Category Archive: Historic Properties
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A Gift With A View
Journal of Gift Planning –
3rd Quarter 2002The cover image depicts Heathside Cottage, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and constructed circa 1855 in what is now Pittsburgh, PA.
The building’s Greek revival style is rare to find with its vergeboard and other sawn-out wooden trim still present and diamond-paned sash still in the windows. The word “heath”- meaning an open area with wild shubbery – is English. It suggests the romantic seclusion this house originally had, looking southward over the then growing City of Allegheny from a vantage point of 400 feet up.
Instead of giving her home via bequest, owner Judith K Harvey granted a facade easemnt to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (Landmarks), then made a retained life estate gift. Her resulting charitable deduction permitted her to offset the income tax owed on assets rolled over from a traditonal IRA to a Roth IRA. Her planning preserved a landmark and enabled her to do it during her lifetime.
Civic Arena Update
Civic Arena
May 11, 2002, Preserving, Improving Pittsburgh with Art Ziegler (Interview)
The building is an extraordinary example of early modern design in the world. It remains a unique building, and we believe that it should not be cast aside until studies are done to see if any feasible adaptive use can be developed for it.We recognize the difficulty of reusing the building, but we have already proposed using it as a possible downtown stop for the proposed Mag-Lev. We think it might be a great African-American center of jazz and products and restaurants.
Our concern was prompted by the Penguins’ plan by UDA Architects that showed the building demolished and replaced with buildings and housing. We don’t know what the market support is for that plan, but we were concerned that they did not consider the possibility of reuse.
So what we are recommending is that studies be undertaken of the possible reuse of the Civic Arena and all the surrounding open land. There is a magnificent opportunity there for our city and we would like to see the area be utilized to its optimum and that the downtown and the Hill District be reunited through that development.
We are also advocating an open process lead by Hill District residents and business people so all interested parties can participate.
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Preserving, improving Pittsburgh with Art Ziegler
By Bill Steigerwald
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 11, 2002Four decades ago, Arthur Ziegler was a grassroots activist fighting to preserve Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods from the rampaging bulldozers of urban renewal.
Today, as president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, he is a major player in the city’s development and preservation scene.
In addition to developing Station Square into the city’s premier tourist draw for out-of-towners in the late 1970s, his group has been nationally acclaimed for preserving architectural landmarks and for restoring inner-city neighborhoods without dislocating their residents.
Ziegler played an important role in challenging — and ultimately improving — Mayor Murphy’s original, primitive plan for redeveloping Fifth and Forbes avenues Downtown. And this week his group joined with Preservation Pittsburgh to nominate the Mellon Arena for city historic designation, a move which, if enacted, would make it difficult to demolish the 41-year-old landmark. I talked to Ziegler by telephone Wednesday.
Q: Knowing what you know about the historical preservation business in this town, what are the odds that the Mellon Arena is going to be standing five years from now?
A: The odds I can’t predict. What we are asking for is simply time to see if any feasible new use can be found for the arena. If none can be found, I don’t think it will be standing. But if we can find good uses, I think it will be.
Q: What, realistically, can it be used for without competing with a new arena next door?
A: I’m assuming that it has to be uses that do not compete. That the Penguins need their new arena and they need it exclusively, so we have to find altogether different uses for this building.
We proposed one already to be studied, having it as a maglev stop for downtown Pittsburgh. If maglev is built, it would make a fantastic train station and intermodal center. It could have two floors that could be developed for restaurants or entertainment, themed perhaps — African-American or nationalities.
Q: Could it end up being used for a sports museum, a jazz museum, shopping?
A: Yes. It could end up being anything. We think the people from the Hill District should be deeply involved in leading this effort, and it should involve all the surrounding land, to weave the Lower Hill and the city back together. Maybe this building could be the principal address.
Q: Fifty years after the city wiped it out. I guess there’s irony there — also indictments there, but that’s another story.
A: I’d agree with all of that.
Q: So in other words, the arena could be changed considerably inside and still hold on to its historical value.
A: I’m assuming it cannot be a sports arena, that we have to find altogether new uses for it. But it is an incredible structure. It’s unique.
