Category Archive: News Wire Services
-
City to accept loan to fix Market Street building
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, September 01, 2005The Murphy administration has agreed to accept a loan from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to repair a dilapidated city-owned building at 439 Market St., Downtown, after an adjacent property owner threatened to go to court to force action.
In a letter on Tuesday, History & Landmarks President Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. offered to lend the city up to $33,000 to repair the roof of the four-story building and clean up the inside to prevent the vacant structure from being demolished.
The offer came after the attorney for the owners of an adjacent building at 435 Market, which houses Ciao Baby restaurant, threatened to seek a court order to force repairs or the demolition of 439 Market, declaring that a “public emergency” existed.
In her letter to city Solicitor Jacqueline Morrow, attorney Linda Leebov Goldston said the roof of the building has collapsed, the floors are gone, and the exterior walls are bowed and in danger of falling. She said the building and Market Square in general are plagued by rats.
Ziegler made his offer of an interest-free loan to make repairs with the stipulation that the building and two others — one at 441 Market and the old Regal Shoe Co. store at Market and Fifth Avenue — be preserved. The foundation also wanted approval over any exterior design done as part of a redevelopment.
In his letter yesterday to Ziegler, Tom Cox, Murphy’s executive secretary, said the city would accept the loan but did not state specifically whether it agreed to the stipulations.
Cox also said the city would accept a no-interest, “unlimited term” loan; the foundation had offered a maximum term of two years.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Chief Programs Officer Cathy McCollom said the foundation was “delighted” that the city accepted the loan but added there were still details to work out.
In accepting the loan, the city in effect rejected an offer by the foundation to take ownership of 439 Market as well as 441 Market and the Regal Shoe building, both owned by the city Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The city and authority apparently are holding the buildings while awaiting a plan to redevelop the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor.
The foundation, in trying to save the structures, acted on behalf of Preservation Pittsburgh, which has plans for a “transit cafe” in the Regal Shoe building, which was designed by Alden & Harlow, one of the city’s most prominent architectural firms in the early 20th century.
Preservation Pittsburgh also is interested in the adjoining buildings at 439 and 441 Market, saying both have good facades that ought to be preserved.
Rick Butts, co-owner of Ciao Baby restaurant, questioned whether roof work at 439 Market would be enough. He said the building appears to have significant structural damage and may not be capable of holding a new roof without other repairs.
City Councilman William Peduto said he hopes to introduce a bill this month accepting the foundation loan.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.)
Copyright ©1997-2005 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
-
From landmark to Wal-Mart
By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 8, 2005Dixmont State Hospital finally will meet the wrecking ball, more than two decades after the Kilbuck facility shut its doors, officials said Wednesday.
Demolition of the hospital overlooking Route 65 is expected to start within a few weeks to make way for a $28 million Wal-Mart Supercenter. The work is expected to stretch over several weeks, with construction starting in December and the discount store slated to open in May 2007, said Tony Chammas, a partner at ASC Development Inc., of Emsworth.Ralph Stroyne, of Kilbuck, bought the 407-acre Dixmont site for $757,000 in January 1999. ASC is to close this week with Stroyne on a deal reached three years ago to buy 75 acres of the site for the Wal-Mart.
Officials declined to disclose ASC’s purchase price. Stroyne could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Social reformer Dorothea Lynde Dix opened Dixmont in 1859, and the state Department of Public Welfare closed the facility in 1984 amid state budget cuts.
“Dixmont’s history is very sad, but reflects changes in ways mentally ill patients are treated,” said Christine Davis, an urban archaeologist and president of Chris Davis Consultants in Verona.
Once declared a historic landmark, the hospital’s 24 buildings, garages and dumps are crumbling, a target for vandals and a party center for young revelers.
“It’s important that people know what is there,” Davis said. “Once the Wal-Mart is there, no one will be aware of what was there.”
At its height, Dixmont cared for more than 1,000 patients. In its first century, the facility was operated according to Dix’s philosophy of keeping patients active and self sufficient. Patients spent their time tending to gardens and livestock, making shoes and engaging in a variety of sports and recreational activities.
Rick Wills can be reached at rwills@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123.
-
South Side enlivens historic district with lighting
Pilot project illuminates buildings’ facades on East Carson Street
Sunday, September 04, 2005
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFor the South Side, Light-Up Night will come Thursday.
That’s when the facade of Maul Building, a prominent East Carson Street structure, will be illuminated for the first time under a pilot project to highlight significant architecture and to add to the vibrancy of the historic district.
