Category Archive: Historic Properties

1. Pitt aims to preserve the Cathedral of Learning

   May 28, 2007 9:45 am

   By Bill Zlatos
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Monday, May 28, 2007

   Pitt is “redding up” the Cathedral of Learning.
   Workers from Forest Hills-based Cost Co. are hosing down the University of Pittsburgh icon to remove 70 years of soot.

   “We feel better when we’re redd up,” said Albert J. Novak, Jr., vice chancellor for institutional advancement.

   Since 2000, Cost and Pitt have experimented with everything from baking soda to chemicals to remove the grime. They settled on a mixture of water and recycled glass, an abrasive as fine as powdered sugar, because it is the least harmful to the workers, lawn and plants and does not react with the iron in the building’s Indiana limestone.

   Forty-two Cost employees have been working on the project since March. Some use pressure washers to blast the 42-story building at 70 pounds of pressure per square inch.
   Others replace broken or cracked stone and repoint the missing or loose mortar. About 40 percent of the building has been cleaned.

   The idea is not just to give the building a bath, but to restore it.

   “It’s really to save the building for another 100 years,” university architect Park L. Rankin said.

   The project will cost $4.8 million. The university plans to pay for the restoration with donations or its own money. Anyone who gives at least $1,000 will become a member of the Cathedral Preservation Society.

   “We’re coming at it from a legacy perspective — preserving the cathedral for future generations,” Novak said.

   When university officials first considered scrubbing the building, some preservationists objected, contending the soot was part of the city’s industrial heritage.

   Historical or not, the soot was harming the stone, Rankin said.

   “It doesn’t allow the stone to breathe. It clogs the pores.”

   In deference to the preservationists, the university is leaving a 3- by 2-foot section of stone black, behind the Fifth Avenue entrance.

   Besides hurting the stone, the soot hid beautiful details, such as the cast aluminum window spandrels with molded medallions made by Alcoa. The grime hid damage, such as fallen ornamental spires that will be replaced.

   Work on the restoration is expected to be finished Sept. 28.

   Cost’s crews normally work from the top down, but are working from the bottom up on this project. That’s because they don’t want to tangle with the peregrine falcons and their chicks roosting on the 39th floor.

   “If the falcons see us, they’ll try to do damage to the workmen,” company owner Corky Cost said.

   The young falcons are expected to leave June 21, and the crews will be able to clean above the 25th floor.

   Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.

2. After 70 years with no maintenance, inspectors assess Heinz Chapel

   May 26, 2007 9:49 am

   By Jodi Weigand
   For the Tribune-Review
   Saturday, May 26, 2007

   Like a scene from the movie “Mission Impossible,” a climber made his way up the inside of the spire atop Heinz Chapel, drilled a hole and dropped ropes to two accomplices waiting on the ground. The three then scaled the side of the 70-year-old building.
   “It was a first for us, having people rappel off the side of the building,” said Pat Gibbons, director of the Oakland chapel. “We got a few phone calls from people asking if we knew people were climbing around on the building.”

   The three work for Vertical Access, an Ithaca, N.Y., company that inspects buildings in extreme locations. They spent three days this month documenting damage to the chapel’s fleche, the spire at the crossing of the nave and transept. The company will submit recommendations to help determine whether to preserve, restore, or replace it.

   The project, which also involves inspection of the heating and ventilation system and the stained glass windows, is funded by a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments, which likely will work with the University of Pittsburgh to pay for repairs, Gibbons said.

   H.J. Heinz Co. founder Henry John Heinz donated the building as a memorial to his wife, Anna. Their children saw to its construction and Heinz Chapel was dedicated in 1938.
   “It was really a great project for us due to the architecture and prominence of the building,” said Vertical Access conservator Evan Kopelson. “It’s a spectacular building and just a fantastic structure.”

   It’s been 20 years since major work was done on the sheet-copper fleche, but university personnel decided it needed another look in 1995, when they found that one of the 16 hollow, metal grotesques attached to it had fallen onto the upper roof, Gibbons said.

   Vertical Access was called in for the job because it was more cost-effective than assembling scaffolding, she said.

   Even with their climbing equipment, it was difficult to scale the 9 1/2-foot fleche, Kopelson said. Modern buildings have elevators or stairs that lead to the roof, where climbers can find access points through which to drop ropes, but that was not the case with Heinz Chapel.

