John Stewart Wassum
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We take our biography and picture of Mr. Wassum from [Volume IV of *Pittsburgh of Today: Its Resources and People*](https://archive.org/details/pittsburghoftoda04harp/page/n351/mode/2up?q=architect), by Frank S. Harper (New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1931).
**JOHN STEWART WASSUM**—As a registered architect whose originality and distinctive quality of design have been perpetuated in many fine buildings, John Stewart Wassum has attained recognition in Pittsburgh, where his office is now located. He was the architect for the Municipal Building, in Coraopolis, as well as for other business and residential structures.
John Stewart Wassum was born at Zelienople, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1900, son of John M. and Margaret N. (Stoner) Wassum, and great-great-grandson, on the maternal side, of a pioneer who settled in western Pennsylvania in 1790. His father is a general contractor at Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. It was natural for the son to take up architecture, for he was interested in construction work from early boyhood and learned something of its practical aspects from his father. He attended the local grade and high schools and Pittsburgh Academy, and graduated from Syracuse University, in 1926, with the degree of Bachelor of Architecture.
His professional training was furthered by work in the offices of various architects in the Pittsburgh district, until Mr. Wassum could claim an unusually wide range of preparatory experience. He was for a time, architect for a New York Engineering firm at which time he was in charge of architectural work on a large office building in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He was later a designing engineer in the structural contract department of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. In 1929 he opened offices of his own at No. 3130 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont. He designed the Tucker Building, offices and apartments, and various residences in Coraopolis. His work is highly regarded by both professional and lay critics, for it is distinguished by grace and beauty of line as well as by utilitarian value. Mr. Wassum is a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi, a national college fraternity, and of the Sigma Upsilon Alpha, an honorary architectural body. He belongs also to the Keystone Athletic Club, and the Dormont Lodge, No. 684, Free and Accepted Masons, the St. Clair Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and the Pennsylvania Consistory of the Scottish Rite. His political faith is that of the Republican party; his religious adherence is to the Presbyterian Church of Dormont.
John Stewart Wassum married, in 1927, in Dormont, Amy Belle Long, daughter of Walter Long (q. v.), and they reside at No. 1403 Park Boulevard, Dormont.
[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Old_Coraopolis_Municipal_Building%2C_2024-07-29-1.jpg)
##### Coraopolis Municipal Building.
[](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Tucker_Block%2C_Coraopolis%2C_2024-12-09.jpg)
##### Tucker Block on Fifth Avenue at Mulberry Street, Coraopolis.