In 1929, Babb and Co. was founded in Pittsburgh by J. Donald Babb. He was a salesman, a leader in the business community and a gentleman. After his untimely death at age 63 in 1967, Babb, Inc. grew under a stockholders’ leadership team to a point where the Company occupied space in all four of the Gateway Buildings.
Babb, Inc. acquired the 850 Ridge Avenue property in 1969 and the operation was moved to the Northside of Pittsburgh soon thereafter. In the early 1970s, the Corporation had as many as 35 employee shareholders. By 1980, these shareholders had all been bought out under an existing Corporate Stock Retirement Agreement and Babb, Inc. has been owned exclusively by the Livingston family since then.
Babb, Inc. gained a substantial presence in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1972 when Higham, Neilson, Whitridge and Reid, a leading Philadelphia broker since 1919, was acquired. Today, our corporate offices in the eastern part of the state are located on Philadelphia’s Main Line in Wayne Pennsylvania.
Since 1980, Babb, Inc. has expanded to six operating units, two wholly owned subsidiaries and does business nationwide.
The Organization continues to experience steady internal growth. Seven acquisitions have been made since 1993.
Our Headquarters
“The latest of the Allegheny millionaire palaces, this house is vaguely French eighteenth century in style and is faced in Hummelstown brownstone. The ‘grand’ staircase and ‘state’ rooms are renditions of the English Renaissance styles from the Elizabethan to early Georgian. The treatment of the basement with its automobile entrance and French ballroom is extremely interesting.
William Penn Snyder (1862-1920) was associated with Henry W. Oliver in developing the Lake Superior iron ore area and he also owned the Shenango Furnace Company.”
Source: Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
The home was converted to commercial use when purchased by the Knights Life Insurance Company in 1930. In 1948, an addition was put on to the home that more than doubled the available office space. The addition was faced with Hummelstown brownstone from the same quarry to match the original home. Knights Life was acquired by the American General Life Insurance Company of Houston, TX in the early 1950s and operated as a regional home office until the property was purchased by Babb, Inc. in 1969.
The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and Babb, Inc. is committed to preserving the building’s extraordinary architectural detail and elegance.