Category Archive: News Wire Services
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Phipps’ new welcome center makes a grand entrance
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tuesday, March 29, 2005Entrances matter.
The new entrance to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens marks the passage into the great glasshouse as a dramatic and memorable event, and along the way gives Pittsburgh an elegant outdoor room.
Via a long ramp from the sidewalk, the visitor descends into the landscape and is gathered in by welcoming arms — the pair of exterior, winding stairs that flank the courtyard and lead to the upper walkway. In the center of the courtyard wall, with its echoes of Renaissance gardens, is the entrance door to the lobby. Open it and the courtyard’s sense of enclosure gives way to a feeling of expansiveness under a sky framed by the new glass dome.
To the right is Cafe Phipps; to the left is The Shop at Phipps, both earth-sheltered but with generous windows looking onto the courtyard. What beckons first, though, is another winding stair, this one leading the visitor up into the dome and ending in a balcony that provides not only an overview of the rotunda but also of the landscape beyond: A sweeping panorama bracketed by the extending Phipps wings and encompassing Carnegie Institute and its puffing steam-plant, the cascading buildings of Carnegie Mellon University, the sloping lawn of Flagstaff Hill and the woods of Schenley Park.
We have seen this view before, of course. But after our vertical journey through the landscape, the historic, horizontal landscape is refreshed and reframed by the glass dome. We see it with new eyes and a new appreciation.
Phipps Conservatory’s $5 million welcome center, designed by IKM Inc. and built by Turner Construction Co., completes an Oakland trifecta in which the public and the public realm are the big winners. With the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s transformation of Schenley Park’s horribly disfigured, vacant nature center into a showcase visitors center and Phipps’ restoration and revival of Botany Hall, whose tile roof nears completion, there is every reason to celebrate and give thanks for the renewal wrought in recent years.
In fact, the Phipps welcome center is better than what was originally proposed. The scheme announced in March 2001 had two entrances: a main entrance at the rear, near a new 200-car parking garage, and a small glass pavilion set in a reflecting pool at the historic entrance to accommodate walk-ins and provide a sparkling evening reception area.
Phipps hoped to share the garage and its cost with another institution, but when a partner couldn’t be found and funding became tighter in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, that plan was abandoned and a new one hatched.
There will be no rear entrance. But behind the conservatory, new production greenhouses are under construction and a tropical forest glasshouse is expected to open late next year. Alas, it will not step down into Panther Hollow, a big opportunity lost.
But another was found.
“In the old days, you went up about 6 feet to enter” the conservatory, said IKM’s Jim Taylor, the project’s master planner and designer, along with project manager Joel Bernard and Sonny Sanjari, who worked on design development.
“We realized if we went down, you could get everything” — cafe, shop, lobby, bathrooms, locker room and the courtyard as a bonus, about 11,000 square feet of new space in all.
And with the dome, a lot more volume, adds IKM president Mike Marcu.
At the top of the interior winding stair is the conservatory’s entrance, housed in a rusticated limestone addition that recalls Phipps’ original rusticated sandstone entrance of 1893 at the same location. It also contains the elevator and, below ground, the bathrooms.
The earth-sheltered portions — the cafe and shop — will have a 40 percent to 50 percent energy savings over a one-story, above-ground building. The large operable windows looking onto the courtyard provide significant daylight and natural ventilation, as do the dome and its vents.
When the most recent entrance, which dated to the 1960s and replaced the 1893 stone entrance, was demolished, 75 percent of its waste material was recycled. New materials were selected for recycled and non-toxic content and local production. All of these and other sustainable strategies are expected to add up to a Silver LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.
For the courtyard design, detailed by IKM’s George Bedo, the architects studied Italian Renaissance walled gardens, but inspiration also came from the conservatory itself, in the arches of the Palm Court. A band of green tiles high on the courtyard wall and others recessed in the columns that join the courtyard arches lighten the mood.
