The house at 1414 Pennsylvania Avenue was built in 1875/1876 for William and Mary Lea Frazier. William was a partner in Frazier Brothers, a Manchester lumber firm that also engaged in home construction and land speculation. The house is constructed in the Italianate style, which is characterized by curved window and door openings, prominent window and door ornamentation, and highly ornamented brackets below the cornice.
Frazier lost 1414 Pennsylvania Avenue at sheriff’s sale in June 1876 only a few months after construction of the house was completed but were permitted to continue living in the house after the sale. Mary Lea Frazier lived at 1414 Pennsylvania Avenue until her death at age 27 in 1879, and William Frazier occupied the house until 1891.
When 1414 Pennsylvania Avenue was built Manchester was already losing middle-class families to the streetcar suburbs of Pittsburgh’s East End in about 1890. Around 1920 many other owners left to the Sewickley area. 1414 Pennsylvania Avenue is unique in remaining the home of a member of a prominent Pittsburgh family through 1975.