Category Archive: Architecture & Architects
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Many twists and turns for East plans in last three years
By Peggy Conrad,
Staff Writer
Woodland Progress
Wednesday, August 22, 2007By the end of this month or early in September, East Junior High School in Turtle Creek could be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It’s an excellent designation, an excellent honor,” says Ron Yochum, chief information officer of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
He hired a specialist in the field, Laura Ricketts, to research and document the history of the building and submit the proposal, which is “a very, very complicated process,” according to Yochum.
In March, the commission voted unanimously to nominate the structure to the National Register. The National Park Service requested some additional details, which Ricketts submitted with the nomination on July 16.
“We’re hopeful the National Park Service will agree with us, as well as with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,” Yochum says.
A decision could be made in the next couple of weeks, as the approval process takes about 45 days to complete. The designation would provide protection for the structure if any federally funded project were threatening the building.The school board voted to begin the process of closing East earlier this year and is scheduled to make a final decision in October. Generations of area residents have attended the school, and many are anxious to see what will become of it.
The first cornerstone for the building was laid in 1917. The school opened in 1918 and the first class graduated in 1919.
In 1939, an addition to house the gym and additional classrooms was built by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency that provided jobs during the Great Depression. A plaque stating the details of the addition is housed, but not currently mounted, at the school.
Originally Union High, the institution was the first joint high school in Pennsylvania, combining Turtle Creek, Wilmerding and East Pittsburgh high schools, according to Bob Mock, head of Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School.
The building became Turtle Creek High, then East Junior High after the merger that formed Woodland Hills School District.
“To remove such a wonderful landmark in the community would be tragic,” says Yochum. “I think it’s an asset for the community that should be preserved.”
If it achieves historic status and a project threatens the building, the case would go into an automatic review process, he says. If the district were to renovate the building, it would not be a problem, unless the renovation would affect the facade.
“I’m sure the community would not be happy with that.” Yochum, whose agency has been offering assistance to Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School, could not be more correct in that assessment.
About two and a half years ago, the group of Turtle Creek residents came together to protest the district’s plans to demolish the building and construct a new junior high school on the same spot.
“Had they done that, knowing what we know now, what a big mistake they would have made,” says Mock, who rallied his neighbors to join the cause.
A national preservationist who attended a town meeting in Turtle Creek in 2005 in support of preserving the school said the structure was a “slam dunk” for the National Register.
“It sailed right through at the state level,” says Mock, a 1968 alumnus of the high school. “This is a positive for our community and a positive for the school district.”
The past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for anyone invested in the future of East. A brief outline follows:
- August 2004 — HHSDR Architects presented preliminary plans for renovation and for new construction. The architects did three to four variations on plans for a new building in the months that followed.
- January 2005 — Hundreds of residents turned out for a town meeting held by the board to voice their opinions on proposed renovation plans for several district buildings. Options for East included the possibility of relocating the school.
- April 2005 — Survey companies were authorized to begin surveying the property at East in preparation for renovation or reconstruction.
- November 2005 — The school board voted in favor of borrowing approximately $30 million to fund the proposed building of a new East Junior High and renovations of the Wolvarena and high school soccer stadium. The district scheduled groundbreaking for the new school building in the summer of 2006.
- November 2005 — A town meeting organized by Commit-tee to Save Turtle Creek High School overflowed with outraged residents who wanted the building to be preserved.
- December 2005 — The board directed HHSDR to de-velop further renovation plans following objections by residents to the planned demolition and rebuilding of the school. Construction costs increased to estimates of $20,641,170 for renovation and $20,329,874 for new construction.
- Initial plans called for putting an addition on the front of the building, but the committee requested the facade not be altered. The administration said keeping the exact shell of a renovated building would increase the cost.
- February 2006 — The board decided to not vote on whether to rebuild or renovate the school until it received more public input on the issue. The district sought residents from all its communities to serve on an ad hoc committee to study the proposed renovation / construction plans.