Through Taylor, who studied in Rome, the twin winding stairs that enclose the courtyard have their source in the Villa Giulia, built in the mid-1500s for Pope Julius III and a national museum since 1889.
“My wife says all of my work relates to the Villa Giulia,” said Taylor, sounding like a man who thinks his wife may be onto something he himself hasn’t quite grasped.
The courtyard walls are cement stucco, with Indiana limestone framing the windows. The base molding is granite. The budget prevented the use of stone paving in the courtyard; it’s aggregate and brushed concrete. Let’s hope funding can be found for an upgrade over time. In warm weather, the courtyard will be outfitted with cafe tables and a shopping kiosk.
The conservatory has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. So throughout, the architects followed the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitation of historic buildings, which call for additions that do not radically change the existing architecture and can be clearly differentiated from it. While the new dome’s geometry comes from Phipps’ wings, its cupola is a subtle distinguishing feature. The entrance’s steel-and-glass canopy is another contemporary marker.
The landscape will be gently terraced and mostly lawn, with strips of planting beds for seasonal display. The two Chinese redwoods planted in the 1930s and moved to accommodate the welcome center are doing well in their new location flanking the entrance to the outdoor gardens, said Phipps’ director Richard Piacentini.
Piacentini, who also is current president of the American Association of Botanical Gardens & Arboreta, thinks the architects have created “probably the most dramatic and beautiful entrance of a conservatory in the country,” and it would be hard to disagree.
One thing is certain: At last Phipps has the entrance it has so long deserved.
Information:412-622-6914 or www.phipps.conservatory.org.
(Architecture critic Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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City of stairways may lose some of its character
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 26, 2005Efforts are under way to prevent the network of 737 public staircases linking Pittsburgh’s hilltop neighborhoods to the ground from becoming a casualty of the city’s financial crisis.
Pittsburgh’s staircases — the most of any city in the nation, even more than hilly San Francisco — were built in an era when automobiles were fewer and residents, especially mill and factory workers, needed a way to navigate the steep terrain. The staircases have 44,770 steps; the longest staircase, at 378 steps, runs along the “paper” street Ray Avenue in Brookline, linking West Liberty and Pioneer avenues.
About 18 of the city’s staircases have been closed off because they are in bad shape, according to the city’s Department of Public Works. Maintenance also has been abandoned on about a quarter of the steps that have not been closed off.
“Maintenance on the steps — removing snow, spreading salt and clearing debris and brush — is very labor intensive,” said Mike Gable, deputy director of public works. “We’re just not able to get to a lot of the things we did in the past.”
The city will, however, perform maintenance if it receives requests from residents or neighborhood groups.
In previous years, the city typically earmarked about $500,000 a year just for maintenance.
This year, only about $250,000 — all of it federal grant money — is available to pay for road paving and maintenance of retaining walls, fences and steps, Gable said.
The federal money can be used only in the 52 percent of city neighborhoods that qualify for aid, said Councilman Doug Shields, council’s finance chairman.
Among the cost-saving initiatives called for in the Act 47 financial recovery plan is a survey of the steps to determine which ones can be closed and demolished.
By mid-summer, the Public Works Department expects to provide city officials with a list of 60 to 100 staircases it recommends be demolished, said Rob Kaczorowski, the assistant director of public works.
The city’s plan to reduce its inventory of staircases comes at a time when neighborhood groups are rediscovering their value.
The Fineview Citizens Council uses its steps as a marketing tool for the neighborhood by hosting an annual 5-K “Challenge of the Hillside” race 400 feet up four public staircases. Money raised from the event is used to maintain the community’s 17 sets of steps.
The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association launched an annual “Step Trek” celebration in 2000 that uses mapped routes along some of its 68 public staircases to showcase the neighborhood. Residents there also volunteer to clear brush.
Bob Regan, whose 2004 book “The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City” chronicles the history of the city’s staircases, said he has been receiving an “overwhelmingly positive” response to his writings and lectures.
