Category Archive: Historic Properties
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Preservationist seeks delay in sale of land for library
Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Rich Lord,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA historic preservationist yesterday asked Pittsburgh City Council to withhold approval of a land sale that would allow the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to move its Allegheny Regional branch, warning that he and others may sue.
David Tessitor argued in a letter to Council President Doug Shields that because the old library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, federal and state law demand that a study be done before it is altered.
He said he and others will “pursue legal remedies” should council approve the sale of a Central North Side plot to the library system without analysis of alternatives. The sale is on the agenda for council’s meeting today, and if not aproved would need to be reintroduced next year.
The Allegheny Regional branch in Allegheny Center was damaged by lightning in April 2006, and has been closed ever since. The library system wants to move it to the corner of Federal and Parkhurst streets, near the Federal North development.
“The longer the process goes on, the longer there isn’t library service,” said Suzanne Thinnes, communications manager for the library system. There is paperwork to be done even after the city approves the sale of the plot, now owned by its Urban Redevelopment Authority. “Barring any complications, or any unforeseen circumstances, the groundbreaking will occur in April.”
The old library, though repaired since the lightning strike, is inconvenient and inefficient, the library system has argued. It is now being used to house rare books and artifacts, and Ms. Thinnes said no decision has been made regarding its future. It is owned by the city.
“I guess we would all like to see the library stay in the library,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. At the same time, he added, “We have to be sympathetic to the library’s economic situation. … I wish we had time to get to a global solution.”
Mr. Tessitor, of Allegheny West, and other activists engineered a Dec. 18 public hearing on the library’s fate. “That’s important to the federal courts, that you’ve done everything you can” before suing, he said.
Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
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Future of historical buildings precarious
By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, December 24, 2007The stone house built two centuries ago by John Woods played host to the movers and shakers of its day but stands silent, its windows and doors boarded shut.
Composer Stephen Foster was a frequent visitor to the two-story home in Hazelwood, often entertaining the Woods family and their guests by playing guitar or piano.“They would be the local leaders of the day — judges, mayors, town leaders. The social register of that period,” said Deane Root, a University of Pittsburgh professor and director of the Center for American Music.
“They would read poetry or sing,” Root said. Foster loved to hear Woods’ daughters sing the songs of the day.
As Pittsburgh readies to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2008, Root is thankful the vacant Woods house is standing because it is one of the oldest, tangible connections to the origins of the city.
“Why don’t we appreciate that? What’s wrong? Why do we always have to live life as if we were the first ones here?” Root said.The home, built in 1792, is among 589 sites in Southwestern Pennsylvania that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one of three surviving 18th century structures in Pittsburgh.
Some of the buildings have been lovingly restored; others never will be. One building — the oldest structure designed by an architect in Pittsburgh — is for sale.
“Competition for restoration dollars is very keen,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which did work to stabilize the Woods house in 2003 in conjunction with the Hazelwood Initiative.
Those looking to buy and renovate a historic structure won’t get any help from the state or federal government, said Bill Callahan, community preservation coordinator at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission’s Bureau for Historic Preservation.
“There are no monies available for owner/occupied structures for preservation purposes,” he said. “I get phone calls every day about that. I wish I could give them a different answer.”
That leaves communities, local history groups or private citizens scrambling to preserve the buildings.
“We’ve got these gems in the community. It’s interesting what they could be,” said Jim Richter, director of the Hazelwood Initiative.
But the price of restoration is high.
The cost of a historical preservation of the Woods home has been estimated at $600,000. Just to make it liveable would cost $200,000, Richter said. A century-old Carnegie library down the street needs $900,000 in repairs.
Woods, the first surveyor of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, was a state senator in 1797 and elected to the 14th Congress in 1815. He died in 1817 at age 55.
The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh in 2005 included the Woods home among its top 10 historical renovation opportunities.
“It’s a very important house. It needs a sponsor, a chief advocate,” said Dan Holland, who founded the association.
