The National Opera House is a nonprofit organization working to restore a historic Homewood building at 7101 Apple Street to its original splendor while also transforming it into a museum and artistic hub for the community.

The house on Apple Street is a place of enormous cultural and historical significance, both for the Pittsburgh region and the nation. The house was built in 1894 and became a center of Black community life when William “Woogie” Harris, one of Pittsburgh’s first black millionaires, bought the property in 1930. The building served as a safe house for locals and visitors who were not welcome at hotels and apartments due to housing discrimination.

Great musicians, such as Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, and Duke Ellington as well as visiting athletes, such as Joe Louis and Pittsburgh’s own Roberto Clemente, visited or stayed there. The house rose to national significance in 1941, when Mary Cardwell Dawson, a celebrated musician and educator, rented the third floor as an office and rehearsal space for the National Negro Opera Company, the first permanent African American Opera company in the nation.

Today, the Queen Anne-style building has deteriorated from years of neglect and is in imminent danger of collapse. In 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the building to its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. NOH Operations Manager Carly Otte told us, “Once restored, this house will again be a gathering place and arts district for the community, offering programs designed to serve every age, race, and background. Creating access, opportunity, and a path to the main stage.”

Please join us in supporting the NOH’s incredible mission by attending our opening reception and ongoing art installation series, purchasing Buildings By Shane prints created exclusively for the NOH, and donating directly.