- May 2006 — After meeting for two months, the committee recommended the district create detailed and comparable design plans, one each for a renovated and new structure, and that the board commit to the least expensive option. Be-cause of a lack of support among members, the board voted to not follow the recommendation and to no longer pursue constructing a new building, but to have renovation plans developed in more detail.
- June 2006 — HHSDR presented an update on work needed immediately at East and asked for direction. Cost of the urgent “A-list” items was $500,000 to $750,000.
- A “B-list” of needed but not urgent items would have cost about $5 million. Following discussion, it was clear the board would not reach a consensus, so the architects were asked to return at a meeting on June 28.
- There was no discussion regarding renovation at that meeting because the board had not had adequate time to meet with the architects and make a decision.
- October 2006 — The superintendent announced the district would consider closing East and two other schools due to declining enrollment.
- Superintendent Roslynne Wilson recommended, as part of the Next Quarter Century Plan, closing Rankin Intermediate, Shaffer Primary and East, as they had the biggest enrollment declines. The proposal was based, in part, on state Act 1, which limits how much districts can hike taxes. The closing of East would save more than $800,000 a year.
- December 2006 — Parents voiced concerns at a public hearing on the plan to consolidate schools. Several board members were concerned that the proposal would have a negative impact.
- January 2007 — All who spoke at a second public hearing were opposed to the consolidation plan. At its next meeting, the board listened to residents and voted down the superintendent’s plan as well as a counterproposal to close East in 2008.
- March 2007 — The board voted to begin the process of closing East and consolidating all seventh- and eighth-graders at West Junior High in 2008-09.
- The Swissvale school, to be renamed Woodland Hills Mid-dle School, would have to be renovated at a cost about $5 million and would have about 740 students in the first year.
- July 2007 — The board held a public hearing on the possible closing of East. Res-idents were opposed to closing the building without a definite plan in place on its future use.
Several options were discussed, including moving ad-ministration offices to the school, turning the building into a creative and performing arts high school for the district and turning it into a charter high school.
Wilson said the process to close the school will include formation of an ad hoc committee that will be asked to report to the board on Oct. 3. The board expects to vote to close the school on Oct. 10.
“It’s been a long saga with a lot of twists and turns,” says Mock, who believes East deserves historic designation for many reasons. The white brick structure was built in the neo-classical style as part of a “City Beautiful” campaign designed to uplift communities in the early 1900s, he says.
“There’s a lot of history here.”
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Overnight in a Wright – Our architecture critic visits the Duncan House and discovers the delights of a mid-century modern Usonian
Sunday, August 05, 2007
By Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteGarden is watered, cats are fed, family is squared away. It’s Mom’s overnight out, a solo retreat on which my only companions will be a few good books, including my old, yellowing paperback copy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s “The Natural House,” because I’m going to stay in one: The Duncan House, a plywood prefab built in the 1950s in a Chicago suburb.
But I’m headed east out of Pittsburgh, at 4:09 on a Monday afternoon. As I pull onto a crowded parkway, I’m hoping the gas in my tank will get me to the town of Mt. Pleasant, where they still pump it for you at no extra charge. Just as I pull into a gas station there, my warning light comes on. “Fill it up, please,” I say, getting in a 1950s groove.
So it isn’t until I’m almost to Kecksburg that I feel that I’ve shed the city and things-I-must-do. As I come up over a rise, the countryside spreads out before me, patches of green under a cloudless blue sky, with a farmhouse and barn in the distance and horses grazing in a small pasture to my right.
When selecting a home site, “The best thing to do is go as far out as you can get,” Wright, a notorious anti-urbanist, advises in “The Natural House,” published in 1954 as a guide to building the Usonian house, the acronym he coined for the United States of North America. Usonian houses were affordable, single-story dwellings for the middle class; over his long career he built more than 100 of them, including the Duncan House.
At 5:30, I pull onto the private road leading to the Duncan House. There’s a pickup truck crossing the one-lane bridge up ahead; the driver is Tom Papinchak, the house’s owner. We wave and I follow him through the dense, deciduous forest up to the house, a long, low ranch in a clearing at the end of a winding road.
