Greensburg 'Castle House' for sale

An early 20th-century, two-story stone dwelling known in Greensburg as the “Castle House” for its stone turret, front arches and parapet is attracting widespread attention from prospective buyers — even from as far away as Florida, according to the agent selling the house.

“I put it on the ‘For the Love of Old Houses’ (Facebook page), and it got a lot of comments. It has been shown a lot, and we’ve had a lot of inquiries. It’s definitely for a certain type of person,” said Linda Decker, a Realtor with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services’ Hempfield office.

The five-bedroom, 2½-bath house, which is on a half-acre parcel at 126 Westmoreland Ave., is listed at $319,900. It has been on the market since November. Margaret DiVirgilio and Linda Earnest bought the property in 1989 for $125,000, according to the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.

The house features substantial woodwork, hardwood floors, stained-glass windows and a covered front porch with tile inlay. There are built-in cabinets and pocket doors and a wood fireplace. A fifth bedroom occupies the third floor. A detached garage is accessible from a rear alley.

Earnest said they enjoyed living in the house but wanted to downsize to a residence on one floor. Taking care of a house with three flights of stairs and five bedrooms became challenging.

“We absolutely loved it. The main pull for the place was the uniqueness. It’s such a lovely place to decorate for Christmas,” Earnest said, adding children loved coming to the “Castle” for Halloween to trick or treat.

“Our only regrets are that we wish we would’ve enjoyed that house more instead of always working,” Earnest and DiVirgilio said in a joint statement.

The “uniqueness,” however, had its drawbacks. Earnest said they considered replacing the curved windows in the turret until they found out it would cost $8,000 to replace them and keep them in the original wooden frames.

The house does have a tragic history.

It was built in 1903 in the Underwood Plan of what then was Greensburg Borough by John N. Boucher, a veteran lawyer and historian in the county.

Why he chose to design a house in the style of a castle, or who designed it, is not known. Boucher was a French and Indian War and Revolutionary War history buff who wrote two histories of Westmoreland County, one of which was “1918 Old and New Westmoreland,” according to a newspaper report published after his death in 1933.

He died at 77 after a fall from his front porch, in which he landed on a concrete sidewalk and fractured his hip, according a Pennsylvania Department of Health document detailing his death. The cause of death was listed as uremic convulsion, an indication of kidney failure.

The newspaper story detailing his life — he was mentioned as a valuable member of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society — said it was believed he was “getting along well” when news of his death was announced.