John Woods House (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

The John Woods House at 4604 Monongahela Street in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a vernacular stone house that was built in 1792. It was added to the List of City of Pittsburgh historic designations by Pittsburgh City Council on February 22, 1977.^[2] On April 29, 1993, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

John Woods House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
City of Pittsburgh Historic Structure
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Location	4604 Monongahela Street (Hazelwood), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Coordinates	40°24′53.08″N 79°56′40.62″W
Built	1792
Architectural style	Vernacular
NRHP reference No.	93000353[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 29, 1993[1]
Designated CPHS	February 22, 1977[2]

John Woods (1761–1816) was a political leader, a Federalist, and a member of a prominent founding Pittsburgh family. He was the son of Colonel George Woods of Bedford County, Pennsylvania. "The elder Woods laid out the plan for the City of Pittsburgh in 1784. John did the actual drafting, and the plan is referred to as the 'John Woods plan of Pittsburgh.'"^{[citation needed]} John Woods was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 1797, and was elected as a Representative to the Fourteenth United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817 (though, due to illness, he never attended sessions). The house stayed in the Woods family until 1885.^{[citation needed]}

Composer Stephen Foster was friends with the Woods family, and his song "Nelly Bly", written circa 1849 and published in 1850, was inspired by a servant girl who worked at the Woods house.^[3][4][5] The song was composed on Rachel Keller Woods' piano, on which Foster is said to have written other classics (including "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"), and the instrument is currently housed at the Stephen Foster Memorial in Pittsburgh.^[3]

This house is currently owned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).^[6] As of December 2020, the house was opened to the public as a Scottish pub.^[7]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. "Local Historic Designations". Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
3. Kurt Shaw, "Groups seek to restore historic Woods House", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Sunday, June 5, 2005. Archived January 31, 2013, at archive.today
4. Adrian McCoy, "Mayor builds a house in Railroad Village", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Friday, November 22, 2002.
5. Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the rise of American popular culture by Ken Emerson, pages 158 and 159 (1998, Da Capo Press, New YorkEmerson, Ken (22 August 1998). Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. Hachette Books. ISBN 0-306-80852-8.)
6. "URA - The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh". www.ura.org. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
7. Batz, Bob. "The Woods House, Pittsburgh's oldest residence, comes back to life as a pub". post-gazette.com. Retrieved 2021-07-16.