A Pittsburgh Mid-Century Home Was Designed by Two Frank Lloyd Wright Apprentices Who Worked on Fallingwater
The top Reddit comment on this listing was four words: "Wow it looks like a FLW." The commenter was more right than they knew. The Abraam Steinberg House at 5139 Penton Road in Pittsburgh was designed between 1949 and 1951 by Peter Berndtson and Cornelia Brierly — both former apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright who worked with Wright directly on Fallingwater. It is listed at $1,200,000 and has not changed hands since 1989.
The Architecture
The 3,080-square-foot home is constructed of brick, redwood, glass, and concrete, integrated into a dramatically sloped Pittsburgh hillside in Morewood Heights. Two exterior walls align with the street grid while a gracefully curved rear wall opens onto a circular open-air garden courtyard — the focal point of the design, visible from all major living spaces and functioning as the connective tissue between interior and landscape. Three distinct levels are connected not by stairs but by a flowing ramp system, creating a continuous spatial experience that is immediately recognizable as Wrightian in its refusal to interrupt the flow of movement through the home. Custom built-in furnishings throughout are crafted from the same redwood used in the structure, reinforcing the organic unity of material and form. Berndtson and Brierly each brought distinct expertise — architecture, landscape, and interior design — that together produced one of Pittsburgh's most significant postwar modern residences. The listing describes it as a work of art. The Reddit commenter reached the same conclusion in four words.
The Opportunity
The home last sold in December 1989 for $170,000 — $55 per square foot — and is now listed at $1,200,000, or $390 per square foot, having appreciated over 600% in 37 years. For context, that 1989 sale price bought a house designed by two Fallingwater architects for less than a new Buick. The current ask reflects both the home's architectural significance and Pittsburgh's broader real estate trajectory. Annual taxes are $10,933 on an assessed value of $459,900. The home sits in Morewood Heights in Pittsburgh's East End, with public transportation access and proximity to Carnegie Mellon University and the Oakland institutions. For a buyer who has spent time at Fallingwater and thought: I wish I could live like this — the answer has been sitting on a Pittsburgh hillside since 1951.
The Internet Has Thoughts
Naturally, this listing caught the attention of Reddit's r/zillowgonewild community. See what people are saying about it here.
Designed by two Fallingwater architects. Ramp levels, curved walls, redwood built-ins, circular garden courtyard. Pittsburgh, $1,200,000. View the full listing here.