“I’m ready for my night in the woods, Tom,” I say, gravel crunching underfoot as I follow him through the side door under the carport. This old screen door with its patina of scuffs and scratches must have been the one Don and Elizabeth Duncan used every day, not the big double doors at the main entrance.
The Duncans built this house in Lisle, Ill., in 1957. Fifty years later, I’m walking into their kitchen on a hilltop in Western Pennsylvania’s Laurel Mountains. No time-space warp at work here; just old-fashioned ingenuity — and a vision to link four houses in the Laurel Highlands with Wright associations.
A low-key resort
After Don Duncan’s death at age 95 in 2002, his estate sold the house and its 15 acres to a developer who didn’t want the building but agreed to work with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy to find a new location for it. In April 2004, the 2,200-square-foot house was deconstructed and moved to Johnstown, where it was to become an educational center for 20th-century architecture and design on the grounds of a proposed botanical garden at Sandyvale Cemetery, the town’s oldest burial ground. Papinchak, a young Westmoreland County home builder and carpenter, would be the general contractor.
He and his wife, Heather, had an interest in Wright; they had purchased 125 acres near Acme, Westmoreland County, that held two Wrightian weekend houses designed in the 1960s by former Taliesin apprentice Peter Berndtson for Pittsburgh businessmen James Balter and Harry Blum.
When the Johnstown plan fell through for lack of funding, a new one evolved — move the house to the Papinchaks’ land and open it as a guest house that also would accommodate tours and seminars. The state helped with a $200,000 First Industry Fund tourism loan, and many suppliers donated materials.
“Why wouldn’t I want to do this?” says Papinchak, who led a small crew in the yearlong reconstruction. “I already had the land and the company to build the house.”
What he didn’t have were construction plans, although there were detailed photographs and drawings documenting the deconstruction, and each piece had been lettered and numbered.
“Once we caught on to the system, we were all right,” he said. “I was like, ‘Give me a 2AF1!’ ”
Berndtson’s 1962 master plan for the site had called for 24 houses, each set within a 300-foot circular clearing in the woods, but only the Blum and Balter houses were built. Today the property, laced with about five miles of hiking trails, is a low-key resort called Polymath Park, the name given the land by its previous owner and which Papinchak retained. Lodging is available in the Duncan and Balter houses; the Blum House will serve as the visitor center, cafe, spa and gift shop when it opens later this month.
Close to two other Wright houses — it’s about 15 miles to Fallingwater and 30 to Kentuck Knob — the Duncan House is one of only six Wright houses in the country that accommodate overnight guests.
Because of Wright pilgrims, “We’ve been full almost every night,” Papinchak says.
An open plan
The place is decidedly more homey than it was at the ribbon-cutting on June 14. There are towels in the bathrooms and a microwave, small fridge, toaster oven and hot-and-cold water dispenser in the breakfast room off the kitchen. A note left on the kitchen island, surfaced in the original red-linen laminate, advises against using the house’s cooktop range, dishwasher, big pink refrigerator and oven, “to preserve the historical integrity.”
But look, there’s a bowl of fruit on the table in the breakfast room, a nice, welcoming touch. I make a beeline for the grapes.
Plastic! What a letdown. Then I laugh. Very 1957. I heat up my leftover soup in the microwave, then paw through the basket of snacks on top of it, settling for a small bag of “fruit crisps.” Very 2007.
And that’s the way it is throughout the Duncan House: One minute you’re in the 1950s in the kitchen, fantasizing about what Elizabeth Duncan cooked and looked like, and the next President Bush is commuting Scooter Libby’s sentence on MSNBC in the master bedroom. Happily, the living room is TV-free, and the overall ambience, furniture-wise, is mid-century modern.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s enter the house like the guests we are, through the double doors. Here Wright is up to his old tricks, compressing space overhead in the entrance hall before opening it up to the great expanse of the sunken living room. Three steps down and we’re in it, marveling that a room that feels this big could be contained in a house that, from the outside, looks so small. Straight ahead, there’s a view of the stone-walled terrace through a span of glass-paneled doors.
