Category Archive: Legislative / Advocacy
-
Landmarks Opposes Proposed Ordinance to Allow “Advertising” in City Parks and Recreation Areas
PITTSBURGH, February 7, 2005— City of Pittsburgh Councilman Motznik has proposed an ordinance, (Bill No. 386) that would allow advertising from sponsors to be posted in parks and recreation areas. Signs up to 4’x8′ would be permissible on buildings, structures, and fences. The proposal is intended to generate funds for the City. 83 locations have been identified as possible locations for the signs.
A diverse array of groups and citizens have expressed dissatisfaction with the ordinance, including the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, the Riverlife Task Force, PennFuture, the Sierra Club, American Society of Landscape Architects, GroundZero Action Network, et. al. The Planning Commission voted unanimously in opposition to the proposal. The bill now moves to Council. The bill will require seven out of nine votes to pass.
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation believes that the City of Pittsburgh has a rich history of public stewardship of its parks and recreation areas. These parks, many of which were donated by prominent families as gifts to the citizens, have served for decades as refuges away from the bustle of the workplace and commercialism. Permitting a 4’x8′ sign advertising on every sort of item will visually pollute these wonderful places of rest and play, commercializing what should be natural.
-
Nomination of the Buhl Planetarium Building to be a City Historic Structure
PITTSBURGH, February 3, 2005— On February 2, 2005, the Historic Review Commission made a preliminary review of the nomination of the Buhl Planetarium Building for City historic designation. The Commission determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the building will meet the definition of Historic Structure as set forth in the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. This means that the regulation of the building’s exterior appearance will continue during the designation process (for a maximum of eight months).
The Historic Review Commission will hold a Public Hearing at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 to take testimony from the public concerning the appropriateness of the proposed designation. This hearing will be held after 1:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room on the first floor of the John P. Robin Civic Building at 200 Ross Street, Downtown. All members of the public are invited to attend.
The Historic Review Commission will make its recommendation to City Council concerning the designation of the building at its April 6, 2005 meeting. This recommendation, together with the recommendation from the City Planning Commission, will be transmitted to City Council for its review and for Council’s final decision.
If you have any questions, please contact the Historic Review Commission at 412-255-2243.
-
Mon-Fayette Expressway extension will leave a heavy impression – Road cuts into history
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, December 10, 2004All along the 24 miles from Jefferson Hills to Oakland, the newly approved northern leg of the Mon-Fayette Expressway will cut through populated areas, affecting historic buildings and cultural and natural landscapes.
Older communities will be dwarfed and divided by an elevated, four-lane, limited-access toll road, and pristine hillsides will be sacrificed. Nowhere will its impact be felt more than in Braddock, Duck Hollow, Hazelwood and Turtle Creek.
The $2 billion project, which was given a go-ahead yesterday by the Federal Highway Administration, was 12 years in planning and is expected to take some 10 more years to build.
Here’s a look at the path it will cut:
After leaving Duquesne and crossing the Monongahela River, the highway would divide into two branches — heading east into Turtle Creek and west into Braddock, with both branches eventually connecting to the Parkway East.
It will run through North Braddock between Bell and Braddock avenues on concrete piers, then swoop down into Braddock, where it will travel through the borough on an elevated, earthen berm 25 feet high and 300 feet wide. It will run between Talbot and Woodlawn avenues, partly on an abandoned railroad right of way, then through several blocks now occupied by a mixture of houses and vacant lots.
The toll road will require the demolition of 73 buildings in Braddock and North Braddock that until earlier this year had been eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The state Bureau for Historic Preservation determined the district no longer qualified as historic due to a loss of integrity caused by demolitions.
But many historic buildings remain, including the Clawson brick row houses that lie in the expressway’s path, at 1223-1229 Braddock Avenue. Built between 1908 and 1915 by John Clawson and Thomas Scott, they are considered good examples of steelworker housing, although they now are vacant and deteriorating.
The highway would separate most of Braddock and all of North Braddock from the riverfront, with access only via tunnels through the berm.