In Westmoreland County, Don and Cordelia Miller of Irwin bought Brush Hill, one of the first “mansion-style” homes constructed west of the Appalachians, 30 years ago and have been carefully restoring it since.
“You have to love it. I basically work on it full time,” Don Miller said about the home that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Brush Hill was built by Col. John Irwin, the town’s namesake, and was the largest of Irwin’s three plantations. Work on the Federal-style, two-story fieldstone home began in 1792, Miller said.
Materials used in its construction came from the area, he said.
“The stone was quarried here, the nails were handmade,” Miller said.
Living in a house this old isn’t for everyone, said Miller, a retired engineer. Homes of the era didn’t come with bathrooms so finding space to include such modern amenities must be included in the planning, he said.
There are other aspects peculiar to the times.
“Every window was a different size,” Cordelia Miller said.
The Millers have demolished a later addition to the house, renovated the kitchen and removed six inches of carpet, concrete and other flooring to reach the original wood floors. Future projects include replacing a slate roof that was added in the 1800s.
—Rich heritage
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s rich heritage is reflected in the number of sites registered as national historic places.Allegheny County — 207
Armstrong County — 18
Beaver County — 20
Butler County — 10
Fayette County — 72
Greene County — 46
Indiana County — 27
Somerset County — 32
Washington County — 104
Westmoreland County — 53
Source: The Pennsylvania History and Museum Commission
Testaments to the past
The region’s oldest buildings include:
• The Fort Pitt Blockhouse, built in 1764. It’s Pittsburgh’s earliest building and the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. The five-sided, two-story building constructed by Col. Henry Bouquet is in Point State Park and administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
• The Neill Log House was built about 1787 in Schenley Park. The Neills, who owned 262 acres in the northern section of the park, moved in 1795 to what is now Market Square. After their deaths, the log house and property were handed down to different people before being sold to Col. James O’Hara and his granddaughter Mary Schenley, who gave the property to the city in 1889. The Neill house received a City of Pittsburgh historic designation on Feb. 22, 1977.
• The Burke Building, 209 Fourth St., is the oldest building in Pittsburgh designed by an architect. The Greek revival-style, 3-story structure was built in 1836. The building was designed by William Chislett for Robert and Andrew Burke, attorneys active in land development in Pittsburgh. It has been the home of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for 10 years. The sale of the building is under negotiation.
• Nemacolin Castle was built in Brownsville by stages between 1789 and 1900 by several generations of the Jacob Bowman family. The 22-room castle features a three-story octagonal tower and a squared third-story tower room. Jacob Bowman operated a trading post at the site and was named commissary to government troops during the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1795, he was commissioned justice of the peace and was named Brownsville’s first postmaster by President Washington. The castle, owned by the county and maintained by the Brownsville Historical Society, is a museum.
• The David Bradford House was built in Washington in 1788. Bradford was one of the leading lawyers and politicians of the area, serving as deputy attorney general for Washington County and as a delegate to the Whiskey Rebellion conferences in 1791 and 1792. The home is owned by the state and is a museum.
Craig Smith can be reached at csmith@tribweb.com or 412-380-5646.
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North Side library debate at historic dimension
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 19, 2007Supporters of a new Carnegie library on Federal Street say the city can develop the North Side and still preserve a 117-year-old branch that has been closed for 20 months.
Annette Green, 66, of the North Side told City Council on Tuesday evening that redevelopment does not have to wipe out historic preservation.
“The two can live together in peace,” she said at a public hearing on the proposed relocation of the library.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh wants to move its Allegheny Regional branch from 5 Allegheny Square to 1210 Federal St. City Council is considering a resolution authorizing the transfer of the Federal Street property from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to the Carnegie Library.
The Allegheny Square site has been closed since April 7, 2006, when lightning struck the clock tower, causing a piece of granite weighing several hundred pounds to fall into the second-floor lecture hall. A 1-ton chunk of rock destroyed the building’s heating and cooling system.
