Crews Tear Down Abandoned Gundelfinger Home in Moon

Developers have torn down a long-abandoned 1920s-era mansion along Beaver Grade Road in Moon Township.

The Pittsburgh-based Aloe Brothers LLC bought the former Gundelfinger mansion at 971 Beaver Grade Road on Sept. 28 for $1, according to Allegheny County property records.

Crews have begun tearing down the dilapidated home, which sat on 7.3 acres of wooded land on Beaver Grade Road. 

The firm purchased the property from the Global Country of World Peace, an Iowa-based meditation group that acquired the house in 2005 for $595,000, according to property records. 

Moon planning director Adam McGurk said Aloe Brothers has not yet submitted plans for the property to the township.

The Global Country of World Peace intended to use the mansion as a "Maharishi meditation palace" for its followers, but quickly placed the property back on the market before beginning renovations. 

The home was built by the Gundelfinger family in 1924 and has sat empty since 2005, when former owner Elizabeth Gundelfinger died. 

The firm R&D Holdings Inc., of Mars, placed on offer on the property earlier this year, but backed off of plans to build a cluster of eight buildings at the site for commercial and residential use. 

Thomas Janidas, of R&D Holdings Inc., told Patch that coal deposits beneath the property required mining before construction could begin. 

Aloe Brothers LLC could not be reached for comment.