In 1949, Emil Bonavita Sr. and his wife, Margaret, purchased the McCook Mansion at a sheriff’s sale for $48,000 as a home for themselves and their two sons Emil Jr. and Charles. Shortly after moving into the mansion, the family began renting rooms on the second and third floors to carefully screened university students from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Chatham. For more than 50 years, hundreds of students came to call the McCook Mansion home.
In 1969, three years after the death of Bessie Reed, the Bonavitas also purchased the McCook Reed Mansion, and Emil Jr and his wife Marie moved in, raising their 4 sons and eventually assuming management and ownership of both mansions. Beloved Margaret, known as a second mother to the students, remained in the McCook Mansion until her death in 2003.
In 2004, a fire broke out on the third floor of the McCook Mansion, causing substantial damage to the third floor and the roof, rendering the building uninhabitable. Emil and Marie decided to sell the Mansions and sought a buyer who would be committed to restoring them. It sat vacant with boarded windows for several years.
