of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sauer, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

-born

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to the

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, was a

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

and

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

while studying at

Technical school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocationa ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

, before studying at

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. He moved to Pittsburgh from Germany in 1880, established a Pittsburgh office in 1884, established the Aspinwall-Delafield Land Company in 1904, and built about a dozen

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

churches in the area. Perhaps his most notable works are St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (1891) in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, St. Mary of the Mount Church (1896) on

Mount Washington Mount Washington is an ultra-prominent mountain in the state of New Hampshire. It is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorio ...

in Pittsburgh, Saint Mary Magdalene Church in

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

(1895),

Latimer School The Latimer School (also known as "The School House Apartments") is located in the East Allegheny neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. History and archit ...

(1898) in East Allegheny on the North Side of Pittsburgh, the old St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church (1900) in Troy Hill, and the St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale (1922). In 1898, Sauer built a home for himself in

. After remodeling his

chicken coop Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises poultry, domesticated birds such as chickens, Domestic duck, ducks, turkey (domesticated), turkeys and domesticated goose, geese to produce chicken meat, meat or Egg as food, eggs for ...

in an eccentric mode in 1928 and 1930, he gradually transformed a wooded hillside into an architectural fantasy, and a complex of castlesque buildings and landscape features in Fantastic architectural style gradually took shape and was progressively added to by Sauer until his death in 1942. The site is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as an

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

entitled the Sauer Buildings Historic District. "It is the most bizarre collection of buildings in

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

," says

Franklin Toker Franklin K. Toker (29 April 1944 – 19 April 2021) was a Canadian-American professor of the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of nine books on the history of art and architecture, ranging from the exc ...

, professor of

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

List of known buildings designed by Sauer in chronological order

''Italics denote a building listed on the

:'' * The '' Rectory of St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church'' (1890) at 21 Pius Street in the

South Side Slopes South Side Slopes is a neighborhood in the South Side area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The neighborhood comprises the hills from the South Side Flats neighborhood along the Monongahela River from the Liberty Bridge (west) to beyo ...

neighborhood of

* '' St. Stanislaus Kostka Church'' (1891) at 21st and Smallman Streets in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, PA * Hitzrot House (1892) at 626 Market Street in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Pittsburgh, it is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. History Early history ...

(Former house of Dr. Henry W. Hitzrot, who died in 1906, then the

Fraternal Order of Eagles Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington, by a group of six theater-owners including John Cort (impresario), John Cort (the first president), brothers John Considin ...

bought the building in 1911). Hitzrot House was demolished in 2014 by the City of McKeesport * St. Mary Magdalene Church (1895) at 1008 Amity Street in

Homestead, Pennsylvania Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The borough is known for the Homestead strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relation ...

* Church of the Immaculate Conception (1896) at 148 E. Crawford Avenue in

Connellsville, Pennsylvania Connellsville is a City (Pennsylvania), city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Th ...

* St. Mary of the Mount Church (1896) at 403 Grandview Avenue in the

neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA * ''

'' (1898) at Tripoli and James Streets in East Allegheny on the North Side of Pittsburgh, PA * ''Sauer House'' (1898) at 625 Center Avenue in

(Sauer's home and the first dwelling built on what would later become the '' Sauer Buildings Historic District'', a collection of buildings he designed, built, and worked on for the rest of his life) * St. Nicholas Croatian Church (1900) at 1326 East Ohio Street in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA * St. Colman's Roman Catholic Church (1901 to 1903) at 128 Shaw Avenue in

Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania Turtle Creek is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,114 at the 2020 census. George Westinghouse constructed a manufacturing plant nearby. Turtle Creek takes its name from a ...

(Torn down, now a parking lot. New church called St. Colman's at Hunter and Thompson Streets.) * Sauer House - (1910) at 311 Highland Terr. O'hara, Pennsylvania - Sauer's home for a few years before selling in 1920. * '' St. Nicholas Croatian Church'' (1922) at 24 Maryland Avenue in

Millvale, Pennsylvania Millvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Allegheny River, opposite Pittsburgh. The borough is located off Pennsylvania Route 28. The population was 3,376 at the 2020 census. Current estimates place the ...

* ''Heidelberg'' (1928–1930) three-story apartment house in fantastic architectural style. Considered by some critics to be the main structure of the '' Sauer Buildings Historic District'' in

, and perhaps the catalyst for Sauer's experiments in architectural fantasy. Sauer continued to work on the buildings in this district until his death in 1942. * 804 Penn Ave

Gallery

File:FormerSaintMichaelsCatholicChurchRectory.jpg, Former Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church Rectory, built 1890, at 21 Pius Street in the

neighborhood of

. File:HitzrotHouse.jpg, Hitzrot House, built 1892, at 626 Market Street in

. File:St.MaryMagdaleneChurch.jpg, St. Mary Magdalene Church, built 1895, at 1008 Amity Street in

. File:Immaculate Conception 2020 (Front).jpg, Church of the Immaculate Conception, built 1896, in

File:St. Mary of the Mount Church, Mount Washington, Pittsburgh.jpg, St. Mary of the Mount Church, built in 1896, at 403 Grandview Avenue in the

neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. File:LatimerSchool.jpg,

, built 1898, located at Tripoli and James Streets in the East Allegheny neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. File:SauerHouse.jpg, Sauer House, built in 1898, at 625 Center Avenue in

. File:FirstSt.NicholasCroationCatholic.jpg, The old Saint Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, built from 1900 to 1904, at 1326 East Ohio Street in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. File:St.NicholasCroatianChurch.jpg, St. Nicholas Croatian Church, built in 1922, at 24 Maryland Avenue in

. File:SauerHeidelbergAspinwall.jpg, Sauer's "Heidelberg" apartment house, built 1928–1930, part of the Sauer Buildings Historic District in

. File:Sauer house - 311 Highland Terr..jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Frederick C. 1860 births 1942 deaths People from Heidelberg People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German emigrants to the United States 19th-century American architects Architects of Roman Catholic churches Architects from Pittsburgh 20th-century American architects