Q: It’s almost like a work of art now.
A: It’s interesting also that Edgar Kaufmann, who really was the proponent behind moving the Civic Light Opera there (in the 1960s), is represented. His legacy to Pittsburgh is two fabulous early-modern buildings, Fallingwater and the Civic Arena.
Q: Switching over to Station Square, which you once had quite a hand in, is it still healthy and evolving in a good way?
A: Yes. It has had a transition here, as the hotel was totally renovated and had another 100 rooms added. The new buildings are going in and will open I think in July or August.
There’s going to be a new food court in the shops building and hopefully a direct connection from the shops right to the incline – right from inside the building, up an elevator and across Carson Street into the incline. I think you’re going to see a great revitalization there.
Q: What about Plan C in Downtown at Fifth and Forbes? Are you optimistic that it is going to be done in the right way?
A: I think everyone is together on the plan – the city, the merchants, us. I have heard no dissents from the plan.
Q: Not counting eminent domain?
A: Right. Eminent domain has been put to the side.
Q: Does the plan lack anything?
A: I think the plan is really good.
Q: And it includes residential, retail, keeps the local merchants there?
A: It has all the residential we proposed in our plan (three years ago), both new buildings and loft buildings. It has a market house, which we need Downtown, and new retail and restored retail.
Q: What’s your synopsis of what has gone on over the last three or four years at Fifth and Forbes?
A: I think the winners are all of us, because we now have a plan that all of us believe in. I think the problem was that so often Pittsburgh planning is not grassroots in origin. It tends to be top-down. And here, I think that top-down and grassroots finally came together and we have a good, solid plan.
Q: I’m looking here at an article that says that big malls are dying – super malls, anyway – and that American shoppers are seeking more offbeat, unique shopping options. Have we lucked out. Is Plan C going to appeal to this new trend?
A: I think it’s very timely. People are back looking at downtowns as they have existed in the past. That’s what they seem to want. They’re back to main streets like Carson Street. Carson Street is an enormous success, without any public subsidy and, in fact, without any real planning.
Q: I always say that the places people would want to live in are the places that planners have not touched – South Side, Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside … .
A: That’s right. It’s all the places that are grassroots, that respond to a genuine market … . And they all have residential all around them.
Q: You started out as a grassroots guy. Are you still a grassroots guy? You’re more of a player now.
A: Well, I know that what we try to do is play on behalf of the community. It’s the same with the Civic Arena. What we’re saying is, “Let’s not have the Penguins or Landmarks lead this thing. Let’s have the interests of the Lower Hill lead this, and Downtown interests, and come together on a plan that we all think will work.”
Q: So you are obviously learning from the mistakes of the past.
A: That’s right.
Q: If you could turn the clock back 40 or 50 years, what’s the most important thing you could have done to stop or change some decision that would have kept something around that isn’t here now?
A: I wish we could have started 10 years earlier and stopped the urban renewal plans of the ’50s and ’60s, including the Lower Hill, Allegheny Center, East Liberty.
I think that those demolitions wiped out potentially vital ingredients in the city and did a great deal of permanent harm. They focused on the cores, and removed the hearts of these areas.
I think we’ve got to address — and we have the opportunity with the Lower Hill — how to get them going again. There’s good work going on in East Liberty now to get it back into the physical configuration it once was.
Bill Steigerwald is the Trib’s associate editor. Call him at (412) 320-7983. E-mail him at: bsteigerwald@tribweb.com.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © The Tribune-Review Publishing Co
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Panther Hollow Bridge, Schenley Bridge, Highland Park Gate Piers (Welcome & Horse Tamers) to be Designated Historic by City
On February 6th, 2002, the Historic Review Commission voted to recommend to City Council that the Panther Hollow Bridge and the Schenley Bridge be designated as City Historic Structures and that the Highland Park Gate Piers (Welcome & Horse Tamers) be designated as City Historic Objects.
It determined that there was reasonable cause to believe that the two nominations meet the criteria for designation as defined in the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
These recommendations, together with recommendation of the City Planning Commission, will be transmitted to Council for its review and for Council’s final decision.
