Paul Bartholomew

Paul Amos Batholomew (1883–1973) was an architect in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. From the beginning of his practice, he received a variety of high-profile commissions for both residential and non-residential structures, mainly in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. His buildings typically had historicist facades, with neoclassical or Italianate ornamentation covering a modern framework. Only in the 1950s, toward the end of his career, he created buildings that were purely modern in design. During the Great Depression, a particularly trying time for architects, he received the commission to design Norvelt, which was a new town created as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal policies.

One of his commissions, the Citizens National Bank of Latrobe of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, designed with partner Brandon Smith, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of Bartholomew's works are contributing properties to the Greensburg Downtown Historic District and the Academy Hill Historic District.

Biography

Paul Batholomew was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 25, 1883. His parents were the Rev. Amos H. Bartholomew, a Lutheran minister, and Rachael (Kuhns) Bartholomew. After graduation, he worked under architects in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

He eventually settled in Greensburg, where he began his practice. Sources differ on the date he started his Greensburg practice; one source claims 1910 Throughout most of his career, his office was in the Coulter Building at 231 South Main Street in Greensburg. However, two 1929 publications list an office in the Keenan Building, Pittsburgh.

Paul Bartholomew married Dorothy W. Lyon, a Greensburg resident, on November 1, 1916. (Year of construction is in parentheses.) On North Main Street, he designed numbers 419 (1935), 431 (1920), 445 (1913), and 450 (1920). The building still stands at 202-226 South Main Street. Although the interior has been gutted and converted into offices and seniors' housing, the exterior remains unchanged and in excellent condition. Lynch Hall (1923): This Tudor-style mansion was built in 1923 for Charles McKenna Lynch (1884–1963), an executive of the H.C. Frick Coke Company. The house's original name was Starboard Light, in reference to Lynch's earlier career as a naval officer. Its current street address is 150 Finoli Drive, Greensburg, Pennsylvania (actually located in Hempfield Township), where it serves as the administrative building for University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. First Commonwealth Bank (1924): Originally known as First National Bank and later as Southwest Bank, this seven-story red brick building is in a Classical Revival style, built in 1924 at 111 South Main Street, Greensburg. Citizens National Bank of Latrobe (1926): This is in nearby Latrobe, where it is the tallest building of that city. It is located at 816 Ligonier Street (corner of Main Street) in Latrobe. This six-story Classical Revival structure has a bank on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors. It was later known as the Mellon Bank Building. The architects were the firm of Bartholomew & Smith, and the building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House (1929): This 1929 building is still in use as a fraternity house at 220 North Burrowes Street, State College, Pennsylvania. Paul Bartholomew received the commission to lay out the plan of streets, which he did in a nontraditional pattern of circles and semicircles. The layout was quite spacious, with large lots, and it was intended that laid-off mine workers could raise their food. He also designed over 200 Cape Cod-style houses for the community and its public buildings. This is a scarce example of modern architecture of Paul Bartholomew, who almost always preferred facades with a historical flavor. This two-bedroom house is one story with a basement and has large windows across the back. The exterior consists of redwood and brick, and many interior walls consist of brick and polished wood. Excela Westmoreland Hospital Addition (1953): Originally Westmoreland Hospital, the street address is 532 West Pittsburgh Street, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. This complex is an assortment of various additions; Paul Bartholomew was responsible for the 1953 component of this building, with James H. Ritchie and Associates of Boston as associate architects.