Today we’re shining the employee spotlight on Phillip Levasseur, Water Sampling Program Coordinator in Cabot’s Pittsburgh office. Phillip and his wife, Jacquelyn (a web developer for Tetra Tech), were featured in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article last weekend for the renovations on their very historic Pittsburgh-area house.
Phillip and Jacquelyn are the fourth owners of a home referred to by its original builder – John Paul Harris. Harris is known in the Pittsburgh area for many things including his chain of nickelodeon theaters across the country (in addition to one downtown), as part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his representation of the 45th District in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1922 until his death in 1926.
The home he built in the Crafton area is an intricate home that the Levasseurs have been working to restore since purchasing it in 2012.
From the Post-Gazette article:
On the first and second floors and even on the servants’ back staircase, there are Art Nouveau-style stained-glass windows with colorful, curvilinear designs. On the first landing of the main staircase, another large window shows a knight, a maiden and a castle.
There is carved woodwork and wainscoting throughout the first floor and a beamed ceiling in the living room, which has a plate rail and was originally the dining room. Carved dragons face off in the front parlor’s fireplacesurround. This room’s chairs also have carved dragons. The Levasseurs purchased much of the furniture from the previous owners.Because of the time and effort Jacquelyn and Phillip have put into restoring, the Harris house has been selected as one of seven homes being featured on the Christmas in Crafton House Tour. The tour is from 1 to 6 p.m. on December 14 and proceeds will benefit Crafton-area recreation programs. Tickets for the tour can be purchased in advance – click here for more information.
The Levasseurs have been hard at work restoring this home ever since they first moved in. And many of us in the Pittsburgh office can recall times when Phillip was working on specific projects – he even gives us a nice shoutout in the article.
The very first night they spent in the house was memorable. Mr. Levasseur’s family was visiting and his brother, Richard, was bunking on a living room sofa when a waterfall splashed through the ceiling. That’s when the couple learned that a wall and a floor pan in the green-tiled shower on the second level was rotted. After that, his colleagues kidded him.
“Everybody at work is like, ‘What’s up, Tom Hanks?’” Mr. Levasseur said, referring to the actor in the movie “The Money Pit.”You can read the full Post-Gazette about Phillip, Jacquelyn and the Harris house here.