To the right is the stone fireplace wall, where the living room flows into the dining room, which flows into the cork-floored kitchen, unusually large for a Wright house.
With a small kitchen, “We have more money to spend on spaciousness for the rest of the house,” he writes in “The Natural House.” But in the Usonian houses, Wright saw the kitchen as an extension of the living room.
“Back in farm days there was but one big living room, a stove in it,” he wrote. “And Ma was there cooking … .”
Well, Ma’s not cooking tonight, so let’s get on with the tour, back through the living room and up the three steps to the long hall Wright called the gallery, which runs along the front of the house and is lined on one side with built-in cupboards designed for storage within and display above. Off the gallery are two small bedrooms and a bath; another bath is on the opposite side of the master bedroom, located at the end of the gallery.
Downstairs, but off limits to overnight guests, is a conference room with its own stone fireplace and terrace.
Concrete to stone
I plug in my laptop at the kitchen table and start to write. The house is wireless, so I curse myself (again) for not having a wireless card. Then I curse the cursing. Relaaaax, I tell myself. There was no Internet in 1957.
At 8:30, the sun is dipping below the tree line and throwing golden rectangles on the stone fireplace wall. There were no stones in the house when the Duncans owned it; they opted for the less expensive concrete block. But the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy told the Papinchaks that stone would be an appropriate upgrade, if they could afford it. It also would be a better fit with the house’s rugged, rocky new surroundings.
The house was full of natural light in late afternoon.
“Orientation was a key factor,” Papinchak said, adding that the house is south-facing, the same way it was in Lisle. But with the sun going down, it’s time to turn on some lights.
Artificial lighting, Wright writes, should be “as near daylighting as possible.” He used recessed lighting in ceilings to create the effect of natural light. But the Duncan House rooms are too evenly illuminated at night; for me they lack drama and hominess. The Papinchaks have provided some table lamps, but the house could use more, especially in the bedrooms. My reading-in-bed plan thwarted, I veg in front of the tube until I fall asleep.
At 5 a.m. I wake to a brightening sky and bird songs. I should get up, but I roll over. At 7:30 I’m faced with two choices — the master bath with a glass-walled shower facing the woods or the windowless bath next door. I opt for the warmer, cave-like bath.
After breakfast I visit the nearby Blum and Balter houses, separated from each other by a broad meadow with a view of the Laurel Ridge.
And after a lingering look, it’s time for my reluctant return to the city.
First published at PG NOW on August 3, 2007 at 12:11 pm
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Bedford Springs course put back on map
By Rick Starr
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 22, 2007Many golf courses would be proud to claim either Donald Ross or A.W. Tillinghast as its designer. Bedford Springs Resort Old Course displays the work of both architects from the “Golden Age” of golf course design.
The classic 18-hole course, which just reopened for public play, offers a rare chance to not just study their hole designs, but play them.
Bedford Springs is back on the golf destination map following a $120 million renovation and restoration of the links and 216-room hotel by Bedford Resort Partners, Ltd.
Green fees range from $110 to $135.
The resort reopened July 12 after being closed for almost two decades. It was virtually abandoned in 1986, just two years after the Department of the Interior designated its hotel and spa as a National Historic Landmark.
Located about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, Bedford Springs Old Course now welcomes a new generation of golfers.
While the hotel dates to 1804 (Vice President Aaron Burr was one of its original guests), golf didn’t arrive on the scene until 1895.
Spencer Oldham built the original 18-hole layout, complete with geometric designs such as the S-curve and donut bunkers, which have been restored on the third hole.
In 1912, while cutting it back to a nine-hole layout, Tillinghast designed a classic little 130-yard par-3 hole (now the 14th hole) which he named “Tiny Tim.”
Ross kept “Tiny Tim” intact when he redesigned the course in 1923. Even Ross couldn’t improve on Tillinghast’s use of mounding, wetlands, a creek, pond and tight bunkering on the short hole.
“Tiny Tim” stretches from 108 to 138 yards, and Tillinghast later wrote about the 13 little mounds on the left, referring to them as the “Alps.”
