{"id":223,"date":"2014-09-24T02:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T02:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=223"},"modified":"2015-01-09T16:42:53","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T21:42:53","slug":"the-spencer-family-of-amberson-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/09\/24\/the-spencer-family-of-amberson-avenue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spencer family of Amberson Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This <\/a>
This 1902 image shows children playing a game called streetcar. From left is cousin Sophie Acheson, Charles Spencer Jr. and Elizabeth Spencer. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Starting <\/a>
Starting in 1886, the Spencer family lived in this house on Amberson Avenue in Shadyside. \u200b(Photo by Dale Gleason\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"In <\/a>
In 1983, when The Spencers of Amberson Avenue was published, \u200bBeatrice Spencer, the widow of Charles Spencer Jr., made sponge cake for a party held at the former Spencer home. <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The seven Spencer children fussed when their father, Charles Hart Spencer, insisted on taking their picture.\u00a0From left are Charles Jr., Elizabeth, Mary, Mark, Ethel, Kate and Mrs. Spencer. The eldest daughter, Adeline, is missing. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In 1886, the Spencer family moved into a roomy, Victorian-era house on \u00a0Amberson Avenue in Shadyside.<\/p>\n

The seven Spencer children adored their energetic, thrifty mother, Mary Acheson Spencer, who was a graduate of Pennsylvania College for Women, now Chatham University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she went away we missed her more than tongue could tell,\u201d Ethel Spencer wrote in her memoir, \u201cThe Spencers of Amberson Avenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Published in 1983, the book became a classic text about middle-class life in turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh. An English teacher, Ethel Spencer ran the Department of General Studies at Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n

The seven Spencer children were Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary, Elizabeth, Mark and Charles Jr. Their father, Charles Hart Spencer was a tense, nervous man employed by Henry Clay Frick. He also was a talented amateur photographer and his pictures, which captured his family, appear in the book.<\/p>\n

When \u201cThe Spencers of Amberson Avenue\u201d was published, a reception was held at the family\u2019s home, which still stands at 719 Amberson Ave and was designed by architect George Orth.<\/p>\n

Beatrice Spencer, the widow of Charles Spencer Jr., made her mother-in-law\u2019s sponge cake for the party. Beatrice Spencer, who lived in the house as a bride, said she also stayed there when her mother-in-law took her two unmarried daughters, Ethel and Kate, abroad.<\/p>\n

The \u00a0Spencer family lived in the house until 1950, the year their beloved mother died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spencer family lived in the house until 1950, the year their beloved mother died.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe Spencer family of Amberson Avenue<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[955,1194,1192,1036,1193],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nc631tFVSn1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C896&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1526,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/08\/07\/shadyside-pittsburghs-greenwich-village\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":0},"title":"Shadyside: Pittsburgh\u2019s Greenwich Village","date":"August 7, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Groovy. 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