It is one of two East Carson Street buildings to receive facade lighting as part of the project, spearheaded by the South Side Local Development Co. The other is The Bridge, a restaurant at 2302 East Carson St. named for its proximity to the Birmingham Bridge.
“To us, it was a way to brighten the district by night. To us, it was a way to take the South Side architectural features recognized by day and to extend that to all hours, really,” said Amy Camp, manager of marketing and communications for the South Side Local Development Co.
Lighting for the two buildings totaled about $18,000. Costs were shared by Peter Gordon, an owner of the Maul Building, Seth Carpien, owner of The Bridge restaurant, the city Urban Redevelopment Authority and Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
The facade of The Bridge, a Victorian Italianate building erected in the 1800s, has been illuminated since July. Camp said the intersection at the Birmingham Bridge is considered a gateway to the South Side, making the building a good choice.
Carpien, who has owned the restaurant for about a year, said he invested in the project as a way to get involved in the South Side and to help generate business.
“I love it,” he said of the up lighting effect, designed to highlight building features. “It’s kind of neat when I come across the Birmingham Bridge at night. It really looks beautiful. It really shows the architecture, accentuates the Victorian architecture.”
Carpien said his business has increased over the last year, but he wasn’t sure it was the lighting that has attracted the customers, noting that the SouthSide Works commercial complex is close by.
“But I would assume [the building] would get a lot more notice coming across the bridge,” he said.
Erected during the reign of Queen Victoria of England, the building is patterned after Italian Renaissance villas. Window shapes vary floor to floor and are capped with decorative stone hoods.
The Maul Building, at 1700 East Carson Street, is considered a South Side landmark. Built in 1910, the building is done in American Renaissance style and is clad in terra cotta. There also are three-dimensional carvings of faces of women and Native Americans on the building.
The architect, William G. Wilkins Co., also was responsible for the North Side building that is home to the Andy Warhol Museum.
“It’s like no other building on the South Side,” Camp said. “It’s just so ornate that we’re really happy that [the lighting] worked out.”
Gordon said he was happy to assist in the effort.
“It’s a particularly attractive facade. I believe in the South Side and I think the South Side Local Development Co. does good work,” he said.
“I’m really glad they picked one of mine as one of the very first to be up lighted. Hopefully, in the future, there will be many more.”
Camp said her agency is looking into the possibility of extending the program to other buildings on East Carson Street.
“It would be ideal to be able to see some of the architecturally significant buildings lighted, however that happens. It’s not quite there yet. It would be wonderful to see,” she said. “There’s definitely interest on the part of the business district and individual property owners.”
Cathy McCollom, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks chief programs officer, said the lighting of the two buildings and others “could serve as a visual draw from one end of Carson to the other.”
McCollom had suggested the lighting of facades along East Carson to the South Side Local Development Co. after seeing the way in which light was used to illuminate buildings in a number of other cities, including Chicago. Station Square’s Landmarks Building, where McCollom’s organization has its offices, also is lighted.
The Maul Building and The Bridge will be illuminated from dusk to 2 a.m. each day. Chas DeLisio, of Makato Architecture and Design, was the lighting consultant for the project.
Thursday’s ceremony and celebration will start at 8 p.m. with the lighting of the Maul Building. A reception will follow at The Bridge. There also will be performances by the Zany Umbrella Circus, which does fire juggling and other routines using light.
The South Side is the second area of the city in the last year to organize a project to illuminate building fronts. Last December, 17 buildings on Penn Avenue, Downtown got the same treatment through a program put together by the Downtown Living Initiative and Duquesne Light Co.
(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
-
Foundation tries to save Market Square building
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, August 26, 2005The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is offering to repair a deteriorating four-story building at 439 Market St., Downtown, to keep the city from demolishing it.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks President Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. has sent letters to the city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority with his offer after learning that the vacant city-owned building, part of the Market Square historic district, could be facing the wrecking ball.
There is no doubt that the building is in need of work. The roof is falling in, floors are collapsing and walls need to be stabilized. Its condition has spawned complaints from some Market Square property owners, which, in turn, has prompted talk of demolition.
But the structure also is targeted for redevelopment by Preservation Pittsburgh as part of its plan for a “transit cafe” at Market and Fifth Avenue.
That proposal relies mainly on the former Regal Shoe Co. building at the corner, a structure designed by Alden & Harlow, one of the city’s most prominent architectural firms in the early 20th century. But the group also is interested in 439 and 441 Market as well.