   “It was a challenge in terms of rigging because the internal structure wouldn’t allow access to the outside,” Kopelson said. “There were openings about halfway up the spire, but for the upper portion we had to drill a hole from the inside.”

   Once on top, the inspection team discovered that another of the 3-foot-tall grotesques had come loose, he said. The two figures will be put in storage until they can be reattached, Gibbons said.

   Overall, the fleche is in good condition and shows aging and deterioration expected with exposure to an urban environment, Kopelson said.

   “We found nothing we would call imminently hazardous,” he said. “We recommend that a pretty comprehensive restoration project should be undertaken.”

   Ellis Schmidlapp, president of Landmarks Design Associates, the architectural firm overseeing the inspection, said he doesn’t anticipate an extensive overhaul because, compared to similar structures, the fleche was designed to withstand the elements. The South Side firm will advise the university on the best action to take once it receives Vertical Access’ report, he said.

3. Turtle Creek’s historic K Building demolished

   May 24, 2007 10:26 am

   By Brian Bowling
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Thursday, May 24, 2007

   A small piece of history tumbled to the ground last week when a contractor demolished the K Building in the Keystone Commons industrial park in Turtle Creek.

   Bob Stephenson, president of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania, said the former Westinghouse office and storage building was rapidly deteriorating.

   “It was literally falling down,” he said.

   A shed on top of the eight-story building was the site of the first commercial radio broadcast when newly licensed KDKA aired the presidential election results on Nov. 2, 1920.

   Stephenson said part of the K Building site will be used for parking, but most of it will be used to improve the flow of truck traffic through the industrial park.

   A group hoping to start a broadcast museum has been documenting the building’s demolition. Rick Harris, treasurer of the National Museum of Broadcasting, said the group hopes to recreate the end of the building where the shed was located using old photographs and documents.

   A couple of factors that apparently separate the KDKA broadcast from earlier broadcasts is the audience. Most listeners before then were radio enthusiasts who built their own sets. Frank Conrad, assistant chief engineer at Westinghouse’s Pittsburgh facility, had built up an audience by doing regular broadcasts of news and music from his garage.

   Gil Schwartz, vice president of communications for CBS, worked for Westinghouse’s Group W Communications in the 1980s. He said the popularity of Conrad’s broadcasts both created a market for radio receivers and attracted the first radio advertiser — a local music store.

   “For the first time, someone linked broadcasting and advertising,” Schwartz said.

   Westinghouse began making and selling receivers to meet the market, and licensed KDKA to create the first commercial radio station, he said.

   Schwartz said Westinghouse doesn’t get the credit it deserves for historical accomplishments, and the demise of the K Building is another example of how the company is becoming a “vanishing civilization.” Many former employees now work for other broadcast companies, and meeting them is somewhat like a school reunion, he said.

   “We give each other the secret handshake,” Schwartz said with a laugh.

   Brian Bowling can be reached at bbowling@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7910.

4. Fort Pitt Block House to get new roof

   9:57 am

   By Allison M. Heinrichs
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Thursday, May 24, 2007

   Pittsburgh’s oldest building is getting a new roof.
   The Fort Pitt Block House’s cedar shake roof will be replaced starting June 1 with donated labor and materials, the Fort Pitt Society of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution announced Wednesday.

   “Every time we get a good wind, the yard is usually filled with toothpicks because the roof is just falling off,” said Kelly Linn, curator of the Block House, a National Historic Landmark in Point State Park, Downtown.

   Estimates to replace the roof, which was installed in 1948 atop a roof from 1894, were about $20,000 — much more than the Daughters of the American Revolution could afford. Linn began applying for state grants when Carnegie-based Rickjohn Roofing volunteered to do it for free.

   “I said if there’s ever a time to help out, it’s now,” said Rick Gammiere, who co-owns the roofing company with Bobby Wallo. “I visited the Block House in grade school, and it’s just really important.”
   The two-week project will give archaeologists a rare chance to look in the building’s attic. “There’s no telling what’s up there, but certainly the architectural information would be invaluable,” Linn said. “We’ll learn how the building was constructed.”