The lightning caused more than $2 million in damage. Insurance covered most of the cost.
The damage has been repaired, but library officials want the building, which opened in 1890, to stay closed and construct the new branch. The Federal Street site is near the old Garden Theatre, a former X-rated movie house that is being restored as part of a North Side development project
“We believe in the importance of historic preservation,” said North Side resident David McMunn. “We also believe in redevelopment and appreciate a more accessible and updated library.”
Carnegie Library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes said the new library would have 15,000 square feet of space, compared to 12,000 feet in the Allegheny Square building. She said it would provide access for the handicapped and parents with strollers, have wireless Internet access, a teen section and more children’s programming.
The new building would house historic collections such as directories, meeting minutes and newspaper clippings of the former Allegheny City, a community that was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907.
But opponents of the move complained that Carnegie Library had decided on relocating before getting public input or considering alternatives.
“I urge you to rethink your abandonment of this building,” said Mary Barbush, 54, of Allegheny West.
Another North Side resident, David Tessitor, expressed concern about the fate of the building. It was named a historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1970 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
“The No. 1 asset that the North Side has, besides the people who live here, is its historic character,” Tessitor said.
Carnegie Library hopes to break ground for the building in the spring and open it in 2009.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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Library’s plan to build anew on North Side meets strong opposition
Monday, December 17, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen Carnegie Library officials decided last year not to reopen the Allegheny Regional branch — the second Carnegie Library in the country and one that had been damaged in April 2006 by lightning — traditionalists and preservationists were livid.
After heated public meetings, most North Siders accepted plans for new construction at the site at Federal and Parkhurst streets, even some persnickety advocates of preservation.
The hoped-for groundbreaking this fall is now set back to spring, but there could be another delay.
Two weeks ago, in the wake of City Council’s draft of a resolution to approve transfer of land for the new library, it received a petition for a public hearing, from people who want to reopen the old branch. The hearing will be tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Center. (To speak before council, register in advance by calling the city clerk’s office at 412-255-2138.)
The library’s administration has been unequivocal about the need to leave the current location, but one petitioner, Glenn Walsh of Mt. Lebanon, wrote in an e-mail, “Carnegie Library is not a private club that can do as they please. Carnegie Library is a public trust, funded by the taxpayers! They operate out of buildings owned by the taxpayers. This is all intentional, the specific will of Andrew Carnegie.”
Of 58 petitioners, 16 live outside the North Side but in Allegheny County. Two live near Harrisburg.
Most are residents of Allegheny West, whose civic council in November 2006 opposed the relocation in its minutes, said Gloria Rayman, the civic council president.
“We also support opening Federal and East Ohio streets [cutting through a traffic circle] to make the existing library building more viable,” she said.
The site of the new construction at 1210 Federal St. in the Central North Side, was approved unanimously by that neighborhood council in September 2006, said Claudia Keyes, president of the board.
The Manchester Citizens Corp. and East Allegheny Community Council have not taken positions.
Of 19 library branches to be updated, six have been completed, either by renovation or new building, said library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes. The Allegheny branch jumped to the front in priority after the lightning hit. While subsequent repairs cost $2 million, library officials had already determined that the cost of adapting the building for energy efficiency, accessibility and technological upgrades could not be justified against the needs of the other branches. There has been no service at the library for the past 18 months.
The proposed new building would be 15,000 square feet and include a children’s room and program space, a separate area for teens, a meeting room and a room for Allegheny City history materials.
Tomorrow’s hearing prompted a rash of chat on North Side Web sites, most in favor of the move.
The branch in Allegheny Center, with its Richardsonian Romanesque style, is protected from demolition by historic status.
Denise Mahone, a young mother on the Central North Side, credits the Carnegie’s decision to build on a stretch that, for years, has not been child friendly or socially well integrated.
She said the Federal Street location was “site specific in the best sense of the term.”