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A Home With a Past Becomes a Present
In 1992, Judith Harvey fell in love with a dilapidated historic landmark that would eventually become her home.
After years of restoration, she turned Heathside Cottage into a showplace with the intention of preserving the 1855 Gothic Revival Cottage for the enjoyment of future generations.
To accomplish that goal, in 2000, she placed a façade easement on her National Register listed home then gave it to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation while retaining the right to live there for the rest of her life.
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Etna landmark receives needed renovations
By Tawnya Panizzi
Staff writer
Thursday, December 6, 2001ETNA: The bright red door at Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church acts as a welcome sign to residents here.
At least that is the feeling its pastor, the Rev. Cynthia Jackson ,is hoping to create with the paint job and other renovations taking place at the 92-year old church.
The church was granted $3,000 from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation to restore it’s century-old stonework. But the money, according to Jackson, will help refresh more than gritty stone and chipped paint.
It will help solidify the splendid stone building, constructed in 1909, as one of the borough’s oldest treasures and perhaps attract a larger congregation.
The church is a vital presence in the community, but not solely because of its ministries. The congregation totals about 60 members.
“The building houses the services that are much needed in this community,” Jackson said.
Often, residents don’t relate the church with some of the many services located inside, Jackson said. If the building were to crumble, it would eliminate a home for the Girl Scouts, Homework Helper and an Allegheny County elections polling site. The Bread of Life food pantry, which serves 100 families each month, also is located there.
Representatives from the landmarks foundation granted the maximum allowance of $3,000 because Jackson showed that it is integral to town.
“We have a smaller congregation, but we are reaching into the community in many ways,” Jackson said.
Just this summer, the church hosted a reading program for 17 children. Sixteen of them received $270 scholarships through the church to participate. Two days each week, an employment specialist visits the food pantry to advise residents on job opportunities. Jackson is trying to arrange for GED classes at the building.
“We provide services for people of all ages,” Jackson said. “We hope to be able to have more soon.”
The renovation work, while costly, may go unnoticed by some of the congregation. The bulk of the work included repointing the stone, a job that works to salvage the structure of a building. The repointing has stopped leaking on the church’s interior. Plaster work is next, Jackson said.
“You may not be able to tell real well, but there aren’t big gaping holes in the mortar anymore,” she said.
Now in its fifth year, the program has distributed more than $65,000 to churches in Allegheny County. The money, given to sites at least 50 years old, was made available through year-end gifts made by Landmarks members and trustees. Eligibility depends on the architectural significance of each building, as well as community outreach.
A panel of historians and the History and Landmarks staff review more than 40 applicants each year, largely to determine if the building is worth saving. Money doled out must be used for construction work, not operating expenses.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Park picnic shelter transformed into visitor center
11/25/2001
By David M. Brown
TRIBUNE-REVIEWA structure in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park that started as a picnic shelter nearly a century ago has undergone a Cinderella-like transformation into a 21st-century gateway for one of the city’s popular nature retreats.
The Schenley Park Visitor Center – the old building restored for a new use – is nearing completion and will be ready for an open-house gala planned for the first weekend in December, said Meg Cheever, president of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
“We’re thundering down the home stretch,” Cheever said of the $1.9 million undertaking that was launched two years ago.
The center is the second in a series of showcase projects spearheaded by the conservancy, in conjunction with a long-range plan to improve Pittsburgh’s parks system. It is located on Schenley Drive, near the park’s entrance, across from Phipps Conservatory in Oakland.
The conservancy entered a 30-year lease agreement with the city to operate the center.
The open house is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 1-2.
“We’re happy with the way it’s turning out,” said architect Ellis Schmidlapp of Landmarks Design Associates, the Pittsburgh architectural firm that designed the center.
The plan restored the two-story building into a 2,600-square-foot facility that retained the old shelter’s foundations, brick exterior walls, ornamental windows and heavy timber roof construction.
“The challenge always is to put as many uses into the building as possible. It started out life as nothing but a picnic pavilion,” Schmidlapp said.
Now the building will contain a visitor’s center, gift shop, cafe and public bathrooms.
