PHOTOS BY 360 CAPTURES

In the fall of 1977, Lois and Dr. Milton Michaels were looking to downsize.

They’d raised three children in their large colonial-style home in Highland Park, but as empty nesters, they wanted less house to care for.

“Our last child had just started college, our housekeeper had just retired and I had gone back to work fulltime,” Lois recalls.

The couple was ready for the next step — and they found it as soon as they stepped into 618 Ellsworth Place in Shadyside. Lois says she and her husband were transfixed on the spot.

“We walked into the house at sunset, and the glass room divider was reflecting the sunlight flooding in through that window wall that’s typical of mid-century homes,” she says. “It was magnificent. My husband looked at me and said simply, ‘This, I like.’”

Until Milton’s death in 2022 at age 95, the couple would spend 45 years together in their Mid-Century Modern home. A lifelong Pittsburgher, as well as a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School and the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Milton served in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman in World War II.

He went on to be a sought-after diagnostician in the Pittsburgh region and was known to quote current medical studies well into his golden years.

Lois, who worked in nonprofits until her retirement, is now ready to pass along the home where she and Milton spent more than half their lives together.

Built in 1953, the three-bedroom home comes with its original architectural plans, although the name on the papers of the architect — whom Lois says she would love to learn more about — is worn and lost to time.

Lois is also a fan of the home’s minimalist, functional design, which is based on the Bauhaus movement influencing architecture at the time when the home was built.

Ellsworth Place, a short street that ends with a cul-de-sac, is packed with other interesting mid-century era homes, including one designed by renowned local architect Tasso Katselas, who, now in his 90s, still resides in Shadyside.

Listed with Julie Rost of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices for $899,900, the Michaels house also caused a bit of a stir when it was recently featured in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about the cooling housing market in Western Pennsylvania.

In the feature, Lois expressed her surprise that the home, which has a highly desirable location in Shadyside, hadn’t sold yet. In April, Lois listed the house for $999,900 before reducing the asking price to $899,900 in July.

She added that, to her, the Ellsworth Place home symbolizes what she and Milton had built throughout their long history together.

“We have three adult children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild,” she says. “We are very lucky, and so very blessed.”

Inside, the split-level property is larger than it looks, measuring nearly 2,500 square feet. Its integral garage and front-facing driveway are a rarity in the East End — and was one of the more practical features that sold Lois and her husband on the home.

Rost adds it’s hard to beat the home’s abundant natural light, a design feature that’s typical of Mid-Century Modern architecture.

“The living, dining and family room all look out onto the wonderfully manicured private yard and gardens,” she says.

Guests arriving at the home are greeted immediately by the glass artwork that sold Milton on the home so many years ago. The large, bright living spaces are flanked on all sides with windows, and there’s a built-in seating area around the central fireplace that’s made for entertaining.

The sunken family room also is lined with built-in storage and opens onto the property’s curated gardens.

The kitchen, which was remodeled in 1992, is equipped with a Sub-Zero refrigerator and updated stainless appliances. While some may feel the need to update it to a more modern aesthetic, Lois believes the space is perfect.

“I still call it the new kitchen,” she says with a laugh. “And I can’t understand why anyone would want to redo the kitchen — it’s got stainless and marble and high-end everything and is a wonderful kitchen for entertaining.”

With ample storage, including built-in shelving and large closets, the home’s three bedrooms are spacious and include an updated bathroom in the primary suite. One of the home’s four bathrooms still has its original sunny yellow tile, making it a perfect time capsule of the era. The lower level of the home is also finished and includes a laundry room, full bathroom, storage and space for a gym or home office.

While the interior of the home may have captured Lois and Milton’s hearts immediately, it’s the grounds of the home where Lois truly found her heart — and healing.

“When we moved into this house, I had full vision in both eyes,” she says. “After I lost a good deal of my vision, I learned that I loved gardening.”

Her mother, too, had been an avid gardener, although Lois did not initially follow in her footsteps.

“But I had this beautiful piece of land in the middle of the city, and the man before us had added on a greenhouse … so I put in a sensory garden,” she says.

With a koi pond, meandering walking paths and an abundance of flowers and mature trees, the space is serene and calming, Lois says.

“It also meets the definition of a healing garden,” she says. “My youngest niece calls it her peace of quiet.”

From those moments of serenity to raucous celebrations, Lois says the times she shared the home with family and friends are what she will miss the most about it.

“We’ve had huge parties inside and out — family parties, work parties, engagement parties. We’ve mourned the dead at the house, and friends have given recitals and hosted fundraising functions,” she says. “We welcomed my son safely home from Desert Storm with a party at this house, and we had close to 100 people over to celebrate my 90th birthday.”

“We just fell in love with this house,” she reiterates. “We were not sorry that we moved.”

About: Shadyside
Population: 14,212
Planes, Trains & Automobiles: A 25-minute commute to the airport. Daily transport via Port Authority, bike lanes, rideshare. On-street and metered parking.
Schools: City of Pittsburgh (pghschools.org)
Neighborhood: This walkable Pittsburgh neighborhood has three lively business districts along Walnut Street, Ellsworth Avenue and Centre and South Highland avenues. There is a wealth of shops, restaurants, retail and yoga studios within a 3-mile radius. Other amenities include UPMC Shadyside Hospital, Chatham University and several historic churches that serve as anchors in the community, including Third Presbyterian Church, Calvary Episcopal and Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Residents of Shadyside are a mix of families, students, young professionals, and retirees. Neighbors love the friendly vibe, access to amenities and entertainment, and proximity to green space like Frick and Highland Parks.