Pittsburgh home of famed photographer Charles 'Teenie' Harris to be preserved

The home of famed Pittsburgh photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris will be preserved after the Pittsburgh Land Bank purchased the property this week.

The goal is for the Homewood house to be restored and converted into a museum and educational space, said Matthew Falcone, who heads Preservation Pittsburgh, which has been working with Harris’ family to move ahead plans for preserving the site.

Harris’ dark room is still in the basement, Falcone said.

“It’s this wonderful, historical gem that ties this house back to his photography,” he said.

Renovation work will be guided, in part, by Harris himself, through the photographs he left behind of the home. Falcone said the acclaimed photographer took hundreds of pictures of the house, inside and out, which will help crews to “turn the clock back a little bit” to make the house look like it did during Harris’ lifetime.

“We know exactly what every room looked like when he was living there,” Falcone said. “It’s really wonderful.”

Lionel Harris, “Teenie” Harris’ son, told TribLive he has fond, vivid memories of the home where he was raised.

“The house itself had a really good flair to it,” he said, highlighting two marble fireplaces and a home alive with family and friends. “I learned a lot at that house, and I had a lot of fun at that house.”

Lionel, 79, said he wants to see the home restored to match his memories of the house from his childhood.

“That house has a lot of memories,” he said, adding his father would be proud to see it being preserved.

The house, located on Mulford Street, is structurally sound, Falcone said, but will need cosmetic repairs. For example, aluminum siding that was added to the house will be removed.

Once it’s restored, the house will be open for the public to see what it looked like when it was Harris’ home. Falcone said it also will host educational programming and photography events.

Falcone’s group is working to ensure it is recognized as a historic landmark by the city and is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“What was once a private family home will now be a community gem for all of us,” Falcone said.

He said the plan is for the Pittsburgh Land Bank to sell it to a foundation Harris’ family has created to preserve his legacy.

The land bank this week bought the house at sheriff’s sale for $26,000, according to land bank manager Sally Stadelman.

“It seemed well worth the price to preserve such an important structure,” she said.

The land bank will be able to clear liabilities associated with the property — which a bank had previously foreclosed on — so that new owners can take over.

Harris, who died in 1998, produced a prodigious and detailed photographic history of Black life in America, creating more than 70,000 images from 1935 to 1975.