It also would alter a landscape with historical significance: Braddock’s Field, site of a major battle in the French and Indian War. The battle site, on a hill in North Braddock, will overlook the expressway.
At Duck Hollow, perhaps the city’s smallest and most isolated neighborhood only two houses lie in the expressway’s path, neither of them deemed historic.
The Hollow is snuggled in a recessed valley where Nine Mile Run meets the Monongahela River, where blue heron and other water fowl often can be found. The highway’s impact on the riverfront and its green hillside from Nine Mile Run to Hazelwood is a great concern, said city planner Patrick Hassett.
While the turnpike commission will try to elevate the highway on piers, engineers don’t yet have enough information about the composition of the hillside to know exactly how to treat it.
“We may see some retaining wall there,” Hassett said.
The commission will work with the Nine Mile Run Design Advisory Team to address the highway’s overall appearance and scarring of the hillside. The commission suggests color, texture and detail-enhancing materials on retaining walls and roadway structures.
In Hazelwood, the expressway will be sunk 25 feet below street level at Gloster Street. New bridges would carry Elizabeth and Tecumseh streets and Hazelwood Avenue across the expressway. Three at-grade covers would be built over the toll road, each about 600 feet long, to allow parking and public open space on top and provide areas for potential new development.
The right-of-way would take 10 acres from the 222-acre National Register-eligible historic district, removing 18 structures. The most significant are a two-story, red brick L-shaped house with Italianate influences, built by James Barker in 1875, and the former D.L. Thomas dry goods store, built about 1895, which retains its original storefront and ornamental brickwork.
“Hazelwood is still evolving,” Hassett said. “The one big concession they made was to depress the highway but many of the other impacts were deferred to the final design stage.”
At Bates Street, where the toll road will connect with the Parkway East, the turnpike commission also has opted for a full interchange connecting to the Boulevard of the Allies, with ramps flanking and then traveling above Bates Street as it climbs to the boulevard. One of the ramps would eradicate the Shrine to the Blessed Mother, tucked away in a hillside grotto overlooking the parkway. About 25 buildings also would be demolished, although none are thought to have historical significance.
The highway’s eastern spur, after leaving Duquesne and crossing the Mon, would pass under two of the five concrete arches of the Westinghouse Bridge, erected in 1930 with a central span that was, at 460 feet, then the broadest concrete arch in the country.
The expressway would travel 60 feet above the borough of Turtle Creek on concrete piers. Its visual impact on Turtle Creek would be high, reports the turnpike commission’s Environmental Impact Statement, “since the overhead structure would extend across the downtown.”
The highway would come within 75 to 85 feet of three historic churches — St. Colman, McMasters Methodist and United Presbyterian.
As the expressway moves into final design, local preservation groups yesterday called for more study, reinvestment in existing infrastructure and features that would minimize the impact on hillsides and historic neighborhoods.
“We felt that the transportation industry had not proven the economic benefits” of the highway, “nor did they justify the exceptional cost,” said Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
“We now are facing major invasive surgery,” said Rob Pfaffmann, president of Preservation Pittsburgh. “We need to look for every opportunity to keep the road from cutting off arteries to historic neighborhoods, sites and riverfronts.”
(Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.)
-
Historic status eyed for area
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 15, 2004An effort to get a historic district designation for the city’s Oakland Square section has cleared its first major hurdle: Enough homeowners have signed on to the idea to put the matter before the city’s Historic Review Commission.
Architect Nathan Hart, who has been spearheading the process, said his pitch to residents and landlords mostly has steered clear of purely aesthetic reasons for historic designation and focused more on the economic benefits of an approval.The city has 11 other historic districts, including East Carson Street, Manchester, the Mexican War Streets and Schenley Farms.
The proposed district would cover Oakland Square, Parkview Avenue and part of Dawson Street. The neighborhood, which is perched several hundred feet above Panther Hollow, was conceived in the 1890s by developer Eugene O’Neill to mimic the streets of Victorian England.
“I try to get people to look ahead to the day when the demand for off-campus student housing has diminished,” said Hart, who also is president of the Oakland Community Council.
The University of Pittsburgh has announced plans to build more housing near the Peterson Events Center to accommodate 1,000 students.