   The Block House will be closed during the roofing project, but people are welcome on the site to observe the process and ask questions daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

   Allison M. Heinrichs can be reached at aheinrichs@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5607.

5. Rebuilding Wilkinsburg

   9:51 am

   By Justin Vellucci
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Thursday, May 24, 2007

   Deanna Steele looks at Jeanette Street’s boarded-up rowhouses — their lawns choked by shoulder-high weeds — and remembers children playing on the brick-lined Wilkinsburg street when she lived there 20 years ago, long before she settled in Murrysville.
   Mary Cathcart wanders through an abandoned, five-bedroom house around the corner and sees, instead, the foundation of a future community — a neighborhood built on the potential of four soon to be refurbished historic homes.

   “I love old houses, and it overjoys me that, instead of knocking something down, they’re rebuilding it,” said Cathcart, 49, of Wilkinsburg, as she descended a dusty staircase in a home under renovation Wednesday evening.

   “They’re beautiful. And they have such good bones. They don’t build things like this anymore.”

   Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is working to ensure they’re not demolished, either. So, it secured two $500,000 grants from the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development to acquire and restore the four roughly century-old structures.

   Once the work is done in June or July, each will be sold for $75,000 to $95,000.

   Yesterday, most neighbors who flocked to a block party to walk through the homes were less excited about mortgage discounts for prospective buyers than what the investment means to the revitalization of their community.

   Sherman Moye lives around the corner from the cluster of homes developers call Hamnett Place. He sees that investment every day when he drives to work.

   “I’m glad somebody’s fixing it,” said Moye, 54, of Wilkinsburg. “I know it’s going to be nice.”

   Michelle Malito, a Shadyside resident thinking about buying one of the four homes, was impressed by the architectural details the developer is preserving.

   Jack Schmitt, who owns a massage therapy business in Squirrel Hill, liked the idea of linking the preserved homes together as part of a sustainable neighborhood.

   “I have a business in Pittsburgh, but I want to have a community,” said Schmitt, 38. “I see the vision for the future. I see an eco-village (and) a group of like-minded people.”

   Others see the project as a way to improve a residential neighborhood while triggering revitalization elsewhere.

   “You work incrementally, and you work your way in,” said Michael Gleba, executive vice president of the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which has funded historic redevelopment in the South Side and in the Mexican War Streets on the North Side. “You have an opportunity.”

   Some see Wilkinsburg’s past in the historic homes, while others see its future. Michael Sriprasert, of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, simply sees the houses themselves.

   “I see the houses as they fit into the context of what’s here,” said Sriprasert, as he strolled down the stone alleyway that runs next to one of the restored homes.

   “There’s a perception of what Wilkinsburg is. People don’t realize it’s something more,” he said. “That’s what is going on here. … That’s why we’re saving these buildings.”

   Justin Vellucci can be reached at jvellucci@tribweb.com or 412-320-7847.

6. Mt. Lebanon golf course will note centennial

   9:44 am

   By Daniel Casciato
   For the Tribune Review
   Thursday, May 24, 2007

   Pennsylvania’s oldest municipal golf course will mark another milestone in its storied history as it celebrates its centennial this summer.
   On July 7, nearly 100 years to the day a group of 30 men built three putting greens and began golfing on a 100-acre farm, Mt. Lebanon will throw two parties to celebrate the course’s origins.

   “What has made this golf course special over the years is that it has the ability to satisfy the needs of any type of golfer, whether they are a starter or golf professional,” said Matt Kluck, head Professional Golfers’ Association of America pro and manager of the Mt. Lebanon Golf Course.

   The National Golf Association recognizes it as the oldest municipal course in the state, and last month the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation designated the former private club a historical local landmark. A plaque will be displayed for the first time during the celebration.

   “We’re excited about the designation,” said Steve Dean, of Mt. Lebanon, community co-chair for the celebration and an avid golfer on the course. “The golf course is essentially in its original condition. We had a golf course architect come out to examine the course, and he said the greens were in the best condition from that era that he had ever seen.”
   Local golf legend George A. Ormiston designed the nine-hole course. Andrew W. Mellon and Richard King Mellon were among the elite members when the course was originally known as Castle Shannon Golf Club. Mt. Lebanon purchased the course in 1947.