“My experience as I talk to neighborhood groups about the steps is that their consciousness has been raised,” said Regan, who conducted a lecture on city steps Thursday for the Lawrenceville Historical Society. “Folks who took the steps for granted begin to see them as a unique, historic artifact that they are willing to work with the city to preserve.”
Though the loss of some of the staircases might be inevitable, Regan said, he is calling for a cautious approach in the process.
“I’m not an idealist. I understand the realities of the fiscal constraint the city is facing. I realize some of the staircases will have to be closed and probably torn down. I just hope the city approaches it in a rational fashion,” said Regan, a Boston native working as a visiting professor of geographic information systems at the University of Pittsburgh.
“I’d hate to see a haphazard process at a time when we are just beginning to realize that these steps have the potential of being major tourist attractions.”
Kaczorowski, who is coordinating the survey, said the list that is turned over to the Murphy administration and City Council will have steps that are used the least at the top.
“We have some steps in the city that were originally built to provide access to a school that no longer exists, or that lead up to a street where there’s no houses anymore,” he said.
City Council President Gene Ricciardi, whose neighborhood has the largest number of staircases, 70, said the steps are among those uniquely Pittsburgh things that could help boost tourism.
“Besides still being a practical way for a lot of people to get around the hilltop neighborhoods, the steps can be a marketing tool for those who visit here,” Ricciardi said.
“They should be on the ‘must-do’ list with the inclines, the museums, the opera and the sports venues,” he said. “We are missing a golden opportunity if we don’t preserve them.”
Ricciardi said he will push for at least some of the revenue from a bond-refinancing proposal in the works to be used to maintain the steps.
Council next week will consider refinancing about $250 million in debt at a lower interest rate, which would generate about $7 million to finance public-works projects.
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Step by step
Some facts about Pittsburgh’s steps:Number of staircases: 737
Total number of steps: 44,770
Total number of feet: 24,176, or about 4.5 miles
Number of staircases that are legal “paper” streets: 334
Number of staircases with more than 300 steps: 5
Number of staircases with fewer than 25 steps: 189
Number of wooden staircases: 80
Number of brick steps: 1
Neighborhoods with the most staircases: South Side, 70; Beechview, 39
Number of neighborhoods with no staircases: 24
Decades in which most staircases were built: 1940s, 204; 1950s, 137
Longest staircase no longer in existence: Indian Trail steps, more than 1,000 wooden steps up Mt. Washington from Carson Street to the intersection of Shaler Street and Grandview Avenue, Duquesne Heights
For more information about Pittsburgh’s steps, visit: www.saveoursteps.org
Source: Bob Regan, author of “The Steps of Pittsburgh: Portrait of a City”
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com.
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Point Park restoring buildings
y Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW REAL ESTATE WRITER
Wednesday, March 9, 2005The ability to combine new facilities with historic buildings is becoming a specialty at Point Park University.
Evidence includes a recently completed $2.8 million television studio and production project at the Downtown school’s historic University Center and the soon-to-begin $1 million first-phase restoration of Lawrence Hall, a building housing dormitories, classrooms, offices and dance studios.“We’re really combining historic preservation and renovation with contemporary student needs,” said Point Park President Katherine Henderson on Tuesday. “These projects also enhance Downtown, both historically and aesthetically.”
Point Park’s efforts have support from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, Mellon Financial Corp. and the Allegheny Foundation, chaired by Richard M. Scaife, owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Those organizations all provided funding support for the upcoming Lawrence Hall project.
“We are very pleased with Point Park’s attention to the historic nature of its campus buildings,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Landmarks Foundation, which provided a $12,000 grant to help develop a restoration plan and budget.
Allegheny Foundation added a lead grant of $100,000 to initiate a restoration campaign, and then Mellon Financial kicked another $150,000 to the funding mix, with Point Park funds supporting the rest.
The building, which is located across Wood Street and connected via an enclosed walkway from Point Park’s Academic Hall, originally was built in 1928 as the Keystone Athletic Club, and later converted into the Sherwyn Hotel. It was acquired by Point Park in 1967 and renamed in honor of former Pennsylvania governor and Pittsburgh Mayor David L. Lawrence.
