Category Archive: News Wire Services
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Saving the North Shore Connector: The Port Authority should no longer reject crossing the Allegheny by using an existing bridge
George R. White
Tuesday, February 28, 2006Though its leaders are trying to be optimistic, the Port Authority is scrambling to keep the North Shore Connector alive. The plan to extend light-rail transit to North Shore stadiums was dealt a setback this month: Bids for building tunnels under the Allegheny River were way over budget once again. This follows the Port Authority’s effort to scale back the project by deferring the Steel Plaza spur to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
It doesn’t have to be this hard. The Port Authority can save the project — and still extend the LRT to the convention center — by making one simple and logical change: Nix the tunnels and, instead, cross the Allegheny on the existing Fort Wayne railroad bridge beside the center.
The route would run from Gateway Station and occupy the outer two lanes of the 10th Street Bypass. (The inner two lanes remain for motor vehicles.) Approaching the convention center, the tracks would be elevated to create a station at the center itself. The LRT would then cross the river on the lower deck of the railroad bridge.
The savings from no tunnels — $87 million to $112 million — would be enough to afford a worthwhile extension into the Strip District, perhaps as far as 28th Street.
Once across the river, the LRT could use a cut-and-cover tunnel for the length of the North Shore spine — General Robinson Street — with five stations: the Alcoa building, North Shore Garage, PNC Park, the new West General Robinson Street Garage and Heinz Field. The current Port Authority plan has only two stations: the new parking garage and Heinz Field at Allegheny Avenue.
The risk in making changes to the existing North Shore Connector plan is that the crucial Federal Transit Administration funds might be allocated to other projects in other cities. But certainly our representative and senators could argue that the bridge alternative meets the key FTA objective — displacing commuter auto congestion — much better. A station at 28th Street in the outer Strip District would be ideal as a park-and-ride, serving the many commuters from Allegheny Valley suburbs. All the North Shore parking sites along General Robinson would have superb LRT access to all Golden Triangle workplaces.
I have for many years advocated the bridge alternative, much to the dismay of the Port Authority. Let’s hope that its new leader will be sensible. Plainly put, it’s cheaper and better than the tunnels. Do it!
George R. White is former director of the Transportation Systems Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He lives Downtown.
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Grant Street’s bricks anything but grand
By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 26, 2006The stately bricks covering Grant Street since the city’s Renaissance II era in the 1980s soon might be replaced with black asphalt.
The bricks are not staying in place, forcing continual repairs, ugly patches and a dilemma about whether to spend tens of millions of dollars fixing the underlying problem, or replace the bricks with asphalt, a more economical solution. The actual cost of repairs is undetermined.
“That’s going to be a catastrophe someday, because they’re letting it go,” said John Gipko, of Mt. Lebanon, who drives the street regularly. “I would take my daughter to work that way, and every day we would go by and see the bricks getting looser and looser.”
The problem lies with a layer of asphalt between the bricks and the street’s concrete base, city Public Works Director Guy Costa said. The asphalt softens when it warms, allowing the bricks to move, and the problem worsens with heavy traffic. About 20,000 vehicles use Grant Street daily, including buses.
“I know they wanted a grand boulevard, but unfortunately the bricks aren’t holding up,” Costa said.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, long has complained about the street’s failing condition and thinks the city should install a concrete road. The city has spent more than $22 million on the brick street, according to Ferlo, a former city councilman.
“Please, someone pull the plug on this costly and wasteful mess,” Ferlo said. “Dig the street back up in quadrants and replace it with solid concrete slabs.”
Grant Street is steeped in history. Named for British Maj. James Grant, who was defeated in a 1758 battle with the French at the site, the street ran along the base of Grant’s Hill, an 80-foot hill that once filled the Downtown area. The street was mostly residential until 1884, when the Allegheny County Courthouse was built, starting a transformation into the hub of Pittsburgh’s Downtown government district.
Once paved with sturdy Belgian blocks of stone, Grant Street underwent a change in the 1980s after local leaders formed the Grant Street Block Club.