“Creation of the historic district is as much about preserving the future of the neighborhood as it is about preserving the past,” said Hart, who believes landlords will be better able to survive declining demand for student housing if they can appeal to a different type of tenant.
“The idea is to rent to working people rather than college students,” Hart said. “They appreciate the beauty of a finely restored Victorian home, which translates into higher rents.
“Landlords also stand to save the considerable cost of cleaning and repairing apartments that is associated with renting to students.”
Lee Gross, who has bought and restored dozens of Victorian-era buildings on the South Side and in Lawrenceville, agrees that people are willing to pay for a piece of Pittsburgh’s past.
“I’ve found there is a nice market for restored historic buildings, both for rental and purchase,” said Gross, owner of A1-Realty. “People are definitely attracted to the Old World charm of these buildings.”
The original 67 houses in Oakland Square were built of brick or stone in the late-Victorian or Queen Anne style and feature stylish wood porches, false gables, dormers, round-head windows, mansard roofs, fireplaces and decorative wood details inside and out, according to Walter Kidney of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Hart, who has bought, restored and sold or rented several historic homes in the neighborhood, said the only concern raised by people who declined to sign the petition was a potential loss of control over their properties.
Maria Burgwin, who is on the staff of the Historic Review Commission, said historic designation need not burden property owners. The review of work is limited only to the exterior of homes that can be seen from the street and on new alterations.
Cathy McCollom, executive director of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said historic district status also can open the door to federal and state tax incentives to do historic preservation work.
The proposed district also might qualify for assistance through the state’s proposed “Elm Street” program, which addresses the lack of financial assistance in residential areas, she said.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com.
-
City Council approves historic status for five Carnegie Library buildings
By the South Pittsburgh Reporter
By a unanimous vote, on Tuesday, July 13, Pittsburgh City Council designated five original neighborhood branch buildings, of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, as City Designated Historic Structures.
The library branch buildings so designated include the branches in the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Hazelwood (opened August 15, 1900), Homewood (opened March 10, 1911), Lawrenceville?(opened May 10, 1898), Mount Washington (opened May 31, 1900), and West End (opened January 31, 1899).
These designations culminated a seven-month public process, which began with the nomination for historic designation of the five library buildings by Walter Kidney, architectural historian for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. After several public hearings, both the Historic Review Commission of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh City Planning Commission forwarded unanimous recommendations, to Pittsburgh City Council, in favor of the historic designations.
City Council held its own public hearings on the nominated library buildings on June 30. More than 45 citizens testified at the five public hearings, all supporting the proposed historic designations.
Twenty-two of these citizens specifically endorsed the historic designation of the Mount Washington Branch Library, located prominently on Grandview Avenue. Many of these people expressed concern regarding the possible relocation of this branch library out of the historic library building, which is the only library building construction that had been partially funded using monetary contributions from neighborhood residents.
Designation as City Designated Historic Structures means that these five library buildings cannot be demolished, or their exteriors altered, without approval of the Historic Review Commission of Pittsburgh. Such designation does not protect the interior of the building, or furnishings, equipment, or artifacts in the building. Nor does designation require that the owner or lessee continue operations in the building. All five library buildings are owned by the City of Pittsburgh and leased by The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
In addition to the five library buildings which just received historic designation, the Main Branch in Oakland, Allegheny Regional Branch on the North Side and the South Side Branch, of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, are already protected by the Historic Review Ordinance.
South Pittsburgh Reporter – PO Box 4285 – Pittsburgh – PA -15203 – Phone: 412-481-0266 – Email: news@sopghreporter.com
-
Historic designation on the books for local libraries
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 19, 2004Preservationists long have considered the libraries built by Andrew Carnegie in the late 1800s and early 1900s to be historic landmarks.
Pittsburgh City Council has made it official.Council recently voted unanimously to designate the branch library buildings in Mt. Washington, Homewood, the West End, Lawrenceville and Hazelwood as City Designated Historic Structures.
Cathy McCollom, executive director of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, believes the designation is an important step toward preserving Pittsburgh’s heritage.