Designed by Janssen and Cocken, a well-known Pittsburgh-based architectural firm that also fashioned such Pittsburgh landmarks as the Mellon Institute and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the building is notable not only for its Gothic architecture style, but also its distinctive Art Deco third floor ballroom, Ziegler said.
Expected to begin in May, the first phase will reclaim the historic appearance of the first-floor lobby and the exterior facade. Plans include replacement of a series of arched windows on Wood Street and Third Avenue, cleaning of the limestone exterior and relocation of the Wood Street entrance to align with the interior grand staircase.
The project, designed by Landmarks Design Associates of Pittsburgh, will bring in more natural light, and add amenities like an expanded bookstore and additional first-floor student lounge space. The work will improve the atmosphere for the school’s 3,200 students and more than 300 staff and faculty members.
The work also will include addition of a second entrance on Wood Street and restoration of the outside sidewalk. Later phases over the next several years will include more expensive infrastructure and mechanical systems improvements, Henderson said.
The university’s new television studio and production facilities have been available for use by students and faculty in Point Park’s broadcasting program since January.
The studios, which Point Park officials say rival professional facilities, are tucked in a corner of the school’s University Center, a Wood Street complex that in the early 1900s housed five adjacent bank buildings and later, an urban shopping mall known as the Bank Center.
From 1997 until 2004, the complex housed the joint library collections of Point Park and the Downtown & Business Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. That was after a restoration that preserved the building’s historic and architectural details, which include marble staircases, an elaborate bronze clock and restored walk-in bank vaults.
The university developed new plans for the facility once the Carnegie last year decided to relocate its collection to another Downtown location on Smithfield Street.
“It is important that faculty members are able to teach students in an environment in which they will be working professionally one day,” said Jan Getz, broadcaster-in residence in Point Park’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
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Mellon cutting ties with historic building
By Patricia Sabatini,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, March 03, 2005Mellon Financial Corp. has decided not to renew its lease at Two Mellon Center, Downtown, ending its ties with a building that harks back to Mellon’s roots as financier to the nation’s corporate chieftains.
Mellon, which declined to say how much space it occupies or how many employees work at the ornate, Gothic-style structure also known as the Union Trust Building, said the move was an effort to cut costs.
Employees will be relocated in phases to the company’s three other Downtown buildings before the lease expires in May 2006, Mellon spokesman Ken Herz said.
Those buildings include Mellon’s headquarters on Grant, known as One Mellon Center; the adjacent Client Services Center; and 525 William Penn Place, also known as Three Mellon Center. Mellon has about 6,300 employees Downtown, Herz said.
In January, Mellon extended the lease at its headquarters building through 2028. The company owns the client services building and 525 William Penn Place, where it in turn leases space to Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania for its local headquarters. Citizens purchased Mellon’s banking operations in 2001.
The Union Trust Building, owned by the DeBartolo family since 1984, opened in 1923 as the headquarters for the Union Trust Co., founded by the Mellon and Frick families. The Mellon family’s banking operations merged with the Union Trust Co. in 1946 to form Mellon National Bank and Trust Co.
Herz said Mellon still planned to hold its annual meeting in the auditorium at Two Mellon this May.
(Patricia Sabatini can be reached at psabatini@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3066.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Downtown switching from business to residential
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 27, 2005Pittsburgh’s business leaders think they finally have hit on a way to revitalize Downtown: Rather than focusing solely on making it the place to work and shop, position it as a place to live.
“The era of having totally commercial districts is over in Pittsburgh and other cities,” said Herb Burger, who helped launch the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership more than a decade ago and is among those spearheading the latest effort to revitalize the Fifth and Forbes corridor.“All indications point to the need to have residential development Downtown to stabilize the area and create a community of people who not only work there, but live and shop there as well,” Burger said.