“Preservation and new spaces are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “In this neighborhood, the emphasis will always be to marry the historic with places that reflect the present.”
David Shlapak, a Central North Sider, said the fight against a new library “is a classic case of people knowing how to spend other people’s money.”
“We can continue to fight until we get a perfect solution no one can pay for, or we can say, ‘This is a positive step, let’s go forward.’
“The Federal-North corridor is the heart of the North Side, and revitalizing that area should be a high priority,” he said.
Petitioners, however, say the best way to preserve Carnegie Library buildings is to use them as libraries.
David Tessitor, an Allegheny West resident who spearheaded the petition drive with Mr. Walsh, said the new construction “is a way to support under-performing real estate speculation projects” at Federal-North while the best chance for success on Federal is to build north from Allegheny Center by first unblocking its arteries.
“There’s a strong sense among neighborhood residents of seeing Ohio Street opened through and Federal reconnected” by getting rid of Allegheny Center’s traffic circle,” Mr. Tessitor said.
“With the library gone, there’s less impetus for that to happen. When we build new, we undermine the history that’s there.”
Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or412-263-1626.
First published on December 17, 2007 at 12:00 am -
Banks reborn as nightclubs, restaurants and a spa
By The Tribune-Review
Thursday, December 13, 2007Back in the day, banks were built with a grandeur and strength in both material and design.
These magnificent shrines to commerce were built with tall granite columns, marble counters and brass cashier cages. The structures spoke of trust, reliability and permanence.
Fast-forward to the next century, and enter the world of credit cards, ATM machines and online banking.
The permanence of those banks as imposing buildings remains, but many have been renovated into new establishments, such as clubs, coffeehouses, condos, restaurants — and even a spa.
Here are a handful found throughout the area — and one with plans for the future.
CARSON CITY SALOON, SOUTH SIDE
You want a nightclub, you want a big, sturdy, solid building. Something that the bass from a Timbaland or Kanye West track isn’t going to shake apart. So why not a bank?
Carson City Saloon inhabits a space built for the German National Depository in 1896. It also was a Mellon Bank, then a Citizens Bank. Typical for its time, the massively imposing, thick-walled neoclassical building conveys fortress-like safety and stability. It’s an attractive structure, if not particularly festive or fun.
But inside, it has been totally transformed into a spacious, high-ceilinged cavern of sports, television and beer. One thing that remains from its bank beginnings is the giant, steel walk-in vault in the far back wall. Once, it probably served to reassure customers and intimidate potential robbers. Now, it’s just another decoration on the wall between the kitchen and the digital jukebox.
Carson City Saloon, 1401 E. Carson St., South Side. Hours: 11:45 a.m.-1:45 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, noon-midnight Sundays. Details: 412-481-3203.
PERK COFFEE GALLERY, WEST END
The vault of a West End bank is now a treasure house of coffee, wraps, soups, sandwiches and an ever-changing selection of home-cooked entrees. New to the scene as of Nov. 17, Perk Coffee Gallery began serving customers in the safe deposit vault where generations of banking clients once stored their valuables.
Toni Herd, a Munhall resident and the owner of Perk Coffee Gallery, was looking for a space to open a coffee shop and art gallery that would become part of the West End’s revitalization. An artist friend told her about this available space.
Constructed in 1927 for the West End Savings and Trust Co., the building had been subdivided into an indoor mini-mall for shops and a National City Bank branch office.
Herd fell in love with the tiny space, especially when she learned she could fill the adjoining vault with tables and chairs for her customers.
She offers homemade dishes such as macaroni and cheese or green beans and smoked turkey alongside the lighter options that include vegan wraps, red beans and greens salads. The $6.25 Saturday lunch special menu features smoked and barbecued ribs or chicken, collard greens or baked beans, a corn muffin and a choice of cole slaw or potato salad.
Right now, most of Herd’s customers are people who work in the neighborhood. But there’s a number of art galleries nearby, and the walls of Perk Coffee Gallery are lined with original artworks created by Herd and other local artists.