After visiting 439 Market with Preservation Pittsburgh President Rob Pfaffmann Monday, Ziegler presented two proposals to the city and the URA in an effort to save the building.
One would be for Pittsburgh History & Landmarks to take ownership of the structure, plus the old Regal Shoe Co. building and 441 Market, both owned by the URA. As part of the transfer, it would put on a new roof at 439 Market and clean up the inside.
As an alternative, the foundation is offering to lend the city up to $33,000 interest-free for the new roof and to clean up the inside, with the loan to be repaid once the building is sold or developed by the city.
The only stipulation would be that the building, along with 441 Market and the old Regal Shoe Co. store on Fifth, be preserved and that the foundation have approval over any exterior design done as part of a redevelopment.
Ziegler was out of town and unavailable for comment yesterday.
But Cathy McCollom, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s chief programs officer, said it is not routine for the agency to offer to make repairs or assume ownership. But she added it was willing to do so in this case because “we believe those buildings are important.”
“It’s an attempt to address the issues of concern to the city and to allow time to look at the reuse of the buildings because once they’re gone, they’re gone,” she said.
Pfaffmann said the city has received an estimate of $30,000 to repair the roof and to clean up the inside of 439 Market. While neither that building nor the one at 441 Market were designed by Alden and Harlow, they both are “contributing buildings” with good facades that deserve to be preserved, he said.
“Preservation Pittsburgh and the PHLF have been constantly told by Mayor [Tom] Murphy that we ought to put our money where our mouth is. We believe this is exactly what we’re doing now,” he said.
All three buildings are part of the Market Square historic district, meaning that the demolition of 439 Market could not occur without approval of the Historic Review Commission, unless it were an emergency.
Neither Murphy nor his executive secretary, Tom Cox, was available for comment yesterday. They have fought preservationists in the past over plans for the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor. URA Executive Director Jerome Dettore reacted favorably to the proposal however.
“It sounds good to me. It’s an area where we’re all supportive of preservation. I think the preservation of those buildings is probably a good thing,” he said.
Dettore said negotiations over 439 Market would have to be handled through the city, since the building is owned by the city, not the URA.
Ron Graziano, chief of the city Bureau of Building Inspection, said any attempt to demolish the building at 439 Market is on hold as a courtesy to Pittsburgh History & Landmarks while it tries to work out a solution.
Aaron Klein, owner of Camera Repair Service Inc. a couple of doors down from 439 Market, said he would like to see something — anything — done with the building. He said it “already is falling down in the back” and attracts rats.
(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
-
Legacy of architect Henry Hornbostel lives on
By Kurt Shaw
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC
Sunday, August 21, 2005Even a scant overview of the history of Pittsburgh architecture would not be complete without the mention of Henry Hornbostel, whose designs range from Downtown landmarks such as the Grant Building and the City-County Building to homes heading east from Squirrel Hill to Monroeville.
Hornbostel’s stamp on Pittsburgh’s urban sprawl is so ubiquitous that even contemporary architects like Michael Dennis, principal of Michael Dennis & Associates of Boston and professor of architecture at MIT, couldn’t ignore Hornbostel’s influence when he set about designing the newer half of Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in 1987.
Recently completed, the new half looks much like the old half, which was designed by Hornbostel in 1904 and was the winning entry in the Carnegie Technical Schools Competition, right down to the cream-colored brick exterior.
“He was trying to compliment rather than rival Hornbostel, I’m sure,” says Walter C. Kidney, author of the architect’s first and only monograph, “Henry Hornbostel: An Architect’s Master Touch” ($49.95, published by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in cooperation with Roberts Rinehart Publishers).
An architectural historian with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, Kidney says that Hornbostel “was much more original than most.”
“I’d say Hornbostel and Ernest Flagg were the two big original thinkers of the American Renaissance,” Kidney says. “They were sort of in it, but not all the way in it. They did what they felt like doing.”
Perhaps of all his designs, the original Carnegie Tech campus proves this the most.
On the outside, the classically styled exteriors made of cream-colored brick and white terra-cotta trim are every bit the perfect example of the American Renaissance period. But inside, visitors will find that the architect took some unusual liberties — such as dramatic vaulted ceilings, curved staircases clad in Guastavino tile, industrial-looking archways made of concrete and steel, as well as railings made of steel pipe.
Though the use of these materials undoubtedly references the purpose of the institution as a training ground for industry, still, to this day, the combination of these materials into a stunning Beaux-Arts-inspired style has a commanding yet graceful presence.