“The idea was to come up with a way to make Grant Street look like a street on which our most monumental buildings are placed,” said Arthur Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. “It was a street of monumental buildings.”
The long-lasting stone blocks were replaced with less-dependable asphalt and topped with bricks.
“They came in my administration, or at the end of (Mayor Richard) Caliguiri’s,” said former Mayor Sophie Masloff, who held office from 1988 to 1994. “I think it stands to reason that it’s been at least 14 to 15 years, and with the elements, traffic and the beating it takes, anything would deteriorate.”
Complicating the problem at the intersection of Grant Street and Fifth Avenue is a water-line break that may have caused the road to sink. Costa, who wants to evaluate the street block by block, plans to look at that intersection in the spring. He said the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority would pay for water-related damage.
But he is faced with finding an affordable solution for the rest of the street. The city has little money to repair roads and bridges.
The city has started replacing the bricks with a 4-inch layer of asphalt, Costa said. That work is scheduled to resume in spring on a section of Grant Street between Liberty and 11th Street.
Costa wants to continue replacing the bricks to Seventh Avenue — which would cover roughly one-fifth of the street with asphalt.
Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7933.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Harrah’s projects $347M tax bill
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 15, 2006The backers of Harrah’s Station Square Casino say their plan would generate $117 million more a year in state and local taxes than either of their competitors for Pittsburgh’s slots license.
That’s great, politicians countered Tuesday, but the company still needs to come up with money for a new arena, too.
A Station Square casino would generate more than $347 million a year for Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the state — compared to an estimated $230 million from its nearest competitor, said Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises in a letter to Mayor Bob O’Connor and county Chief Executive Dan Onorato.
Forest City Executive Vice President Brian Ratner wrote in his letter Friday that a multipurpose arena would be an “important asset” for the city, and he offered to work with the city, county and state on a “financing strategy for the arena.”
Both of the other competitors for Pittsburgh’s stand-alone slots license disputed Forest City’s claims.
Isle of Capri, the Biloxi, Miss., company partnered with the Penguins, said the letter understated what the company plans to invest in a Lower Hill District casino. It plans to spend more than $400 million on the casino, not including the $50 million license fee, said David Morehouse, the Penguins’ senior consultant. It also would give the team $290 million for an arena.
“I would question the accuracy” of Forest City’s projections, Morehouse said.
Forest City based its projections on Isle of Capri’s spending $250 million for the casino. Forest City plans to spend $462 million on its proposed casino.
Forest City also expects each of its 3,000 slot machines would bring in nearly twice as much as those of competitors. In the second year, it expects to generate $617.7 million — $200 million more than projections by either competitor. There is a 54-percent tax on gambling revenues.
“I take issue with their very aggressive projections,” said Detroit businessman Don Barden, who wants to put a Majestic Star Casino on the North Shore. “There’s no way they can generate that kind of money. It’s not realistic. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Forest City defended its numbers, saying that Station Square already is an entertainment destination and that it intends to invest more money in the casino. Its partner, Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment, has a “premier name” and a database of more than 40 million customers, Ratner said.
The Harrah’s brand and its rewards program for players could give it an advantage over other gambling companies, said Denis Rudd, a professor of tourism and hospitality at Robert Morris University in Moon.
“People recognize Harrah’s as one of the players in the industry,” Rudd said. “They have that extra money that a lot of other places don’t have.”
Whichever company wins the license for Pittsburgh’s slots parlor, it should take money out of its profits to help build an arena, O’Connor said.
“You have to take time to validate the numbers, the projections and also the economic development part,” O’Connor said. “We’re doing our due diligence in waiting to see the place and the potential benefits for the people of Pittsburgh.”
Onorato met Monday with Barden to discuss his casino plan. Barden said he would respond in “several weeks” with a specific amount his casino would contribute toward an arena.
Onorato also has met with Forest City officials, said his spokesman, Kevin Evanto.
“The endgame here is to get a new arena for this region,” Evanto said. “(Onorato) wants to see the successful applicant fund an arena out of their revenues. The numbers that we’re talking about here — the revenue that will accrue to the gaming licensee — are pretty big.”