Bedford Springs superintendent David Swartzel said Ross’ work is obvious on holes No. 4 through 9, which follow the flood plain of Shober’s Run, one of the states Gold Medal trout streams.
“We created a lot of habitat for trout during our construction,” Swartzel said.
While only 6,785 yards from the back tees, Bedford Springs Old Course features five par-5 holes, and five par-3 holes.
The signature par-4 sixth hole, known as Ross’ Cathedral, is cut out of a deep stand of oak and hickory.
“You could pick that hole up and put it down in Ashville, N.C., and you wouldn’t know the difference,” Bedford Springs golf pro Ron Leporati said. “Beautiful is the only word to describe it.”
Architect Ron Forse, whose Forse Design team specializes in golf course restorations, rebuilt every course feature at Bedford Springs, from the bunkers to the bent grass fairways, greens and tees.
“It’s all new, but it’s not a new style of architecture,” Swartzel said.
Forse also reinstated Ross’ original closing holes, which had been replaced by a driving range.
Bedford Springs is the 37th Ross design and 11th Tillinghast layout which Forse has restored.
“These strategic courses are forever enjoyable for every golfer’s ability,” Forse said.
About Donald Ross
No course designer had a greater impact on the American golf landscape in the first half of the last century than Donald Ross.Born in 1872 in the north Sottish coastal town of Dornoch, he arrived in the United States in 1899 to build the Oakley Golf Club near Boston.
Before his death in 1948, Ross built or designed 413 courses, and his work still can be seen across New England, the midwest, and southeast coast.
Over 100 national championships have been played on his courses.
Courses considered to be among his best include Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C., Oakland Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Mich., Inverness Club in Toledo, Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., and Seminole in North Palm Beach, Fla.
Given the constraints of train and car travel, Ross never saw some of his courses. He did many designs from topographic maps and blueprints which he studied in his cottage behind the third green at Pinehurst.
As Ross often said, “Golf should be a pleasure, not a penance.”
Design features
Following is a list of design features which Ross repeated in many of his golf courses:• Very little walking required from one green to the next tee.
• Short par-4s built on uphill ground.
• False fronts and openings to the front of greens to invite run-up shots.
• Fallaway slopes next to greens.
• Deep trouble over the green to punish bold golfers.
• Greens (pushup construction) sloped with the terrain for drainage.
• Subtle breaks hidden in greens.
Source: Donald Ross Society
Local connections
Following is a list of area courses designed in whole or in part by Donald Ross:• Edgewood Country Club
When Ross designed the 18-hole layout for the private club in 1921, he had to factor in the typical hilly terrain near Pittsburgh.
A total of 13 holes have drop offs behind or alongside the greens.
Edgewood, which was founded in 1898 as one of the first golf clubs in the country, took advantage of its 100th anniversary to go back to many of Ross’ original designs.
Ross’ work clearly can be seen in Edgewood’s par-3 12th hole. A slightly uphill tee shot of about 175 yards must clear the false front of the green and find the right level, or bogey quickly comes into play.
“Once you get to the green, that’s when the strokes happen,” Edgewood pro Pete Micklewright said. “It’s really a classic Donald Ross design.”
Arthur Hills redesigned the areas around Edgewood’s clubhouse in 1990.
• Immergrun Golf Course
The public course in Loretto is owned and operated by St. Francis University and has never been redesigned since Ross built it in 1917. The nine-hole layout was built as part of industrialist Charles M. Schwab’s estate. He attended the college before moving on to become president of Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel.
Golfers interested in playing a Ross design can pick up a bargain here – it’s only $8 for a walking round on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Rumors abound at Immergrun, but it’s not true Ross designed it for a left-handed golfer. (It’s true Schwab kept champagne cool in the spring house beside the ninth green, where he would pause with guests before finishing the round.)
• Rolling Rock Club
The private club near Ligonier was originally a nine-hole course designed by Ross in 1917.
Brian Silva designed nine new holes in 1997.
The course is not overly long – Ross’ front nine measures 3,066 yards – but makes up for it with its greens.