“He was sort of playing around with the technical theme, yet using a lot of elegance, too,” Kidney says.
The College of Fine Arts building, completed in 1916, is even more over-the-top with exterior niches carved with specific architectural orders and motifs in mind. Inside, more art historical references abound. Specifically, the floors in the vestibule and on the first floor have inlaid marble tile that features the footprints of some the world’s greatest buildings, such as Michelangelo’s St. Peter’s, Chartres Cathedral, the Parthenon and the Temple of Horus at Edfu.
A magnificently painted ceiling depicts those buildings and more as well as portraits of many of the most influential architects, artists, composers, writers throughout history.
Just as over the top was the architect himself.
A flamboyant figure, Hornbostel was born in 1867, the same year as the equally flamboyant Frank Lloyd Wright. Like Wright, he was a snappy dresser, oftentimes spotted wearing red string ties (rumored to have been fashioned from ladies’ silk garters) below a proud chin that sported a dramatic Vandyke beard.
His affinity with Wright stops there, however. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hornbostel was classically trained at Columbia University in New York City and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Though he had designed a number of buildings, even bridges, before winning the 1904 Carnegie Technical Schools Competition, it was his subsequent move to Pittsburgh that would begin the most ambitious part of his career.
As the founder of the Carnegie Tech Department of Architecture and as architect for numerous prominent buildings around town such as the Temple Rodef Shalom (1904), the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall (1907), Webster Hall hotel (1926) and the City-County Building (1915-1917, with Edward B. Lee), Hornbostel played an important role in shaping Pittsburgh’s architectural image in the first decades of the 20th century.
In addition to his role as the head of Carnegie Tech’s Department of Architecture, he also had a private practice in Pittsburgh, taught at Columbia University in New York and was at various times a partner in the New York firms of Howell, Stokes & Hornbostel; Wood, Palmer & Hornbostel; Palmer & Hornbostel; and Palmer, Hornbostel & Jones.
Although the bulk of his practice centered in and around Pittsburgh — where the 110 works he designed there represent roughly about half of his total output — Hornbostel executed projects throughout the country. They include several bridges in New York City, government buildings in Albany, N.Y., Hartford, Conn., and Oakland, Calif., as well as the campus plans of the University of California at Berkeley, Emory University in Atlanta, and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
However, even with such ambitious projects coming to fruition, especially in the area of designing buildings for academic institutions, the architect’s greatest, most ambitious, campus plan was never realized.
Designed for the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1908, the same year the school changed its name to the University of Pittsburgh, The Acropolis Plan, according to “Pittsburgh: An urban portrait” by Franklin Toker, called for the construction of a series of buildings across the 43 acres of hillside, facing southeast toward Forbes and Fifth avenues.
The award-winning design chosen from a national competition that garnered 61 entries was dubbed the Acropolis Plan after the Pittsburgh Leader newspaper compared it to the Athenian Acropolis when it was still intact.
Proposed as an ongoing evolutionary plan of buildings designed in the Classical style, which allowed for the university to grow and add buildings as it would see fit, it included plans for a 1,000 ft. subterranean escalator that would run right up its center to reach the climaxing temple that topped it.
A wildly ambitious idea, but as Toker, a University of Pittsburgh professor of the history of art and architecture, contends, “Hornbostel had already proved his mettle with the Carnegie technical school, plus he had come in second with the competition for University of California at Berkeley, so he knew what people wanted in a campus.”
The cornerstone for the first building to be built — the School of Mines — was laid in October 1908, and four more built between then and 1920. But ironically, the project was halted with the discovery of previously cleared and covered over coal mines, some of which were still smoldering with fire.
By 1920, under the direction of Chancellor John Bowman, the university scrapped much of Hornbostel’s plans in favor of the Cathedral of Learning. Conceived to be to be the second tallest skyscraper in the world after the Woolworth Building, the then so called “Tower of Learning” would be designed, not by Hornbostel, but instead one of the foremost Gothic architects of the time — Philadelphian Charles Klauder.
“Plan A and Plan B have an enormous amount in common in terms of prestige,” Toker says. “They were both products of the huge over-arching vision and confidence that Pittsburgh had of itself 100 years ago.”
Today, of the buildings there that Hornbostel originally designed, only two remain. That and the question, as Toker so perfectly puts it: “Would Hornbostel’s Acropolis have been the world’s most gigantic white elephant or would it have made the University famous around the globe for this stunning outlay of buildings?”