Patty Burk, program director of Pittsburgh’s Downtown Living Initiative, believes efforts to increase the amount of residential development Downtown are part of a national trend.
“We’re seeing a growing number of people in Pittsburgh who view urban living as something cool, something they want to be part of,” Burk said.
“I think it’s a combination of people growing bored with the suburbs — whether it’s spending an hour or more a day commuting or something else — and realizing the city offers some great buildings within walking distance of their jobs as well as lots of cultural activities.”
Business leaders believe increasing the size of Downtown’s population will lay the groundwork for improving the retail climate.
“More people living Downtown adds vibrancy to the city, which should lead to a healthier retail environment,” said Nancy Hart, interim executive director of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. She said a goal of doubling the Downtown population — currently fewer than 4,000 people — is a realistic one.
Developer Ralph Falbo, who has teamed with the Zambrano Corp. and Equa Landmark Communities on a proposed 84-unit luxury condominium complex on Fort Pitt Boulevard near Stanwix Street called First Side, is banking on greater interest in Downtown living.
“I walked past that site all my life and noticed the beautiful view of the river,” Falbo said. “And I’ve long felt that the lack of upscale condos available for people who want to live Downtown really was a missing link in the fabric of the city.”
Falbo, who is hoping to break ground on the 18-story building in the spring, estimates the project will cost about $28 million. Work is expected to take about 18 months.
Downtown residential projects that are under construction or being planned include:
An 18-story, 151-unit luxury apartment building at Seventh Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard in the Cultural District. The project is being done by Lincoln Property Co.
Conversion of the upper six floors of the Fidelity Building on Fourth Avenue into 24 apartments by developer Dean McHolme, who also has plans to convert a seven-story office building at 111 Wood St. into apartments.
Conversion of the Union National Bank Building at Fourth and Wood streets into 60 condominiums.
Construction of 20 luxury apartment units at 930 Penn Ave., near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
While developers are optimistic about the future of residential development Downtown, those who jumped in early have had their difficulties.“I certainly believe the city is ripe for the national trend of people looking for a different lifestyle, a more urban experience, than was sought 20 or 30 years ago,” said Eve Picker of No Wall Productions, one of the city’s “loft living” pioneers. “But Pittsburgh tends to lag behind the rest of the country a bit, so Downtown has been a bit of a tough sell.”
Over the past several years, Picker has developed 21 upscale residential properties on First Avenue and along Penn Avenue, Downtown. However, a downturn in the city’s real estate market has meant several units remain vacant.
Burger said his group is concentrating on developing the lower portion of Fifth Avenue, from the closed Lazarus department store building down to Liberty Avenue.
While he cautions that plans for the Fifth and Forbes corridor are in the very early stages of development, the initial vision is to preserve the best of the older buildings and add a number of new structures.
Previous Fifth and Forbes plans promoted by Mayor Tom Murphy were sharply criticized by officials of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation because they included demolition of many older structures.
Burger said his group is working with Philadelphia residential developer Carl Dranoff on the latest Fifth and Forbes plan, which initially calls for between 600 and 800 residential units on the second and third floors of various buildings, and retail space at ground level.
Another change that will likely occur is a shift in who is spearheading the development effort, Burger said.
While the city will certainly be a major player in any effort to develop Downtown — the Urban Redevelopment Authority owns a significant number of buildings in the Fifth and Forbes corridor — success ultimately will have to rely on private initiatives.
“I think there is a greater sense that the political atmosphere is not the place to get things done,” Burger said. “It’s going to take people in the private sector saying we have to do something Downtown. Of course, the developers will be looking to the city to assist them.”
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7987.
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Renovation of Edgewood train station back in limbo
By Joe Grata,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, February 19, 2005Renovation of Edgewood’s historic train station will have to wait. Again.
The Port Authority board’s engineering and construction committee yesterday recommended rejecting all bids for the train station improvements and rehabilitation of the Swissvale Avenue and Whitney Avenue pedestrian tunnels under the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway Extension.
