[1] In 1898, Frederick Sauer bought a hillside tract of land in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, and built a home for himself and his family.

"[4] Sauer was an architect by trade, and he designed about a dozen Catholic churches in the Pittsburgh area,[5] most of which were fashioned in some variation of Romanesque Revival style.

[3][5][7] "It is the most bizarre collection of buildings in Western Pennsylvania," says Franklin Toker, professor of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.

[4][5] "This fantastic group of buildings constructed by a local architect in the later years of his life is possibly unique in Pittsburgh."

– James D. Van Trump and Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr.[2] "Sauer really seems to have made one of those odd essays in personal expression in building that turn up now and then in some otherwise-staid part of the world."