Onorato is expected to endorse one of the casino proposals after the state Gaming Control Board has vetted them. The county also continues to work on an alternate financing plan that would build an arena without gambling money, Evanto said.
About a dozen state lawmakers who are backing the Isle of Capri proposal met in Harrisburg yesterday to discuss ways of supporting the plan, said State Rep. Frank LaGrotta, D-Ellwood City.
By projecting to raise more tax money than its competitors, however, Forest City says its proposal proves the Penguins arena would not be free to taxpayers. The public cost of clearing land for the arena would be at least $50 million, it says. And Isle of Capri’s proposal would bring in less tax money.
“It is disingenuous to say the arena is free,” Ratner wrote in his letter.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Three Market Square buildings may get an upgrade
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, February 14, 2006The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership may team with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to redevelop three publicly owned buildings in Market Square.
Both groups see the plan as a way to not only save three vacant, deteriorating buildings but to pump life into the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor and Market Square itself.
Under a preliminary proposal, the foundation would serve as developer of the three buildings from 439 Market St. to the corner of Market and Fifth Avenue. The Downtown Partnership would serve as an anchor tenant, moving from its offices on Liberty Avenue.
One of the partnership’s goals over the next five years is to focus more attention on Market Square, where it now sponsors Thursdays with a Twist and a farmers market.
The square also is a primary spot for many of the partnership’s annual Light Up Night festivities.
“We think that conceptually it makes a lot of sense,” Downtown Partnership President Michael Edwards said.
“Certainly Market Square, from the public’s perspective, is sort of a harbinger of the condition of Downtown. We need to make sure it is managed well and working for the merchants.”
The potential venture with the History & Landmarks Foundation comes as the Downtown Partnership prepares for its annual meeting today, one of its most anticipated in recent years. Mayor Bob O’Connor will be speaking, and the focus is expected to be on the growing investment Downtown, from residential housing to PNC’s new office tower on Fifth Avenue.
The History & Landmarks Foundation originally approached former Mayor Tom Murphy last year with a proposal to take over the three buildings, one owned by the city and two by the city Urban Redevelopment Authority. It did so in part to save the facade of 439 Market, a city-owned building in such disrepair that adjacent property owners wanted it demolished.
Mr. Murphy wouldn’t sell the buildings to the foundation, but he did accept a loan from the group to make repairs to 439 Market.
Foundation President Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. recently talked to Mr. O’Connor about the plan to work with the Downtown Partnership on the three buildings.
Mr. O’Connor said he’s willing to consider the idea and perhaps sell or lease the properties to the foundation, depending on what’s best for the city.
“Bringing good tenants to Market Square, Fifth and Market certainly is a goal, and I think it shows the vitality and desirability of the Fifth-Forbes corridor,” he said.
Mr. Ziegler envisions retail on the ground level of the buildings with the Downtown Partnership and possibly other tenants on upper floors. Preservation Pittsburgh also has proposed a transit cafe in the old Regal Shoe Co. building at Fifth and Market.
The entire endeavor, Mr. Edwards added, is contingent on several issues, including cost and the ability of the partnership to negotiate a settlement of its current lease, which runs until 2009.
The proposed reuse of the three buildings is just one idea to revitalize Market Square, which Mr. O’Connor has described as having an “old, tired” look. The mayor would like to turn the square into a small park, replacing sidewalks and streets with grass.
That plan could involve the elimination of Forbes Avenue, McMasters Way and Graeme Street where they run through the square.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Harrah’s plan: $117 million more taxes than competitors
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, February 14, 2006The backers of a proposed Harrah’s Station Square Casino say their plan would raise $117 million more in annual state and local taxes than either of their competitors could, according to a letter they sent to governmental leaders Friday.
The casino at Station Square would bring in more than $347 million a year for Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the state — compared to a $230 million estimate for their nearest competitor, Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises says.
Majestic Star Casino, a proposal backed by Detroit businessman Don Barden on the North Shore, would raise about $230 million, while Isle of Capri Casino, the Biloxi, Miss., company partnered with the Penguins, would bring in slightly less than that, according to the letter.