The idea for restoring the structure – Schenley Park’s only remaining original building – stemmed from responses to studies the conservancy conducted in 1998.
“A unifying thread was that people said they loved the parks, but they would stay longer if some of their basic human needs were met, such as clean usable restrooms, a place to get a snack or a drink, and park information,” Cheever said.
The cafe will serve coffee and light lunch fare. A gift shop will sell nature-themed merchandise. An information kiosk will include a trip planner for outings in the park, a calendar of events and a survey to provide information about park use.
Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy praised the project as an outstanding example of investments the city is making in its parks. An avid runner, Murphy said he plans to make use of the center himself during jaunts through the park.
The center will give visitors a home base for exploring the park, said Abbie Pauley, conservancy spokeswoman.
“This building has had a lot of incarnations. It’s really a dramatic transformation. Not only is the building coming to life, but it brings new life to Schenley,” she said.
Constructed around 1904, the building first served as a picnic shelter. Later, it was used as a nature museum and concession stand.
In the early 1930s, the structure was converted into a tool shed. After being used from 1935 to 1940 as home of the Pittsburgh Civic Garden Center, the building fell into disrepair and has remained closed since the 1980s.
Barry Hannegan, director of historic design programs for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, applauded the work to save the original building. The noted Pittsburgh architectural firm Rutan and Russell first designed the building.
“It’s an extremely important early building in the park. It was and is again now a very handsome example of the Arts and Craft style of architecture, and its restoration is a significant recovery for our architectural history here,” Hannegan said.
By spring, the center will offer nature-oriented lectures, slide shows and programming for all ages, Pauley said. Meeting rooms will be available for use in the evenings. The downstairs portion will serve as a substation for police, providing a police presence at all hours.
Sponsors of the project include the Allegheny Foundation, Eden Hall Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Rachel Mellon Walton Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Hillman Foundation, Sanford N. and Judith Robinson Family Foundation, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the city of Pittsburgh and the Neighborhood Needs Program.
Who is Mary Schenley?
Mary Schenley donated 300 acres of land in 1889 to the City of Pittsburgh, which later became Schenley Park.
The former Mary Groghan was the granddaughter of James O’Hara, a wealthy capitalist in early Pittsburgh. While in boarding school in New York at the age of 15, she met and fell in love with Capt. Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley. They eloped in 1842.
The couple spent most of their married life in England.
Although Schenley had no desire to live in her native city, she made large donations here.
In addition to giving the city property for a park, she presented the Blockhouse, the city’s oldest building, to the Daughters of the American Revolution as a memorial of less peaceful times.
When Schenley died in 1903, her Pittsburgh real estate holdings were worth more than $50 million.
Source: Pittsburgh, by Stefan Lorant
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Landmarks Leads Courthouse Restoration Program
11/15/01
For many years, we have been involved in restoration activities at the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1888. We published Majesty of the Law, a full length book on the buildings, designed the Courtyard Park, acquired chairs for it, and helped create major explanatory panels for an architectural tourism program. We also completed work with Dr. Frank Liu on the restoration of the furnishings in the Law Library in the City-County Building.
In our current work, we have:
Commissioned architects Landmark Design Associates and painting conservator Frank Welsh to conduct paint analyses of the public hallways so that they can be painted in the original colors
Proposed a reconfiguration of the Gold Room as a County Council meeting roomDesigned and ordered custom bulletin boards to be used for all impermanent signs to eliminate the practice of placing them on the walls.
Commissioned a bench modeled on the original benches that were in the buildings to be placed in the hallways where now assorted, dilapidated chairs are used.
Asked Landmark Design Associates to create a signage system that is based on the historic graphics of the Courthouse and on earlier plans of Peter Muller- Munk Associates that will bring all offices into a handsome graphic conformity.
Obtained a significant grant from the Drue Heinz Trust to establish a museum of the history of the Jail, recently adapted as the Court of Common Pleas building.
We are now working closely with Ed Urban, the Deputy Warden, whose archival collection will be placed on display in new cases we have commissioned IKM Architects to design.
Copyright © 2001 Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, One Station Square, STE 450, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219 U.S.A. All rights reserved. 1-412-471-5808, fax 412-471-1633.