{"nrhp_refnum":"76001595","name":"Highland Towers Apartments","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"340 S. Highland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.45585182700006,"lon":-79.92538609099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick apartment building planned around an open court in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1913 by Frederick Scheibler.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is one of the earliest examples of modern architecture in the country, with a glass-heavy facade, irregular plan, and decorative devices it links to Japanese influence, Frank Lloyd Wright, and European modernists. It also presents the building as one of Scheibler's outstanding works and one of the most completely planned buildings in Pittsburgh.","narrative":"Highland Towers is a four-story brick apartment building in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, built in 1913 by Frederick Scheibler. The building is planned around an open court, with a recessed central facade of glass and balconies flanked by projecting brick and glass wings. Its public staircases rise against a semicircular wall of rough brick, and its interior shows Japanese influence, reflecting Scheibler's association with the Japanese-American artist Kentaro Kato. Decorative features include dark headers in the common bond brick, checker patterns, brick reeding on the service towers, and geometric spandrels. The nomination regards the building as one of the earliest modern architecture examples in the United States, predating the Art Deco style it is often classed with. Scheibler, described as Pittsburgh's only proto-modern designer, trained through apprenticeship and European architectural publications, and integrated sculpture, decoration and landscaping into his buildings. The apartment plan has since been subdivided.","period_of_significance":"1913","architect_builder":"Frederick Scheibler (architect/builder)","architectural_style":"Art Deco/Commercial","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The document states the apartments are in very good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.161826-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/76001595.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001595/1f409f5980-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001595/1f409f5980-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"User:Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Highland_Towers_Apartments.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Highland_Towers_Apartments.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997622","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Towers_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5759142"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/highland-towers-apartments-76001595/"}