Engineering and Construction Manager Henry Nutbrown said the low bid for only the general construction portion of the project was $715,000, well more than the $420,000 estimate. The electrical and heating-ventilation low bids totaling $124,000 also exceeded estimates.
“We believe the proper course is to step back, redesign and reduce the scope of the project” in order to bring costs closer to budget, he said.
A group of Edgewood officials and residents fought the 2.3-mile busway extension for more than a decade. Consequently, the Port Authority dropped the local improvements from plans and went ahead with the busway, anyhow.
The buses-only road opened between Wilkinsburg and Swissvale-Rankin in July 2003. A year later, the borough and the authority reached agreement on changes to the 1,500-square-foot train station. Now housing an antique shop and real estate office, the historic building is adjacent to the busway at the bottom of Maple Avenue.
Once the scaled-back renovations are done, the Port Authority is to lease the building to Edgewood for a nominal amount for 29 years. The borough is to use it for community purposes.
In other business, the authority board:
* Recommended a $2,450,000 extension of an agreement with consultant Booz Allen to oversee a $151 million contract to buy 28 light-rail vehicles and rehabilitate 40 old LRVs, all by late next year.
So far, all 28 new cars have been shipped; 14 are used in daily service. The first two old vehicles have been rehabilitated and are being tested on South Hills tracks; five more have been shipped to CAF USA’s plant in Elmira, N.Y., for work.
* Gave preliminary approval to a maximum $400,000 extension of a $6.6 million contract with a group of consulting firms to continue work on a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed high-speed, magnetically levitated train between Pittsburgh International Airport and Greensburg.
Maglev Inc. and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, partners in the maglev project, are awaiting Federal Railway Administration approval to release the statement for a 45-day public comment period and four public hearings. They expect those proceedings to take place this spring.
* Heard Nutbrown report continuing progress on development of an intermodal transportation facility in Robinson. By this time next year, he said work is expected to be under way on an 820-space park-n- ride lot and on Montour Run Road improvements at The Pointe at North Fayette retail center.
* Was told staff and Bethel Park officials are working toward what Nubrown called “a satisfactory outcome” to the municipality’s plans to impose a 10 percent parking tax on the authority’s new 2,200- space parking garage at the South Hills Village T station.
“The tax at this time would be counterproductive to our efforts and could result in reduced ridership,” Nutbrown said, rather than boost ridership after $500 million in light-rail improvements over the past several years.
(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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Southern Hospitality; Brentwood house has the long, cool lines of a mint julep
By Gretchen McKay,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, February 05, 2005The Greek Revival style, which is characterized by low roof lines, square or rounded columns and a simple, symmetrical shape, is a common sight in Pittsburgh’s older neighborhoods. The most dominant architectural style in the United States during the mid-1800s, the style was adopted in most parts of the country.
Regional differences, however, exist. In the Northeast, for example, entry porches tend to be less than full height, and the imposing columns associated with the style are often replaced with decorative pilasters.
So the stately, stone Greek Revival that sits at 4344 Brownsville Road in Brentwood is something of a rarity here. With its full-width, two-story colonnaded porch and massive chimneys, the structure — a true Southern Colonial — would look more at home in a Gulf Coast state like Louisiana.
Its architectural style isn’t the only thing that’s a bit unusual about the house, which is currently for sale by owner for $395,000. Located just across the street from South Hills Country Club, it sits on three-quarters of an acre, a large lot in most suburban communities and “huge” by Brentwood standards. And the house itself, which has five bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, boasts more than 4,000 square feet of living space.
“You won’t find too many houses of this style and size in the area,” says owner Mary Jane Jones.
The house was built in 1925 by distinguished local architect Louis Stevens (1880-1961) as his personal residence. Workers used 16-inch-thick stone gleaned from an old church that had been torn down in Downtown Pittsburgh. In 1949, Stevens sold the property to D. L. Feick, president of Brentwood Motor Coach. It was given Historic Landmark status in 1993 by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
The double front door, which stands in the middle of the porch and features sidelights, deposits visitors directly into the living room. Like the two-story porch, this sunny space stretches the entire width of the house and offers occupants a wonderful view of the front yard through two pairs of six-over-six windows.