Stunning is a word that can be applied to many of Hornbostels’s projects, not the least of which is the majestic Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland, which is loosely based on the Mausoleum Halicarnassus in Southwest Turkey, and the ornate Temple Rodef Shalom in Shadyside, which has the largest Guastavino tile dome in the world. The same can be said of the various private residences he designed, most of which still exist.
Originally designed for Morris Friedman, president of Reliance Mortgage Co., in 1925, the home is now that of Dr. Michael Nieland, a dermatopathologist who has owned it since 1976.
Even though he has lived there nearly 30 years, Nieland’s enthusiasm for the house hasn’t waned.
“The home is endlessly interesting from my point of view in terms of all of its various nooks and crannies,” he says.
An art and antique collector, Nieland says the possibilities of placing art and decorative objects within the various display spaces and built-in cabinetry are seemingly endless. That and special features like an indoor fountain on the first floor and a second-floor library make this house especially unique.
But even with all of that, what attracted Nieland to the home initially was the entranceway, which has a large iron door that opens into a vestibule made of carved limestone. Inside the vestibule, an arched inner door is filled with etched glass that has an ornate Art Nouveau pattern. Beyond that door is the entrance hall.
“The front entrance hall is long, so when you enter the house it’s not immediately apparent what the floor plan of the house is so there is a little bit of mystery when you come in,” Nieland says.
Nieland’s favorite aspect of the inside of the home is the layout of the various rooms, which gradually unfolds to the visitor as one moves through it, further adding to that sense of mystery.
Even on a small scale such as this, the mystery and drama that Hornbostel, who died in 1961, was able to create is why his legacy continues to live on and why he will no doubt continue to long be considered one of Pittsburgh’s most important and influential architects.
Kurt Shaw can be reached at kshaw@tribweb.com or .
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
-
Ceiling collapse a puzzler of plaster at Hartwood mansion
By Jerome L. Sherman,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, August 16, 2005Allegheny County officials still don’t know how 2 tons of Renaissance-style molded plaster peeled away from the ceiling of the Great Hall at the Hartwood mansion in Indiana Township last week and came crashing down on dozens of valuable antiques.
“We have no clue at all how this happened,” said Sylvia Easler, recreation superintendent with the county Parks Department, as she stood under a gothic archway next to the hall yesterday afternoon and watched laborers use a power saw to slice the plaster into small pieces.
No one was injured when the ceiling fell Thursday. A tour group had passed through the hall 20 minutes earlier.
Yesterday, an insurance agent and a preservationist from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation visited the 76-year-old mansion in Allegheny County’s Hartwood Acres Park.
Tom Keffer, the foundation’s construction manager and superintendent of properties maintenance, said he initially suspected that water damage might have caused the collapse, but he didn’t find any moisture concentration when he examined the ceiling’s remains. He said the building is well maintained.
The 31-room mansion, built in 1929 in the Tudor style of Elizabethan England, was the home of John and Mary Lawrence, whose father, William Flinn, was a powerful state senator.
Mary Lawrence sold the mansion and her 400 acres of property to Allegheny County in 1969 for a little more than $1 million. The county expanded the park to 629 acres and opened the mansion to the public in 1976.
Lawrence’s son, John, who grew up in the mansion and now lives in Grove City, Mercer County, said he would contact some private donors to help raise money for the building’s restoration.
“I feel sick about it,” he said. “The county shouldn’t have to foot the entire bill. This isn’t the end of Hartwood, believe me. We will recover.”
County officials said it was too soon to estimate the cost of the damage, but it likely is extensive.
Some damaged items included two rare Georgian folding walnut game tables, a Flemish tapestry from the 1600s, a Steinway grand piano made in 1901, and an Aeolian pipe organ.
The 400-year-old oak wood paneling that lines the walls is relatively unscathed, as is a large Bijar Persian rug.
Keffer took digital photographs of the ceiling’s elaborate molds of fruits, flowers, oak leaves and other nature scenes and will help the county find ways of reproducing the original patterns.
Tom Donatelli, county public works director, said he will research construction techniques from the 1920s to try to determine why the metal support structures in the ceiling failed. The rest of the house is in good shape, he said.
He hopes to have enough of the repair work completed by the holiday season to allow Hartwood to hold its annual Celebration of Lights festival.