“I’m hoping the area will become a place (for artists and their customers) to hang out comfortably,” she says.
Perk Coffee Gallery, 22 Wabash St., West End. Hours: 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Details: 412-773-1057.
ROCKWELL’S RED LION RESTAURANT, ELIZABETH
The building that houses Rockwell’s Red Lion Restaurant in Elizabeth originally was built for the First National Bank of Elizabeth in 1906. The bank closed its doors permanently seven years later. The building housed a drugstore and a second-hand store and stood vacant until the Rockwell family purchased and renovated it, opening the restaurant May 14, 1980.
Framed old photos on the restaurant walls are a reminder of life in Elizabeth as far back as the late 1800s.
The restaurant is run by Orrie Rockwell Jr. and his children, Lynn McHolme, who runs the business office, and Orrie Rockwell III, who is the chef. The menu changes periodically to feature seasonal dishes. Chef Orrie’s specialties include roasted duck with blackberry and black cherry demi-glaze ($21.95), salmon with blueberry glaze ($16.95) and chicken with apricot glaze ($14.95).
The restaurant will hold a Christmas wine tasting and dinner Dec. 22. Cost of the four-course meal is $40.
Rockwell’s Red Lion Restaurant, 201 Second St., Elizabeth. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays. Details: 412-384-3909.
THE VAULT COFFEE & TEA BAR, BRIGHTON HEIGHTS
There are banks, and then there are savings and loans. The former typically is a marble-floored financial institution whose Doric columns and gilded ceilings radiate fiduciary gravitas. The latter is the bank’s folksy cousin, with functional carpeting and color schemes that recall the Brady Bunch rec room.
It makes sense that The Vault Coffee & Tea Bar, a mainstay of the Brighton Heights business district, should take up residence in a former savings and loan. Its homely intimacy serves its quirky sensibility well.
You won’t find a bank vault in The Vault — at least not on the main floor. But you will enjoy spotting vestiges of its former life while you wait for barista Matt Haberman or owner Bradley Richards to make your espresso.
The small lectern where folks used to fill out deposit slips now holds napkins. Beneath a sign that proclaims “Today’s Interest Rates” is a menu that touts stuffed grape leaves, Chicken Feta Mojo, bagels or toast. Another sign invites customers to “angry up” their usual cup of Joe with a shot of espresso.
The original office couches, where anxious customers waited for loan approval, now serve as posterior magnets in the small upstairs balcony. It’s strewn with laptops and back issues of Spin. If the coffee doesn’t wake you up, the loud blue walls will.
Customers Michele Knickerbocker and Michelle Ligon, both nursing students and moms, park themselves by the counter, where bank tellers reportedly served customers from behind bulletproof glass.
“I have two kids, and you can bring them here,” Knickerbocker says. “People don’t act annoyed that they’re around.”
The Vault Coffee & Tea Bar, 3619 California Ave., Brighton Heights. Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Details: 412-734-1935.
THE SEWICKLEY SPA, LIGONIER
Money-related puns abound with satisfied patrons at The Sewickley Spa, who often tell the owner that they got a wealth of a wonderful treatment with rich pleasures. Given that their pampering took place in a former bank vault, there’s no better way to describe it, says Dorothy Andreas Tuel, owner of the Ligonier spa that is housed in a former Mellon Bank building.
“People really get a kick out of it,” she says. “It’s a conversation piece as well as a relaxing treatment.”
Andreas Tuel — who also owns The Sewickley Spa at Sewickley, and The Sewickley Spa at Wisp Resort in Maryland — opened the Ligonier location in 2001. She says she was thrilled to discover that the Mellon Bank building was available, after looking around Ligonier for a new spot.
With plenty of open spaces, the bank building was easy to convert into a spa, she says. The building, with its granite columns, still retains some of its turn-of-the-century bank look, and some banking remnants — like a $20 bill from the 1940s — were found during the renovation. Inside the spa, visitors can get pampered with more than three dozen treatments, mostly skin and body therapy.