The 33-by-15-foot living room is actually two rooms divided by an entryway into an adjoining hall. Mirror images of each other, they boast decorative crown molding and chair rail, oak floors and twin log-burning fireplaces with polished marble surrounds. On each side are built-in bookcases with cabinets underneath. Foot-deep window sills like those found in early farmhouses add to the spacious feel, as do the soft buttercream walls.
The living room leads into a wainscoted center hall, which is also accessed by a six-panel side entry door off the driveway. Many older homes have problems with storage, but that’s not the case here; the hall, which wears tasteful maroon floral wallpaper above the chair rail, contains a coat closet under the staircase, two more closets at the other end and a small cubby for games and hats next to the stairs.
A french door opens onto the family room. At 28 feet by 18 feet, this comfy space is nearly as large as the formal living room. But it’s much more relaxed, thanks in large part to a sizable wood-burning brick fireplace with stone hearth. Because the kitchen lacks a breakfast room, one corner of the family room serves as informal eating area. But there’s still room enough for several sofas and two large armoires.
Adding to the room’s charm are four large picture windows that overlook a fenced-in side yard landscaped with rhododendrons, peonies, lilies, irises and azaleas. A door opens onto a rear deck with a small rock garden off to the side. A magnolia blooms beautifully each spring in the fenced-in back yard.
More french doors open onto a formal dining room with red-and-white striped wallpaper and exposed hardwood floors. Twin built-in china closets allow for display of heirlooms. The room also features a decorative fireplace with marble surround.
Swinging doors lead into the recently renovated kitchen. A happy marriage of old and new, this L-shaped space has white-painted beadboard walls, rustic slate floors and cherry cabinetry. The black appliances include double wall ovens, a dishwasher and an electric cooktop. There’s also a separate built-in pantry and, off a back hallway, a small powder room with beadboard walls and a first-floor laundry.
The second floor holds five bedrooms, including two with doors leading to the front veranda. The pale-yellow master bedroom suite, which measures 17 by 16 feet and overlooks Brownsville Road, is both comfortable and practical. His-and-her closets on either side of a decorative marble fireplace feature built-in dressers, and there’s a private master bath with twin sinks. There’s also a small, private porch overlooking that back yard. On a clear day, someone standing there can see the top of the U.S. Steel Building and in the summer, fireworks.
A second front bedroom, painted a deep maroon, has the same double closets with drawers and marble fireplace and also opens onto the top veranda. A third bedroom has two large closets on either side of an alcove.
The most unusual bedroom lies at the rear of the house and is accessed by a back staircase from the kitchen. Originally the maids’ quarters, this charming little room — which features lilac wallpaper and light-purple woodwork — has a wide-plank built-in closet and a tiny nook overlooking the back yard with built-ins on either side. There’s also a separate kitchen area down a narrow hall and, tucked into the roofline, a small bath.
Although the homeowners currently use the rooms for storage, they could easily be turned into guest quarters or an in-law suite, or perhaps even a home office.
Because of the home’s size and circular floor plan, it’s the perfect house for entertaining, says Jones. It’s also very private, thanks to the long row of fire bushes that line the driveway and towering maple trees out front, which help keep the property cool during the summer.
Afraid of a house that’s 80 years old? Not to worry. Along with central air, the house has a new roof and all new windows. The owners have also replaced the original wood siding with HardiPlank, a fiber-cement product that resists rotting and cracking. The porch has new wood floors and railing. There is also a two-car attached garage, as well as a two-car tandem detached garage.
(Post-Gazette staff writer Gretchen McKay can be reached at gmckay@post-gazette.com or 412-761-4670.)