In typical Ross fashion, the greens are fast, well contoured and difficult to lag.
“I’d put our greens up against any in the country,” assistant pro Stephen Witcoski said.
Rolling Rock’s par-3 third hole features another Ross signature – hidden bunkers. The three massive bunkers are not visible from the tee.
More info: www.donaldrosssociety.org
Rick Starr can be reached at rstarr@tribweb.com or (724) 226-4691.
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4 schools in region to share preservation grant
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, July 20, 2007Four area schools of higher education will share in a $200,000 Getty Foundation grant aimed at preserving the individual campuses’ historic buildings and landscapes.
Each of the four schools — Seton Hill University, Washington & Jefferson College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and California University of Pennsylvania — also contributed $10,000 to the effort.The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation announced the Campus Heritage grant. A foundation team will begin studying the schools this month, concluding in March 2009.
“The benefit is they get a very complete analysis of their historic buildings,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “Even if they are in perfect condition, they get a plan for future maintenance; recommendations for restoration; disability (improvements); and landscaping — down to how to prune a bush properly that might have been there 50 years.”
The individual reports, Ziegler said, can assist the schools with fund-raising to implement specific plans.
According to the Getty Foundation Web site, each of the schools exhibits a range of design in its academic buildings, distinctive campus planning and landscapes, and individual structures that represent American architectural history both locally and nationally.“They all have historic buildings, and/-or historic landscapes,” Ziegler said. “They are small in size, not likely to apply individually. And they are within easy travel distance for our team. And they were very cooperative. … We went to several and said: ‘In our view, you would qualify.’ These four were very enthusiastic.”
Seton Hill’s winding entrance drive is lined by 80 sycamore trees that are 100 years old, spokeswoman Becca Baker said. She called its historic buildings “a campus treasure.”
“Once we receive the conservation plan for Seton Hill — which will detail the PHLF’s recommendations for the preservation, conservation and continued use of our historic buildings — we plan to incorporate the recommendations into our campus master plan,” Baker said.
McMillan Hall, built in 1793, and Old Main, built in 1836, are Washington & Jefferson College’s flagship buildings, said Kristen Gurdin, director of foundation and legal affairs. McMillan Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“One of the unique features of Old Main is that it has two towers,” Gurdin said.
After the Civil War, Washington College and Jefferson College united because of the loss of student soldiers. The towers represent the two schools.
“One of the benefits (of the study) will be the strategic assessment of the campus all at one time,” Gurdin said.
IUP’s Sutton Hall and Breezedale Alumni Center, and California’s Old Main, are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places — a consideration in their candidacies for the Getty grant, Ziegler said.
“During this final year of the Campus Heritage initiative,” said Getty Foundation Director Deborah Marrow in a news release, “we are pleased to fund the preservation planning for four of Pennsylvania’s historically important campuses.”
Two years ago, a similar grant was awarded to Allegheny College, Geneva College, Slippery Rock University and Grove City College. The earlier round of grants included funding from the Allegheny Foundation, said Ziegler.
Mary Pickels can be reached at mpickels@tribweb.com or (724) 836-5401.
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Getty Foundation Grant to Support Historic Campus Heritage Program
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation announced today it has received a Campus Heritage grant from the Getty Foundation. It will enable Landmarks to undertake conservation planning studies of buildings and landscapes of four major Western Pennsylvania colleges and universities: Seton Hill, Washington and Jefferson, Indiana U. of PA, and California U. of PA. This is the second Campus Heritage grant to Landmarks from the Getty Foundation.
“The Getty’s peer review committee is impressed by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation emphasis upon collaboration among several educational institutions,” said Getty Foundation Director, Deborah Marrow. During this final year of the Campus Heritage initiative, we are pleased to fund the preservation planning for four of Pennsylvania’s historically important campuses.”
The purpose of the Campus Heritage program is to encourage colleges and universities to develop preservation plans for their historic buildings and landscapes. Getty Foundation awarded a previous grant to Landmarks in 2005 to enable it to study the historic campuses of Allegheny College, Geneva College, Slippery Rock University, and Grove City College. The reports of Landmarks were enthusiastically received by the presidents, staff, faculty and students of all four institutions and has already resulted in successful fund-raising by the schools to begin to implement the plans.