“These buildings were built as centers of the community,” said McCollom, whose organization nominated the buildings for the designation. “They were beautifully constructed and should be treated as community assets.”
Designation by the city as a historic structure means a building cannot be demolished or have its exterior changed without approval of the Historic Review Commission of Pittsburgh. The designation does not affect what is done to the interior of a building.
While historic designation provides a building with a certain level of protection, it does not guarantee that it will be used for its original intent.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh abandoned the Hazelwood branch and handed it back to the city, which owns the property. The library was moved to a new commercial complex along Second Avenue, the neighborhood’s main artery.
On the other hand, library officials opted to spend about $3.5 million to restore the Homewood branch following federal guidelines for historic landmarks because it was in a convenient location, had sufficient parking and was accessible to public transportation.
Library officials neither lobbied for nor opposed the historic designation of the buildings they lease from the city.
“We have no problem with the designation since we respect these buildings, too,” said Herb Elish, the library’s executive director. “The designation will not influence our future course of actions. The decisions we will make will be in keeping with, and centered on, the best results for serving the community.”
Angelique Bamberg, the city’s historic preservation planner, said public buildings such as libraries, firehouses, police stations and government offices that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s often had highly stylized architectural features.
“There was a desire for such buildings to create a civic presence in the neighborhood, so they typically had more architectural expense lavished upon them than typical commercial and residential structures,” she said.
The library buildings were designed by prominent Pittsburgh architects Frank Alden and Alfred Harlow, who are best known for designing the Duquesne Club, Downtown.
The five buildings that recently received historic designation are among the nine original libraries Carnegie donated to the city. The main branch in Oakland, built in 1895, was followed by Lawrenceville, 1898; West End, 1899; Hill District, 1899; Hazelwood, 1900; Mt. Washington, 1900; East Liberty, 1905; South Side, 1909; and Homewood, 1911.
The South Side branch is protected because it is in the Carson Street Historic District. The original East Liberty branch was razed in the late 1960s as part of a sweeping urban renewal plan in that neighborhood. The original Hill District building no longer is used as a library.
Under Historic Review Commission guidelines, any alterations that were made to a building before receiving historic designation can be replaced with the same material, Bamberg said.
“For instance, if a building’s windows already were replaced with vinyl or aluminum windows, they can be replaced with the same type of windows,” she said. “It’s only when changes are proposed that the commission requires the design and materials match what originally existed.”
Bamberg said it is getting easier to do historic restoration because building material manufacturers increasingly are offering “off-the-shelf” products that match historic designs.
“We’re seeing more and more products such as vinyl and aluminum windows made with historic profiles and colors, and roofing material that matches the color and texture of slate,” she said.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com.
-
Historic status sought for Nabisco
By Sandra Tolliver
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, June 14, 2004As factories go, the Nabisco bakery in East Liberty was a trend-setter, built to advertise the quality of the packaged cookies and crackers that helped foster America’s fondness for convenience foods.
The brown brick building, with Mellon Park as its front lawn, dominates two blocks in East Liberty. It is a neighborhood landmark that provided thousands of Pittsburghers with careers before its closing by Nabisco in 1998 and, after a four-year revival by Bake-Line Group, again this spring.Now the Young Preservationists Association has nominated the building for historic designation by the city’s Historic Review Commission. The structure is part of Pittsburgh’s industrial past and stirs sentimental memories for residents who awoke to the smell of cookies baking, one group member said.
“When Nabisco was there, I’d walk out of my house in the mornings and go, ‘Wow, if only the whole city could smell like this,'” said Miriam Meislick, who lived a block away. “You’d walk around hungry all day.”
The designation must be approved by the city’s Historic Review Commission and Planning Department, along with city council. Though the nomination has just been filed, Maria Thomas Burgwin, of the Planning Department’s historic preservation staff, said the factory meets five of the 10 criteria for historic structures. It must meet only one in order to qualify for the designation. If the designation were approved, the Nabisco plant would join 68 other buildings designated as historic by the city.