“This is about property tax relief,” said Abe Naparstek, Forest City’s spokesman. “We’re going to raise over $100 million more per year.”
Forest City, which is seeking the license for Pittsburgh’s stand-alone slots parlor, sent the letter to Mayor Bob O’Connor and county Chief Executive Dan Onorato on Friday. Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment would operate the casino.
By projecting to raise more tax money, Forest City says its proposal proves the Penguins arena would not be free to taxpayers. The public cost of clearing land for the arena would be at least $50 million, it says. And Isle of Capri’s proposal would bring in less tax money.
“It is disingenuous to say the arena is free,” Forest City’s Executive Vice President Brian Ratner says in the letter. “We believe it will cost the tax payers over $115 million a year.”
Forest City based its projections on a larger overall investment, which would mean more money in annual property taxes. The Harrah’s casino would cost an estimated $512 million, compared to publicly stated projections of $325 million for Majestic Star or $250 million for Isle of Capri.
The estimate for Station Square does not include the economic impact of 1,250 proposed condo units.
The Cleveland company also expects its casino to be more lucrative than stated projections from its competitors. Forest City says its casino will bring in more than $617 million a year by its second year of operation. That’s $200 million more than either of its competitors have said they expect to make.
That would make Pittsburgh the nation’s 15th largest market, based on a study by the American Gaming Association of 2004 casino revenues.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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PennDOT to unveil new Rt. 28 plans
By Joe Grata,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, February 09, 2006Forty-three years after the idea was broached, and at least as many meetings and plans later, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has yet another design for rebuilding the hazardous, traffic-clogged stretch of Route 28/East Ohio Street between the North Side and Millvale.
Engineers will reveal the latest proposal for the two-mile stretch at a series of three public meetings beginning Monday.
Until then, they’re keeping it a secret.
In response to a request for details, PennDOT District 11 spokesman Jim Struzzi responded, in part:
“Given the sensitive nature of the issues surrounding the project, we would rather people hear it from us in detail at the meeting(s) where immediate questions and concerns can be addressed.
“We will be presenting a new alternative that we hope balances the many interests of stakeholders involved.”
The design is expected to reflect the work of a special task force PennDOT formed after the last public meetings in June 2004, when residents, the city and others objected to 12 previous designs and an “Alternative 13,” a hybrid presented for the first time.
The public-private collaboration consists of two dozen interested parties, including Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, the Washington’s Landing Homeowners Association, Mount Troy Citizens Council, Pittsburgh Planning Department and, because of indecision about the future of historic St. Nicholas Church, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The design of the “missing link” connecting the city to the rest of Route 28 and the Allegheny Valley Expressway has been complicated by a narrow shelf of land between Troy Hill and railroad rights of way, interchanges with the 31st Street and 40th Street bridges and environmental issues.
At the last update, PennDOT officials said they wanted to keep the maximum $180 million project on track for a fall 2008 groundbreaking.
Once under way, construction is expected to take four years and inconvenience drivers of more than 60,000 cars and trucks a day.
The region’s four-year Transportation Improvement Program that sets federal highway funding priorities provides $5 million for more pre-engineering, $4 million for final design, $1.6 million for utility relocation, $17 million for property acquisition and $8 million in 2008 to start the construction on time.
Monday’s public meeting will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Teamsters Temple in the 4700 block of Butler Street, Lawrenceville. PennDOT will make formal presentations at 4:30 and 6 p.m., with engineers and consultants on hand to explain maps and answer questions during intervening periods.
The same format will be used for meetings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, 337 Fourth Ave., Downtown, and from 4 to 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Holiday Inn at the RIDC Park in Harmar.
(Joe Grata can be reached at jgrata@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1985.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Neighborhood groups begin to collect information on proposed casinos
By Bill Toland,
Monday, February 06, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteOf the three proposed Pittsburgh casinos, the Station Square venue so far has engendered the least neighborhood opposition — mainly because it would have the fewest neighbors, isolated as it is along the Monongahela River.