(Jerome L. Sherman can be reached at jsherman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1183.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
-
Hopes rise on fallen ceiling damage
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, August 16, 2005Damage from the collapse of the Renaissance-style ceiling at Hartwood Mansion might be less than feared, the manager of the county-owned facility said Monday.
“I think we can salvage more than we originally thought even though things look awful right now,” said Sylvia Easler, recreation superintendent for county parks and manager of the Hartwood Acres mansion. The 629-acre park lies along Saxonburg Boulevard in Hampton and Indiana townships.
Several tons of plaster fell Thursday from the ceiling of the Great Hall of the mansion, built in 1929 for John and Mary Flinn Lawrence. Her father was state Sen. William Flinn, who owned the city’s largest construction firm in the late 19th century.
Many of the furnishings, whether damaged or unscathed, are now stored in the dining room. There lie legless English chairs from the 19th century, two matching game tables valued at a total of $17,000, and a brass chandelier from Flinn’s home in Highland Park.
“We have some excellent craftsmen in the county,” Easler said. “They’re optimistic they can help with a lot of this.”
County officials and an insurance adjuster still have not compiled a damage estimate.
Inside the Great Hall, falling plaster damaged the corner of a hand-carved oak mantel, made in 1610 and removed from an English castle. A damask, ball-and-claw-foot couch from the 1800s stands intact under a huge sheet of plaster while a needlepoint settee worth $5,000 is flattened.
Perhaps the room’s prize, an 1870 Bijar Persian rug, was rolled up and safe from the debris. With 1,000 knots per square inch, the rug is worth $75,000.
Originally, officials from Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation cited moisture as a possible cause for the collapse in the 54- by 23-foot room. Now, Easler said, the method used to hang the inch-thick plaster ceiling is considered a suspect.
“The general consensus was that it’s amazing that it lasted this long,” she said. “There was no additional reinforcement besides the nails.”
The accident forced the cancellation of mansion tours and indoor weddings. Outdoor weddings will still be held on the grounds.
Easler said two couples who had indoor weddings scheduled for this weekend have found other sites.
“The community rallied around and were very supportive of trying to find another place,” she said.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
-
Architecture detectives on the case
By Violet Law
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, August 14, 2005Moisture may be the culprit that caused the ornate plaster ceiling in the Great Hall of Hartwood Mansion to come crashing down, a restoration expert said Saturday.
Tom Keffer and other specialists at Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation plan to play architecture sleuths today to determine what caused the collapse. Keffer said yesterday that the high humidity that has prevailed this summer could be a culprit.
“I won’t know that for sure until I get out there,” said Keffer, the preservation group’s construction manager and superintendent of properties maintenance. “I may not know even at first glance.”
The Great Hall, about half the size of a football field, has been buried under several tons of plaster that crashed from the ceiling Thursday afternoon — narrowly missing a tour group that had just passed through.
While it is not unusual to see caved-in ceilings in dilapidated historical homes, Keffer said, “I haven’t seen anything like that in something as diligently maintained” as Hartwood Mansion.
The stately Tudor built in 1929 was purchased by the Allegheny County Parks Department in 1969 and is a popular venue for concerts, theater and weddings. The 629-acre property straddles Hampton and Indiana townships along Saxonburg Boulevard.
All scheduled events inside the mansion have been canceled.
Last spring, Keffer helped reglaze 37 steel-framed casement windows in the cottage section of the mansion and on the first floor. He saw no signs of problems in the Great Hall ceiling, which contained hand-cast motifs of thistles and flowers.
Salvage and restoration work is to begin as soon as possible. Among the items damaged by falling plaster were a chandelier, a 1901 mahogany Steinway grand piano, an Aeolian pipe organ, early Georgian gaming tables and a large Flemish tapestry.
“We’re going to decipher what we can repair and what is beyond repair,” said mansion Manager Sylvia Easler.
Friends of Hartwood, a volunteer group dedicated to rehabilitating the mansion, plans to raise money to help restore the antique furniture and any damage not covered by insurance, said Amber Bierkan, the group’s president.
Restoring the Renaissance-style ceiling to its original grandeur could be time-consuming, Keffer said. He plans to take close-up shots of the debris and collect a small sample of the plaster for analysis.
“Hopefully we can find enough of the medallion pieces to duplicate them,” said Keffer. “I’m almost scared to look.”
For Easler, who has overseen the mansion for 20 years, it might be as if the sky has fallen on her head.
“I just love this house. Everyone here does,” Easler said. “We are kind of consoling each other.”
Violet Law can be reached at vlaw@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7884
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review