Every November as the holiday season approaches, one house on Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue becomes wrapped in a giant red bow. Kenneth Lehn, a finance professor in the Katz Graduate School of Business, has spent years decorating his house on Millionaire’s Row like a present.
Recognized for the large, lit-up twinkling red bow that adorns it every holiday season, the historic Negely-Gwinner-Harter House is the star of the neighborhood. Lehn has been decorating the 19th century house like this for approximately 15 years.
“You know, it’s funny because I’ve worked pretty hard at my profession,” Lehn said. “I’m proud of my professional accomplishments, but it seems like the only thing I’m really known for in Pittsburgh is the bow.”
Lehn first installed the bow after a trip to New York City with his then-wife. While walking near Rockefeller Center, they noticed a display in a jewelry store’s window.
“We thought the bow in the Cartier store looked really beautiful,” Lehn said. “So we decided then that that might be a nice look at our house. Our bow is different than their bow, but nonetheless, we were inspired by Cartier.”
A professional design company, Vast Made Studios — which designs high-end sets, installations, furniture and props — maintains and installs the same bow every year. The studio repaired the bow in 2023 using the original design by Susie Perelman from the company Party Mosaic.
Dan Callery, co-owner of Vast Made Studios, said the bow needed revamping two years ago since it was in bad repair.
“We figured out what it was going to look like through sketches with help from [Perelman],” Callery said. “We got all of the pieces, parts and fabric made after the original design and got the bow structure up pretty fast.”
The 2023 redesign marked the beginning of Vast Made Studio’s ongoing work on the project. Callery said the company now handles the full installation each year, securing the bow’s internal structure and fabric attachments.
According to Callery, the bow’s bright red exterior is made from poly stain fabric, a material chosen because it can withstand Pittsburgh weather. The internal structure is built from PVC and uses cables to anchor it to Lehn’s house.
“It’s breathable so the wind doesn’t destroy it too much, and it’s pretty nice looking,” Callery said. “[Lehn] has anchor points put in that get cabling run all around the house and up to the roof. The fabric is sleeved on over top of the cables.”
The bow had fallen into disrepair because it was in storage for two years due to personal issues. Lehn said the neighbors were unhappy without the large decoration.
“I actually did receive some letters accusing me of being a Grinch,” Lehn said.
Lehn said this festive decoration has a lot of fans. In 2023, he opened his home for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra holiday tour while the bow was up. Some visitors told him they incorporated the bow into their own holiday traditions.
“[People] brought Christmas ornaments that they had designed based on the house with the bow that they would hang on their Christmas tree,” Lehn said. “A couple told me that they made their Christmas cards based on my house. They would take a photograph and send out an artist’s rendition of it.”
The amount of attention Lehn receives for the bow is surprising to him.
“Generally, people seem to like it much more than I ever anticipated when we first put it up. I just thought it was going to be a Christmas decoration, but now I’ve become known as the man with the house with the bow,” Lehn said.
As for the future of the bow, Lehn said he plans on putting it up every year he lives there and leaving it for the next family who moves in.
“It’s really designed for the house,” Lehn said. “I’ll just make sure to give it to the next owners, as long as they want it.”