Baum Boulevard is noisy and cluttered with fast food signs, but the solid, streamlined architecture that made it Automobile Row remains.
Starting in the early 1900s, car enthusiasts came here to buy a Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Packard, Pontiac or Studebaker. Today, Baum Boulevard dealerships sell expensive rides like BMWs, Mercedes or Porsches plus the more affordable Mini Cooper. The street is named for the Baum family, prominent landowners in East Liberty.
Next Sunday, Sandy Levis, a docent with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, will lead a two-hour, three-mile walking tour that explores Baum Boulevard’s connections to cars and motorists. The tour, from 4 to 6 p.m., includes sections of Friendship and Bloomfield and ends in East Liberty, in front of the Spinning Plate Artist Lofts at Baum and South Euclid Avenue.
Americans’ auto fever spiked in 1913, the year Baum Boulevard became part of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road that linked New York’s Times Square with San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. The highway entered East Liberty via Penn Avenue, continued on Baum Boulevard and ran through Friendship, Bloomfield and North Oakland.
The first architect-designed, drive-in filling station once stood at Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street. Now there’s a blue historic marker noting that the long-gone landmark was built by Gulf Oil.
“Gulf was part of the growth of car culture because it had filling stations and produced the first highway maps in the country,” Ms. Levis said.
Many auto dealership buildings survived because they have open, flexible spaces, making them easily adaptable for new uses, she said. A good example is the Spinning Plate Artist Lofts, a three-story art deco style structure at Baum and Friendship Avenue.
Built in 1926, this was a showroom for Hupmobiles, small, affordable cars whose manufacturer pioneered the all-steel body. In the second half of the 20th century, the building housed Constantin Pontiac for 30 years. In 1997, the building at 5821 Friendship Ave. was converted into apartments for artists and their families.
A series of brick buildings at 5740 Baum Blvd. formerly housed a garage and school for mechanics. Today, it’s the headquarters of the restaurant company Big Burrito and The Barber’s Inn, a “male grooming lounge.”
Albert Kahn, known as the architect of Detroit because he created so many factories for Ford Motor Co., designed the Streamline Moderne-style building at 5631 Baum Blvd. that houses an Aldi supermarket. Built in 1934 as a Chrysler dealership, its massive wings suggest the aerodynamics of a ship or airplane.
A building at Baum Boulevard and Morewood Avenue was renovated in 1979, turned into show rooms for decorators and renamed The Design Center. Early in the 20th century, this building at 5001 Baum Blvd. was a showroom for Essex, a small, affordably priced car made in Detroit. Later, it housed Piermont Motors.
Only the rich could afford to own automobiles until Henry Ford’s assembly line and Model T, introduced in 1908, made them available to the middle class. Across the street from The Design Center is a former Ford showroom and assembly plant that opened in 1915.
The red-brick structure at 5000 Baum Blvd. with large windows and green terracotta trim was designed for assembling, showing and servicing cars. Model T car kits were shipped by rail to Pittsburgh and assembled daily by 300 employees. Up to 40 Model Ts were completed each day through 1932.
Packards were once sold in a large white building at 4643 Baum Blvd. More recently, it housed a pizza shop and a Radio Shack store, but part of the building’s original use is still visible. Above an exterior arch is the word SERVICE and a winged pneumatic tire hangs over the entrance.
An East Liberty automotive landmark that is not on the tour is Motor Square Garden at 5900 Baum Blvd. The yellow-brick building capped by a dramatic blue dome made of copper and glass was built by the Mellon family and opened in 1900. It failed as a retail space but is now the headquarters for West Penn Motor Club, a chapter of the American Automobile Association.
Sunday’s tour is sold out but 10 slots are available for a second tour on Sept. 15. The cost is $10 for PHLF members, $20 for non-members. Register by calling Mary Lu Denny at 412-471-5808, ext. 527 or emailing marylu@phlf.org. Information: phlf.org.
Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1648 or on Twitter:@mpitzpg
First Published: April 29, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