“This grant brings notable and significant outside recognition and assistance to our rich collection of historic colleges and universities scattered throughout Western Pennsylvania, “said Arthur Ziegler, President of Landmarks. We look forward to another year of intensive activity together with developing educational programs with these institutions to involve faculty, students, and staff in a useful learning process with the professional staff and consultants of Landmarks.”
The work will begin in July and be concluded by March 31, 2009. The team will be Eugene Matta, Landmarks Director of Real Estate and Special Development Projects, who will manage the project; Thomas Keffer, Property Restoration Manager; Landmarks Design Associates, architects; and Liberto Landscape Design, all of whom are local and who worked successfully on the first Campus Heritage Grant.
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Planners review North Side stable development
By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007A North Side building being considered for historic designation by City Council could someday give new meaning to the phrase “stable living arrangements.”
The Allegheny Stables, built by Allegheny City leaders as a place to house their Department of Public Works horses, appears poised for designation as a historic structure. If City Council approves the designation at its July 17 meeting, the building would be saved from possible demolition, clearing the way for developers to turn it into condominiums.
“It is one of the last vestiges of the City of Allegheny’s history,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference.
The building, in the 800 block of West North Avenue in the neighborhood of Allegheny West, is owned by Rutledge Equipment Co., according to Allegheny County real estate records. Menzock Scrap Inc., which owns a tiny scrap yard behind the former stables, wanted to buy and raze the building so the yard could be expanded, Fatla said.
Neither Rutledge Equipment nor Menzock Scrap could be reached for comment.
The former stables are surrounded by Victorian-era industrial buildings. Companies today prefer one-story, open floor plans to the old style of thin, multi-floor designs of the other buildings on the street. As a result, they’ve sat vacant for years, said Jim Wallace, chairman of the Allegheny West Civic Council’s Housing and Planning Committee.
But the old, detailed style of architecture common to the street and its proximity to Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park make the area ripe for loft-style apartments and condominiums, Fatla said.
That is, if neighborhood advocates can keep the buildings from being knocked down.
Preservationists and community leaders ultimately want the area designated as a historic neighborhood, which they said would preserve its unique architecture. Since the Allegheny Stables were in danger of being demolished first, the group started there — and got the blessing of the city’s planning and historic preservation commissions.
“People have returned to these neighborhoods for something they can’t get anywhere else,” Fatla said. “More and more homes are getting restored.”
The next step is organizing development of the entire block. Otherwise, once one condominium is finished, the first residents would have only abandoned industrial buildings as neighbors.
Should no one be keen on living in a former stable, Timothy G. Zinn, a co-author of the proposal for the building’s historic designation, urged them to consider this: It was a really nice stable.
“This would have been like a horse palace, almost,” said Zinn, 43, a historic preservationist with the Michael Baker Corp. architectural firm. “This had to be the most well-appointed of all the stable buildings. There’s nice architectural detailing and wonderful brickwork.”
Zinn said state records indicate 15 stables were built throughout Allegheny City, which became part of Pittsburgh after a controversial annexation in 1907.
The rest of the stables “were not like this,” Zinn said. “This was certainly the most grand structure.”
Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or (412) 391-0927.
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Monroeville history can be viewed on Web
By Jake Panasevich
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007In the past month, Monroeville Historical Society president Lynn Chandler has witnessed what she thinks are the organization’s most exciting changes since she became a member 27 years ago.
Those changes are allowing history to be pieced together by Monroeville natives scattered across the country.After six years of work and nearly a year of revision, the Monroeville Historical Society’s improved Web site is up and running at www.monroevillehistorical.org.
“The advantage to have an organ to reach out to the public is very important,” Chandler said. “We hear from people from all over the country. The fact that we can do all of this is wonderful.”
The site features a much-expanded “Our Photo Album” with more than 600 pictures. They are organized into different categories, such as people, events and street scenes. One category displays multiple shots of the same location that illustrate changes in the local landscape over the years.