The Sewickley Spa, 112 N. Market St., Ligonier. Hours: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Details: 724-238-3878.
PITTSBURGH ENGINEERS BUILDING, DOWNTOWN
The former bank that now houses the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania was built in the heart of Pittsburgh’s financial district, Downtown, at the turn of the last century by famed architect Daniel H. Burnham. He also designed the Flatiron Building in New York City and Pittsburgh’s Union Station, now the Pennsylvanian, among many other buildings.
Members and guests of the Engineers’ Society have the privilege of eating inside the bank vault during daily lunches. But you’ll have to make friends with an engineer; unfortunately, the club dining room is not open to the public.
DISCOVERY & INTERACTIVE SCIENCE CENTER, GREENSBURG
A former Mellon Bank building in downtown Greensburg could become an interactive, hands-on science center if Douglas Lingsch and his wife, Mari-Pat, can make it happen.
The Bedford couple hope to open the Discovery & Interactive Science Center — run as a nonprofit, similar to the Carnegie Science Center — in the fall of 2008 or 2009.
The granite-block structure was built in 1928 for the Barclay-Westmoreland Trust Co. and has been vacant since Citizens Bank closed its branch in March 2005. In September, the Lingsches bought the vacant building for $258,000. Douglas Lingsch says it remains in good condition, and he anticipates spending about $1 million to convert it.
The lobby of the former bank would be completely renovated, and a mezzanine floor would be added to create more exhibit space. The bank’s two vaults — whose 800- to 1,000-pound doors have glass panels exposing the gears — would be part of the attraction.
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Proposal would dust off Wilkinsburg train station
By Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, December 13, 2007There’s a proposal to bring new life to the Wilkinsburg train station, which has been vacant since the 1970s.
The board of the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County last month approved a request from the county’s Department of Economic Development to apply for a $15,000 grant from the state Historical & Museum Commission.
“The funds will be used to hire a professional to evaluate what renovations are needed, and their costs, to restore the station,” said Cassandra Collinge, assistant manager of the department’s housing division.
That person also will be asked to do an environmental survey of the property and provide suggestions for re-use of the station, she said.
The station is located at Hay Street and Ross Avenue, on a site behind the CVS Pharmacy on Penn Avenue.
This is not the first attempt to renovate the station.
In 2004, a team of students from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management received a $10,000 grant from an anonymous contributor to conduct research regarding the station, including obtaining public suggestions for its use.
The students hoped to discover how the station could be used in a way that would benefit the community and boost the economy. Suggestions included a jazz museum, restaurant and cafe.
In 2005, architect Sylvester Damianos asked permission from the Wilkinsburg Municipal Authority/Wilkinsburg Borough Industrial and Commercial Development Authority to purchase the station.
Damianos said he could use the property for his offices, a community gallery and for a woodworking shop in the basement.
“We were definitely interested in doing the project, but found there were too many legal problems, because of a variety of ownerships, and we decided to drop out,” he said.
However, several groups continued to express interest in having the station preserved and reused.
Among them are Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
“We have been interested in the station for 30 years, and am happy the county has allocated funds for an architectural/engineering study to determine its current condition and how to stabilize the building,” said Arthur Ziegler, the foundation’s executive director.
“Once that is achieved, perhaps we can market the building.”
The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh has listed the station as an historic site and offered assistance to any developer interested in restoring it.
Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com or 412-320-7843.
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Pitt to spend $20M renovating University Club
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
By Bill Schackner,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe University of Pittsburgh will spend $20.2 million to convert the historic University Club building in Oakland into a faculty club and housing for families traveling to Pittsburgh for life-saving hospital treatment.
The Pitt trustees’ property and facilities committee, meeting yesterday, outlined planned uses for the eight-story building at 123 University Place that Pitt acquired in 2005.
The work is among nine renovation and construction projects worth about $67 million approved yesterday.
