Home Sweet Home in Morningside

PHOTOS BY EXPOSURE IT

For more than half a century, the classic brick home at 1441 Duffield St. in Morningside was where the King family could always find a sense of belonging and peace. 

“This was our family home,” says Ron King, speaking on behalf of his siblings as executor of their parents’ estate. 

He notes his parents purchased the home in the early 1960s and then did something many families today don’t do — they stayed put. 

“My sisters and I grew up here, so our connection to the house really goes back our entire lives,” he says. 

King says the five-bedroom house was perfect for raising a family, with plenty of room for everyone while still having that warmth and character found in older Pittsburgh homes. 

“Over six decades, it became much more than a house,” he says. “It was the place our family always came back to.”

Now that their parents have passed, King and his sisters have listed the home with the Fraser Team at Piatt Sotheby’s International Realty. Priced at $479,000, the 1,836-square-foot, two-bathroom home includes a two-story addition, an in-ground pool and a large, private backyard. 

Built in 1940, the all-brick exterior is low-maintenance. Inside, the hardwood floors and an original stone fireplace are paired with fresh paint and an updated kitchen.  

Listing agent Emily Fraser says the home has more space and flexibility than buyers may expect thanks to that addition (and its original good bones.)

“The home is deceptively spacious. The original brick structure was expanded with a substantial two-story rear addition, adding an entire bonus living space on the main floor as well as two additional bedrooms and a second full bath upstairs,” says Fraser. 

Once you step past the charming exterior and the inviting, shaded front porch, the main floor is centered around a dining room, a kitchen with light wood cabinetry, stone countertops and stainless steel appliances; a roughly 200-square-foot family room with sliding glass doors opens onto a patio. 

Upstairs, three bedrooms and a full bathroom sit in the original footprint, while the rear addition adds two more bedrooms and a second full bathroom.

The partially finished basement has space for laundry, a workshop and a bathroom.  Fraser says the next owner may want to make a few updates overall, but the home’s long ownership history is part of what makes it a smart buy.

“There is certainly room for a buyer to personalize the home cosmetically, but one of the benefits of a property that has remained with the same family for more than 60 years is the history of careful ownership behind it,” she says. 

She adds there’s a particular appeal to a home that’s been well-loved for a long stretch of time. In this case, it means that the sellers maintained the home thoughtfully over decades, and updated important systems along the way. 

“Between that maintenance and the additional square footage created by the rear addition, it presents a somewhat rare opportunity,” Fraser says. “A buyer can move in comfortably and make cosmetic changes gradually, rather than feeling compelled to transform the entire house immediately.”

The backyard is one of the property’s biggest surprises. A covered patio leads to the in-ground pool, with plenty of level yard beyond it. 

“The in-ground pool and tiered backyard backing to a tree line are particularly unusual for a city property,” says Fraser. 

Beyond the pool, the upper tier of the yard is large and flat, with mature vegetation on all sides as well as a privacy fence. 

“There’s a sense of privacy and breathing room here that you don’t often find this close to everything [the city has to offer],” Fraser says. 

For King, that setting is inseparable from the family’s memories of the home.

“It’s difficult to pick just one story about this home, because almost every stage of our family’s life is connected to this house,” says King. “My siblings and I grew up there, and over the years it was the setting for birthdays, holidays, family dinners and countless gatherings.” 

While he says the home’s central role was due somewhat to the great space for entertaining, it was mostly to the love the family had for the place where they built a life. 

“As we got older and started families of our own, the house remained the place everyone came back to,” says King. “That’s probably what is most sentimental about it. It wasn’t just the house where we grew up — it remained the center of our family for decades.”