The “Significant Houses” and “Monroeville’s History” sections have been updated and expanded with the help of feedback given by visitors to the site.
The society’s Web designer, Jeff Federoff, said the information on the site is presented more clearly, and it’s easier to navigate. It allows visitors to search and download articles with ease, he said.
“There’s more menu options available,” said Federoff, a Monroeville native who now lives in Forest Hills. “You can view articles faster with the new menu options.”
Family profiles have been added to the Web site. This section contains biographical sketches of 20 families who helped shape the community. The society collected information for the profiles over the years.
The profiles are a work in progress. The society is seeking additional information on the Tilbrook, Snodgrass, Lang, Simpson, Speelman, McMasters and McGinnis families.
It is seeking comments, corrections, additional photos and ideas on how to improve the site. People can contact Louis Chandler, the Web site coordinator, and Lynn Chandler’s husband, at lchan@alltel.net or 724-327-6164.
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Building on Saltsburg history
By Paul Paterra
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007A builder is doing his part to preserve the historic flavor of downtown Saltsburg, and he’s hoping to entice new residents in the process.
Bob Sekora, of Salem, purchased buildings at 214 and 216 Washington St., as well as the structure in the rear of one of the buildings, which he’s converting into three townhouses that might be ready for tenants in two or three months.
“I’m a retired engineer, and I’m always building something or restoring something,” Sekora said.
He’s giving the buildings a modern touch with insulation and gutters, but the structures willl retain their 19th-century look, including colonial-style shutters and traditional color schemes.
The buildings are deeply connected to Saltsburg’s history. The Indiana County borough of little more than 900 residents was founded in 1769 where the Kiskiminetas River is formed by the convergence of the Conemaugh River and Loyalhanna Creek.
The stone house at 214 Washington St. is the town’s oldest building, reportedly constructed in 1827. In the Pennsylvania Canal’s heyday, brothers Robert and William McIlwain established a general store there.The brick building at 216 Washington St. once housed a drugstore, along with the office of Dr. John McFarland, the town’s first physician. McFarland wore many hats throughout his life, including a stint as director of the Indiana County Medical Society. He later served in the state House of Representatives and was one of the first directors of the Northern Pennsylvania Railroad.
P.J. Hruska, council vice president, says Sekora’s plans to keep the buildings true to form are important.
“To some people, it’s life or death,” Hruska said. “I want to keep it that way myself, (but) I know it’s hard and expensive to do it that way. It looks good to people coming into town. It’s important to me personally, and I know it’s important to a lot of people in the town.”
Local historian Jack Maguire appreciates Sekora’s efforts.
“That’s important to have that attitude, to preserve that rather than just tear it down,” said Maguire, president of Historical Saltsburg Inc. and past president of the Saltsburg Area Historical Society. “It’s important to have somebody who has the energy to do that.”
Sekora wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You don’t have a historic district if you tear your structures down. We’ve removed over 180 years of changes and modifications. It’s like doing an archaeological dig on a building. It’s really the only way you can find the true history of a structure,” he said.
He’s already received inquiries from people interested in renting the townhouses, but he hasn’t decided just what he’s going to do with the other buildings.
“They can be private residences, or I can seek a permit and change the use and make them commercial,” he said.
After completing the townhouses, Sekora will focus on 214 Washington St. He’s planning to have that completed in about two years.
Sekora will call his enclave of buildings Canal Commons, because the townhouses will face Canal Park, as will the rear entrances of 214 and 216 Washington St.
Sekora, who’s doing most of the work himself with the help of some family members, hopes to plant a seed for growth in the community.
“Saltsburg is a well-kept secret,” Sekora said. “You have everything you want here. It’s a very peaceful, quiet community. There’s a very broad range of ages. There’s a lot of senior citizens, but you also see a lot of youth. It’s a family community. There’s going to be more people coming. There’s more restoring that’s going to be done.”
Paul Paterra can be reached at ppaterra@tribweb.com or (724) 836-6220.