Community groups and local institutions in the North Side, Uptown and elsewhere are more skeptical of plopping casinos down on the North Shore or near Mellon Arena. Both of those plans already have prominent opponents.
That said, many neighbors of the three would-be casinos are just now beginning to focus on the pros and cons for their communities, and it’s far too early to tell how much local support or opposition each of the proposals will generate.
On the South Side, where Harrah’s and Forest City Enterprises want to build a Station Square casino, the South Side Planning Forum has scheduled a Feb. 14 meeting to discuss the impact of a casino, which would lie about a mile to the west of the South Side’s main business district. Officials from Forest City have been invited to the meeting.
“That’s sort of the first step in organizing a community discussion about this,” said Rick Belloli, executive director of the South Side Local Development Co.
Mr. Belloli also sits on the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force, the organization charged with studying the various casino plans and gauging their potential social and economic effects.
The development group has worked with Forest City previously — last summer, Forest City, which owns Station Square, ran a shuttle from Station Square through the South Side, at the behest of the organization. Mr. Belloli hopes the two groups can work together again if Forest City is awarded a casino license.
The South Side development group, like their counterparts from Uptown and the Hill District, won’t actively lobby for or against the construction of a casino, but will approach the development with the Boy Scout motto in mind — be prepared.
“Gaming is going to happen in Pittsburgh,” Mr. Belloli said. The 2004 gambling law permits one, and only one, stand-alone casino to be located within the city’s limits.
“Let’s look at — if it’s going to be here — what are the issues we’ll have to deal with?”
Transportation is a big one. Carson Street isn’t exactly a superhighway, and if Harrah’s, which would operate the casino, plans to attract thousands of visitors on the weekend, Carson Street might resemble a parking lot after a Steelers game. Also, the traditional casino practice of giving free drinks to gamblers is something that restaurateurs and tavern owners in the South Side would like to see barred.
Zoning also is a concern — nobody wants the largely non-commercial stretch of East Carson, between Station Square and Sixth Street, to become a strip of pawnshops and adult entertainment venues. Changing the area’s zoning designation to “neighborhood commercial” might enable community groups to monitor those types of business, or prevent them from opening in the first place.
The South Side Planning Forum — which includes business interests, residential groups and service organizations — will often endorse a project, after determining whether it adheres to the forum’s neighborhood plan, said Hugh Brannan, who heads the forum.
But an endorsement for the proposed Station Square casino isn’t a slam dunk — a decade ago, the planning forum’s consensus was that the neighborhood should oppose floating casinos at the riverside site now known as South Side Works. “The community, 10 years ago, was pretty clear in not wanting riverboat gambling,” Mr. Brannan said.
The Lower Hill District and Uptown would be the two neighborhoods most affected by the Isle of Capri proposal to build a casino and put some of the proceeds toward a new arena, primarily for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Duquesne University, which sits atop the Bluff, announced its opposition to the casino last week, while stressing that the rest of the proposal — the new arena, the housing and the retail — looked pretty good.
“We’re good friends of the Penguins,” said Duquesne President Charles J. Dougherty. But “the casino is being put virtually two blocks from 10,000 students.”
The school, he said, had “an obligation to our students to stake out a position on this matter.”
Less certain of their position on the casino are various neighborhood groups in the area, as they pursue vague plans to “explore the pulse of the community.”
“Uptown is in the early stages of what we hope will be a big revitalization effort,” said Jeanne McNutt, chair of the Uptown Community Action group’s housing and economic development committee. “If [a casino] would jump-start traffic, that might be a good thing.”
A bad thing, she said, is that the slot machines might draw most of their winnings from people least able to provide them, including nearby students and residents of the Hill.
“If [the casinos are] intended to supplement our economy, I don’t like the idea of it being on the backs of people who probably can’t afford it,” Ms. McNutt said, stressing that she was giving a personal opinion and not speaking for the Uptown group. In informal discussions, she said, “the sense I’m getting is no. There’s just no space for it.”
Evan Frazier, head of the Hill House Association, said the casino may present opportunities for the area, but added that his social service organization also would have to evaluate the “social issues that arise as a result of having gaming abutting a residential neighborhood.”