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Newest Fifth-Forbes plan built on housing – Retail still present but scaled down
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, January 20, 2005The latest attempt to inject life into the downtrodden Fifth and Forbes shopping corridor Downtown will include lots of housing and some street-level retail, but not nearly as much as in previous proposals, Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy said yesterday.
During a Rotary Club of Pittsburgh speech at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Murphy said he expects the newest plan aimed at reinvigorating the faltering retail district to be formalized within the next few weeks.
It is one of two major Downtown development pieces that could get renewed focus in 2005, Murphy’s last year in office.
Murphy also said he expects, by the end of the month, an agreement in principle with Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises on the construction of a $104 million, 500-room hotel adjacent to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Murphy said the latest make-over of properties along Fifth and Forbes avenues will be quite different than the retail-laden plan he unveiled nearly eight years ago, one that collapsed amid objections from Downtown property owners and the loss of Nordstrom, the proposed department store anchor.
The mayor said the newest version will be heavy on residential — up to several thousand new units — with ground-level retail serving as a complement.
One reason for the de-emphasis of retail, Murphy said, is that many of the major retailers or restaurants that had been considering Downtown have since chosen other locations, such as the SouthSide Works or The Waterfront in Homestead. One he mentioned was The Cheesecake Factory, which ended up at the SouthSide Works complex.
“I think we’re feeling more optimistic than we’ve felt in awhile,” Murphy said of the Fifth and Forbes project. “I think we had a window to do retail and I think that’s gone now, I mean, [as] a significant dominant driver of the deal. There’s still going to be retail — I expect mostly all the first floors to be retail — but the focus will be more on housing.”
While Murphy’s original proposal involved extensive demolition of existing buildings, many of which Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation officials considered historic and worth saving, the mayor said there would be an effort to preserve some buildings under the new plan.
Herb Burger, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership founder who is heading the ad hoc committee putting together the latest Fifth and Forbes initiative, said the intent is to preserve as many historic buildings as possible.
“Nobody’s interested in destroying beautiful buildings where they exist,” he said.
The committee’s work is being driven primarily by private interests, which banded together after Murphy’s first plan and a subsequent initiative collapsed.
Burger said most of the residential component would be concentrated in lower Fifth Avenue, from the vacant Lazarus-Macy’s department store to Liberty Avenue, and would involve a number of city Urban Redevelopment Authority properties acquired for development purposes. One of the buildings that is expected to house residential units is the old G.C. Murphy’s store near Market Square.
Burger’s committee is working “hand and glove” with Philadelphia residential developer Carl Dranoff on the latest plan.
Burger said the earliest phases of the project would feature 600 to 800 residential units, with expansion from there. The retail would be “complementary,” geared toward meeting the needs of Downtown residents, such as groceries and dry cleaning.
The Murphy administration wants to give Dranoff a chance to develop a comprehensive plan for the corridor before considering other approaches, including the possibility of selling off URA-owned properties.
Both Murphy and Burger believe that there’s a better chance of doing quality development if a developer has a large bank of properties to work with.
Federated Department Stores, the owner of the closed Lazarus-Macy’s, also has been open to a series of possible investors. But Burger said that to date he did not know of any sale or resolution of that property.
As for the convention center hotel, Murphy and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato have set an end-of-January deadline for finalizing an agreement with Forest City on the hotel, which has been stuck in neutral for nearly two years.
Murphy said he is optimistic about getting an agreement, noting that Forest City and the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority “are down to very few issues,” most of them involving design or minute contractual details.
“The broad parameters of the deal we all agree on,” he said.
If no agreement is reached, the city and county could end up rebidding the project, but Murphy said that is currently not under consideration.
“There would have to be substantial and irreconcilable differences for us to proceed to [rebid it] because we’ve come so far on the deal at this point. It’s been a lot of years of discussion,” he said.
The hotel project was stalled for a long time because of funding shortfalls. But that changed when the state Legislature earmarked $44 million for it from a $2 billion tourism and economic development fund to be financed through slot machine gambling revenues.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.)