“Most buildings like this are just overlooked. We take them for granted. When there’s been a lot of extra thought and detail put into a building like this, we should notice,” said Lu Donnelly, a historian and adviser to the Young Preservationists.
The Regional Industrial Development Corp. bought the building after Nabisco’s departure and does not want historic designation to limit its options for the site, said Bill Widdoes, project manager.
“If for some reason there’s a use or proposed use that comes in that requires the building to be demolished, it would prohibit that,” Widdoes said. “We don’t have any such plans now, but if that kind of use comes along, we couldn’t pursue that. Right now, we need all our options.”
Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, said his organization supports the Nabisco nomination.
“It’s a handsome plant, in a prime location, and we are very much hoping that a new use will be found for it,” Ziegler said. “The listing would at least give us all a chance to comment on future plans and draw public attention to it.”
National Biscuit Company built its Pittsburgh plant in 1918 as part of a nationwide expansion that followed successful branding of its products. Nabisco hired an in-house architect because the company’s president, Adolphus Green, wanted his factories to have style and dignity that would inspire worker loyalty, Donnelly said.
Architect Albert G. Zimmermann’s Nabisco designs were featured in American Architect magazine in 1912 and 1916.
“If you think about factories at that time period, most of them were big, red brick mill buildings with no decorative style, just utilitarian,” Donnelly said.
The Nabisco plant had showers and locker rooms for employees, fireproof stairways, and large windows providing natural light. The original building stands seven stories, with two eight-story towers. Additions were built in 1928 and 1948.
The factory is among dozens of buildings in Western Pennsylvania identified by the Young Preservationists as potentially historic. The group, formed in 2002, has more than 50 members. Its vision is “a future in which young people are at the helm of historic preservation,” according to its Web site.
“It just seems like there’s so many people now who don’t really seem to care about saving our historic buildings, who say, ‘It looks kind of old. Let’s just demolish it and put up a subdivision,'” said Sean Capperis, an intern with the group. “I grew up in a subdivision, and it’s so sterile.”
—
Criteria for historic designation
A building must meet at least one of 10 criteria to receive historic designation from the city:
1. Location at a significant historic or prehistoric site.2. Identification with one or more people who significantly contributed to the cultural, historic, architectural, archaeological or related aspects of the city, state, region or country.*
3. Exemplification of a distinguished or unique architectural type, style or design.*
4. Identification as the work of an architect, designer, engineer or builder whose work is historically significant.*
5. Exemplification of important planning and urban design techniques.
6. Location as a site of an important archaeological resource.
7. Association with important cultural or social aspects or events in history.*
8. Exemplification of neighborhood development or settlement significant to cultural history or traditions.
9. Representation of a cultural, historic, architectural, archaeological or related theme expressed through distinctive areas, properties, sites, structures or objects.
10. Unique location and distinctive physical appearance represents an established and familiar visual feature.*
* Criteria touted for Nabisco plant
Source: City of Pittsburgh Department of Planning
Sandra Tolliver can be reached at stolliver@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7840.
-
Carnegie Libraries in Hazelwood, Homewood, Lawrenceville, Mt. Washington and the West End Public Hearings Scheduled
Material From May25th Email Alert by Glenn A. Walsh
Yesterday, the City Council President finally scheduled public hearings [five–one for each library nomination] for the five Carnegie Library buildings nominated to be historic structures, under the City Historic Review ordinance.
The schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, June 30th, 2004
1:30 p.m.
Bill # 282
Homewood Branch Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave., 13th Ward1:45 p.m.
Bill # 283
Lawrenceville Branch Library, 279 Fisk St., 9th Ward2:00 p.m.
Bill # 284
Mt. Washington Branch Library, 315 Grandview Ave., 19th Ward2:15 p.m.
Bill # 285
West End Branch Library, 47 Wabash St., 20th Ward2:30 p.m.
Bill # 286
Hazelwood Branch Library, 4748 Monongahela St., 15th WardNote that, even though only 15 minutes has been scheduled for each hearing, the number of people testifying will determine the true length of each hearing. If one or more hearings has more than five people pre-registered to testify, then that hearing will continue until all people registered have spoken. THe next public hearing wouuld then begin late.