On the North Shore, where Detroit businessman Don Barden hopes to build a casino near the Carnegie Science Center, community groups have yet to weigh in. The North Side Chamber of Commerce plans to poll board members, said board president Debbie Caplan, while the North Side Leadership Conference is searching for a new executive director and in the midst of revamping its business plan, said interim director Dana Jaros.
After that happens, “we’ll probably talk with business owners small and large,” she said.
But the most influential members of the North Side community — the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates — already oppose Mr. Barden’s casino. Continental Real Estate Cos., Equitable Resources and Del Monte Food also have lined up against a North Shore casino, saying it would be a “deterrent” to North Side business growth.
Correction/Clarification: (Published Feb. 8, 2006) Jeanne McNutt is the chair of the Uptown Community Action group’s housing and economic development committee. This story in the Feb. 6, 2006 editions of the Post-Gazette said incorrectly she was the head of the entire group.
(Bill Toland can be reached at btoland@post-gazette.com or 1-412-263-1889.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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College eyes pool
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 6, 2006One of the country’s first indoor swimming pools in a home, built for banking magnate Andrew Mellon, soon may become a lost relic.
Chatham College, which received the Tudor-styled Shadyside mansion as a gift from one of Mellon’s children, is considering other uses for the now empty pool, once a glamorous symbol of the wealth, power and excess enjoyed by Pittsburgh’s barons of banking and industry.“We’re working now to determine what those possible uses could be,” said Chatham spokesman Paul Kovach. A meeting room is one possibility.
In the meantime, the drained pool, housed in a vaulted room lined with pearl-like tile, lies covered with a blue tarp. The eight-lane, 75-foot-long Sigo Falk Natatorium in the college’s new Health and Fitness Center has made the old 60-foot-long pool obsolete.
Al Tannler, historical collections director for Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said he understands why the college would want to change the pool.
“Reuse is not a problem,” he said. “It’s a matter of it being a tasteful way, and Chatham has a good reputation for that.”A year ago, the college converted another icon of Mellon’s wealth — the mansion’s two-lane bowling alley — into a broadcasting studio.
The mansion, now Mellon Hall, the college’s administration building, has a storied history.
“We’ve always heard old stories from alumni about hearing the ghost of Mr. Mellon walking around the house,” Kovach said.
Located on Woodland Road just off Millionaires Row on Fifth Avenue, the house was built for George Laughlin Jr. in 1902. The mansion features at least 10 intricately carved wood and marble fireplaces, stone archways, wood paneling and pocket doors.
Mellon, the former U.S. secretary of treasury, bought the house in 1917. He hired the original architect, MacClure & Spahr, to expand his home. The expansion included the bowling alley and a 60-foot-long swimming pool with Guastazino tile, a material popular for its light weight, fireproof ability and good acoustics.
“People just loved it,” Tannler said of the tile. “They went nuts.”
However Chatham decides to use the pool, the Guastazino tile will stay put, Kovach assured.
Other Pittsburgh landmarks with that tile are the Allegheny County Courthouse, Buhl Planetarium and the vestibule of the City-County Building.
Tannler said there’s no way to know if the Mellon House was the first local home with an indoor swimming pool. In 1907, architect Grosvenor Atterbury designed the public Phipps Natatorium, now razed, Downtown.
Indoor swimming pools in homes were rare in those days, said Darren Poupore, curator of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., the largest private home in America with 250 rooms. Biltmore, built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt, grandson of industrialist Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, featured an indoor swimming pool with vaulted Guastazino tile. That pool is 53 feet long and 27 feet wide, with a maximum depth of about 9 1/2 feet.
Mellon never visited Biltmore, Poupore said, but Pittsburgh’s millionaires were familiar with the Vanderbilts. Coke and steel baron Henry Clay Frick rented George Vanderbilt’s home on Fifth Avenue in New York City after he left Pittsburgh.
There’s no way to know whether Andrew Mellon felt the urge to keep up with other millionaires when he added his pool.
“There definitely was a lot of one-upmanship, trying to outdo your colleagues and siblings,” Poupore said.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.