   A facelift for the nine-hole course is being completed just in time for the celebration. Renovations began this spring to improve drainage on the bunkers and greens, add new T-boxes and bunkers and change the teeing area on the fifth hole. Planned improvements include a picnic pavilion, an indoor/outdoor learning center, a new clubhouse, a pro shop and a grill.

   “Our long-term goal is to upgrade the course so it will be more golfer-friendly for beginners and to enable faster play,” Dean said. “Nowadays, people don’t have as much discretionary time as they might have had in years past.”

   The July 7 celebration begins with a morning “Family and Friends” event costing $200 for a foursome. An afternoon event concludes with a cocktail and dessert reception featuring offerings from local restaurants and a chance to meet former Pittsburgh Steelers’ fullback Rocky Bleier and his wife, Jan, the honorary event chairs. The cost for the afternoon is $400 for a foursome, including the reception, or $50 per person for the reception only.

   “It’s going to be a wonderful time for everyone,” said event co-chair Amelia Dean, of Mt. Lebanon. “We’re planning to keep to a nostalgic theme with the event, including music and costumes from the era, and a trivia game based on facts from 1907.”

   Throughout the day, there will be free clinics, prizes and contests, including a hole-in-one contest with a $20,000 prize and a putting contest with a $10,000 prize.

7. Fort Duquesne drain discovered

   May 16, 2007 10:05 am

   By Jodi Weigand
   TRIBUNE-REVIEW
   Wednesday, May 16, 2007

   Tom Kutys knew right away that he found something special.
   Kutys, 24, whose archeology firm is monitoring the $35 million renovation of Point State Park, was working in a trench two weeks ago when he found three capstones. He thought it might be a wall, but the hollow, brick lining told him otherwise.

   “It was just three rocks with mortar between, but when we started further investigating it, things started popping up that tipped us off,” Kutys, a field technician with A.D. Marble & Company, said Tuesday.

   Archaeologists believe Kutys unearthed a 200-year-old Fort Duquesne drain that drew water away from a storehouse or munitions storage area.

   “This is, to my knowledge, the first physical evidence of Fort Duquesne that’s ever been identified since the late 18th or early 19th century, when remains were still slightly visible,” said Brooke Blades, a archeologist with A.D. Marble, based in Montgomery County.
   It is the third major archaeological discovery at the park since the start of the renovation project, which will convert the area into a festival and concert venue. Archeologists previously found decades-old human bones and part of Fort Pitt’s interior wall.

   The drain was found 2 1/2 to 4 feet below ground on the southeast side of the park’s Great Lawn area, about 40 feet south of the Fort Duquesne tracery — the brick outline of the original fort.

   “The construction (of the drain) suggests it was made in the late 18th or early 19th century, and the distance from the remains of the fort clearly argue for association with Fort Duquesne,” Blades said.

   Fort Duquesne, built by the French in 1754, was destroyed four years later as the British advanced during the French and Indian War. The British then built Fort Pitt in its place.

   Few remnants of Fort Duquesne have been found.

   Blades said archaeologists plan to follow the drain north and look for other evidence of Fort Duquesne, which might be near the surface.

   “The fact that we’re finding things argues that there may be extensive evidence of Fort Duquesne intact,” Blades said. “Probably the lowest part, because buildings would have been eradicated.”

   The archeological work will not delay renovations. The drain will be preserved and buried for a future excavation project, said Laura Fisher, senior vice president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a sponsor of the renovation project.

   “It will be covered up in the short term,” she said, “but what we hope to do is come back and have an active program for archeology in the park.”

8. Fort Duquesne remnants uncovered

   May 15, 2007 10:07 am

   By Tribune-Revew
   Tuesday, May 15, 2007

   Archaeologists have uncovered long-buried remnants of Pittsburgh’s original fort, state officials announced today.
   A drainage system that once served Fort Duquesne in the mid-1700s was found during a $35 million renovation of Point State Park, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

   The fort was later replaced by the much larger Fort Pitt, which was situated further up the Point and protected about 600 people during the French and Indian Wars in the mid-18th century.

   Park renovations have been underway since December and included the controversial burial of a section of Fort Pitt that contained original bricks. Remnants of Fort Duquesne had been buried more than 100 years ago when the Point grew into a bustling railyard.