Floors one through four will become a 4,000-square-foot faculty club, 4,000-square-foot fitness center, 18,000-square-foot conference center and banquet facility, 4,000-square-foot kitchen facility, coffee shop and 8,000 square feet of offices, Pitt said in a statement.
The upper floors will be readied for lease to Family House Inc., a nonprofit group offering stays for families of hospital patients being treated for life-threatening conditions.
Also authorized by the committee yesterday:
• $2.3 million construction of a Wall Street-type financial analysis laboratory in the Katz graduate business school’s Mervis Hall.
• A $16.8 million expansion of the Mascaro Sustainability Initiative in the Swanson School of Engineering.
• A $3.25 million conversion of the former Old Engineering Hall second-floor library into modern laboratories for nanoscience research.
• A $5.5 million renovation of Chevron Hall’s fourth floor for uses including teaching labs.
• $4.4 million in improvements to the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure for the first floor of Langley Hall.
• $2.3 million in mechanical systems upgrades to the Victoria Building, which houses the nursing school.
• $9.8 million for energy-efficient boilers and related equipment to boost capacity at the Carrillo Street steam plant.
• $2.3 million in electrical and mechanical system upgrades for the university’s computer center at the Regional Industrial Development Corp. park in Blawnox.
Bill Schackner can be reached at bschackner@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1977.
First published on December 12, 2007 at 12:00 am -
A history of Kennywood
By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, December 12, 20071815: Charles Kenny purchases land that becomes Kennywood to mine coal.
1860s: Some of the Kenny family’s land, known as “Kenny’s Grove,” becomes a popular picnic area.
1898: The Monongahela Street Railway Co. leases Kenny’s Grove in order to open a trolley park to encourage people to use the company’s trolley cars. Railway shareholder Andrew Mellon names the park Kennywood in honor of the Kenny family and picnic area.
1902: Kennywood builds its first roller coaster, the Figure Eight Toboggan.
1906: Andrew McSwigan, Frederick Henninger and A.F. Megahan form the Pittsburg Kennywood Park Co. and lease Kennywood from Pittsburgh Street Railway Co., which acquired the Monongahela Street Railway Co. Descendants of McSwigan and Henninger remain involved with the park.
1921: Kennywood’s oldest running roller coaster, the Jack Rabbit, is built. Additional coasters include the Pippin (1924) and the Racer (1927). A swimming pool opens in 1925.
1926: The Carousel is constructed.
1930-35: Kennywood survives the Great Depression by bringing in local and national “swing” bands and sponsoring school picnics.
1936: Kennywood constructs Noah’s Ark, the same year as Pittsburgh’s St. Patrick’s Day flood.
1950s-70s: With competition from Disney Land and other so-called theme parks, Kennywood grows and adapts, adding such rides as the Rotor, the first ride imported from Europe, the Turnpike and the Thunderbolt, redesigned from the Pippin.
1981: Kennywood for the first time surpasses the 1 million visitors mark.
1985: The park adds the Raging Rapids.
1987: Kennywood is designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior, one of two amusements parks nationwide included in the National Register of Historic Places.
1991: Kennywood adds the Steel Phantom, with a top speed of 80 miles per hour, then the world’s fastest coaster.
1995: The park’s largest expansion, Lost Kennywood, based on Oakland’s Luna amusement park, is built.
1999: The indoor roller coaster, the Exterminator, is added.
2000-01: The Steel Phantom is demolished to make room for the Phantom’s Revenge.
2005: Kennywood’s owners reveal they’ve acquired about 50 acres, increasing the park’s size to about 140 acres. A $60 million expansion plan, contingent on taxes and completion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, would include a hotel and indoor water park, to be built across Kennywood Boulevard on the site of a former Kmart.
2007: Kennywood Entertainment announces agreement to sell its amusement park holdings, including Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier and Sandcastle Waterpark in West Homestead, to Parques Reunidos of Madrid.
Source: Tribune-Review research