Former Oakdale school renovated into apartment building

Old slate chalkboards decorate many nooks of the Hastings School Apartments in Oakdale.

More than a century of history also girds this novel 'house of suites,' originally a school built in 1894.

Once dedicated to classroom learning, the orange brick structure along Hastings Avenue now proffers comfortable living. It's one of many Pennsylvania schools built during a boom in school building construction that has found life after consolidations. Prospective tenants can tour the remodeled school from 4 to 9 p.m. today during an open house.

'It's still a handsome building and should serve well into the future in its new function,' says John K. Robinson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. 'I happened to see it on a drive through Oakdale recently and was impressed by its prominent site and the rather lovely neighborhood where it is located.'

Inside the 10 new apartments, daylight pours through big windows. Antique wainscot covers walls. Transoms top doors.

Outside, red bricks and chunks of stone trim the old school's Romanesque-style architecture.

'I kept driving past it. ... I just loved it. Look at the keystones and arches,' owner Matt Cochran says about the former Oakdale Public School, which closed in 1972.

Cochran, 40, had converted a former municipal building in McDonald, Washington County, to luxury apartments and a dentist's office.

Cochran, a geologist and South Fayette resident, bought the building for $5,000 at a sheriff's sale in 1994. He declines to say what it cost to reincarnate the structure, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

'I had help from a lot of subcontractors,' Cochran says. 'The building was essentially gutted.'

After buying the school, Cochran successfully applied for its historic designation through the historical and museum commission.

'The Oakdale Public School is significant because it's typical of the schools in the area that were built in a sort of boom period of school construction in southwestern Pennsylvania,' says Robinson of the state museum commission.

Today, top rent is $795 per month for one of the building's two-bedroom apartments. Less expensive one-bedroom and basement apartments also are available. Most have 12-foot ceilings, 8- by 4-foot windows, and 20-inch thick exterior walls.

'It's really quiet,' Cochran says.

Amenities in each apartment include air conditioning, vertical blinds and taupe carpeting, plus a washer, dryer, stove and refrigerator, all brand new.

Each apartment also offers a unique floor plan.

Two blocks from downtown Oakdale, the former school sits at the end of a tree-lined street of big, old houses.

'When it first closed down, we had bums sleeping in there. Then we had kids playing around. ... It's nice in there now,' says Clyde Smith, a neighbor.

Former state legislator Huck Gamble completed first through eighth grades in the Oakdale Public School.

'It was a good school. Disciplined. Nothing like today,' says Gamble, 68.

Gamble also remembers the building's more recent, lackluster days.

'The roof leaked. It was a haven for pigeons. ... It was a minus, not a plus to the community,' says Gamble, president of Oakdale Council and an admirer of his alma mater's reincarnation.

'I think it is a very welcome addition to the Oakdale landscape,' Gamble says. 'Matt Cochran has done a magnificent job.'

Ironically, three teachers are among new tenants in the Hastings School Apartments at 25 Hastings Ave.

Resident Robin Donald, formerly of Texas, immediately liked the place after weeks of shopping for an apartment in Pittsburgh.

'It feels very cozy, but it's so spacious. The light is so great,' Donald says. 'For the same price, I couldn't find anything as comfortable or as clean, or where I felt as safe.'

New tenant Kimberlee Ondik owns a house cleaning service.

'All my friends, they go nuts over the place. ... The rooms are so nice,' Ondik says. 'I like the high ceilings and big windows and how spacious it is. This feels more like a home than an apartment.'

Deborah Deasy can be reached at (412) 320-7989 or ddeasy@tribweb.com .