693 Forest Avenue

Since June of 2020, the brick and frame bungalow has been home to Matt Caracciolo and Kaitlyn Mammay. The home is located at the corner of Forest Avenue and Maryland Avenue. The property is part of the Bellevue Land Company’s “Sunnyside Plan of Lots,” a division of the old Bayne Farm. For this Sunnyside Plan, buyers were prohibited from placing a building within 20 feet of the street or erecting houses that cost less than $2,000.

In July 1926 Samuel and Jane McKee and Verdie Dille sold this lot to Louis Koval for $1,900, a typical price for an undeveloped Bellevue lot at that time, suggesting that it was still vacant. The following year Koval sold it to Della Baird for $1.00. It is likely that the house was built for either Louis Koval or Della Baird about 1926-1927. Current owners, Matt and Kaitlyn, note that their home is identical to four other houses on the same block which suggests that they all were built at the same time by the same developer.

The history of this lot, for the two decades following its sale to Della Baird, is rather confusing due to multiple foreclosures and sheriff’s sales during and just after the Great Depression. After numerous owners, in December 1952 the Borough of Bellevue sold the property to George Brown and his wife Martha for $500. The low purchase price suggests that the house was in poor condition and possibly had been vacant for some time.

In 1956 the Browns sold the property to Steven and Ann Jaron for $13,700. The Jarons lived there for eight years. Following the Jarons’ ownership, there was a rapid turnover of ownership.

In 2019 the property was lost through foreclosure and sold by the Allegheny County Sheriff to the Bank of New York/Mellon. The Bank then conveyed it to Haven Home Builders, LLC, a local home restoration/renovation company, in November 2019.

After extensive renovation, including adding a powder room to the first floor, Haven sold the property to Matthew Caracciolo. Matt and Kaitlyn note that the house had been vacant for a number of years when it was acquired by Haven Home Builders. They say that Haven took the entire interior of the house down to studs and rebuilt, but retained as many original features as possible so that the house exhibits a mixture of 1920s character and modern updates.

Some of the more interesting features include stained glass windows in the living room and original doors with skeleton key hardware. “Our style is a mix— if I were to put a label, it would be somewhere between modern farmhouse and industrial, with a little bit of mid century sprinkled in. Our goal is to let the character of the house shine through, and accentuate those features while adding modern touches,” states Kaitlyn.

Haven Home Builders also purchased the empty lot next door to add a driveway for off street parking. Upon move in, Kaitlyn and Matt pushed back the retaining wall to make way for a new deck off the kitchen. The added deck creates a cohesive indoor/outdoor space for the couple to enjoy movie nights, grill outs, or just appreciating the rare sunny days of Pittsburgh. Another project the couple completed was the installation of flooring in the basement for additional living space and expanding the attic opening to allow for extra storage.

Kaitlyn and Matt have always been fans of Bellevue and were attracted to the house’s mixture of 1920’s character and modern updates, including a modernized, spacious kitchen. They also love the walkability of the Bellevue neighborhood, the friendly atmosphere, and vibrant personalities that live here.