Category Archive: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Saving Carson Street’s history
By Ron DaParma
Tribune Review Real Estate Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005Hundreds of young “historians” from four local schools will join their adult counterparts from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and The History Channel today to celebrate a project designed to bring to life the history of East Carson Street on the South Side.
The pupils from Phillips, Arlington and Murray elementary schools and Bishop Leonard Catholic — all in or around the South Side — already are deeply involved in the project funded by a $10,000 inaugural “Save Our History” grant to the foundation.
The grant’s purpose is to raise awareness about East Carson, a historic main street lined with Victorian-style commercial buildings.
The landmarks foundation is one of only 29 organizations across the country chosen for the newly established History Channel grants, which are for “innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together and engage children in the preservation of their local history.” Today’s event is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Phillips school on the South Side.
“We expect the auditorium to be packed,” said Louise Sturgess, the foundation’s executive director and overseer of the East Carson project.
Students in grades kindergarten through eight are integrally involved, she said, handling tasks ranging from conducting research and community interviews to sketching buildings and presenting oral histories.
In all, about 500 students are expected to participate in the project, which is to run through May 15.
“People from The History Channel are coming to recognize the work that the students have been doing since we received the award in January,” Sturgess said.
They will be bringing with them project banners and enamel plaques to present to the participating schools.
“There will be some really neat stuff,” Sturgess said. “It will help the kids understand that they are part of one of the few programs in America who are getting the chance to do a project that really helps preserve a part of history.”
“We are thrilled to see the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation work hand-in-hand with local students to teach them about the great city around them,” said Judy Klein Frimer, director of brand enhancement for The History Channel.
As part of the project, students have been working in pairs to identify and document more than 20 historic main street buildings along East Carson.
They also have interviewed senior citizens to document how South Side buildings have changed over the years, created silk screens of some of those buildings and composed poems, sketches and other artistic pieces.
The foundation also has worked in conjunction with “The Saturday Light Brigade,” a family-oriented public radio program on WRCT-FM, to host chat sessions between students and community members.
Plans are to record and archive these recollections of the neighborhood and the main street in particular.
Officials today also will announce plans for “Spotlight on Main Street,” a major community event planned for April 30 at the South Side Market House and along East Carson, between 10th and 22nd streets.
“That will be a highlight of our project,” Sturgess said. It will feature a scavenger hunt, entertainment and a live radio broadcast conducted by the “Saturday Light Brigade” from the street.
After the Save Our History project concludes on May 15, plans are to launch a new interactive Internet site that will feature the buildings identified by the students, as well as “fun facts” and trivia about the buildings and neighborhood.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Phipps completes first phase of expansion project
By Kellie B. Gormly
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 29, 2005Visitors to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens this weekend will find a warm and bright spring greeting in the new Welcome Center, which is the first phase of a $36.6 million expansion project.
“It’s the first building in a major expansion of the conservatory that’s going to make Phipps the finest conservatory in the entire country,” says Richard V. Piacentini, executive director of the Oakland attraction. “We think it is the most attractive entrance to a botanical garden in the entire country.”Officials will discuss details of the new Welcome Center at a news conference scheduled for Thursday, which marks the official public opening. A grand-opening celebration for the public is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The 10,885-square-foot Welcome Center — portions of which have been opened for about a month — includes updated visitor amenities, the 2,000-square-foot Shop at Phipps and the 78-seat Cafe Phipps. The center, topped by a 46-foot glass dome, sits mostly underground, with a small lobby on the ground level that leads to the Palm Court and the rest of the conservatory. The dome allows plenty of natural light to spill in, making it seem to visitors that they are not underground, Piacentini says.
“One of the biggest problems we had in the design process was figuring out how to put the building in front of the conservatory without blocking it,” he says. “This is an absolutely brilliant solution.”
The next phase of the project — a state-of-the-art greenhouse production facility designed to grow plants for exhibition — is scheduled to open this fall, followed by the 12,000-square-foot Tropical Forest Exhibit in the fall of 2006. The final two phases are adding facilities for special events and education administration. Timelines for these two projects depend on funding received, Piacentini says.
IKM Inc., a Downtown architectural firm, designed the Welcome Center, which replaces a pavilion that was built in the 1960s and complements the design of the 112-year-old conservatory, Phipps officials say.
“The Phipps Welcome Center is a beautiful and contemporary addition to a grand historical landmark,” said Jim Stalder, chairman of the Phipps Board of Trustees, in a written statement. “However, behind the beauty is an environmentally conscious structure that strives to lessen the impact on its surroundings while maintaining historical significance.”
Landscaping surrounding the Welcome Center is a work in progress, but Piacentini says the grounds can be tended and more flowers planted when the rain subsides.
Meanwhile, Phipps officials today will install more than 100,000 brightly colored, tulip-sized flags on the sloping front lawn to give a colorful spring flower appearance, he says.
The Welcome Center includes an upgraded ticketing and admission system, a visitor locker area, new restroom facilities and a grand stairway to the Palm Court, which leads to other conservatory exhibits. The Shop at Phipps — which is about four times the size of the old gift shop — will carry botanically themed merchandise such as cards, toys, beauty products, home items, gardening books and cookbooks, and actual house plants.
Cafe Phipps — operated by Big Burrito Group, which owns area restaurants including Mad Mex, Soba and Casbah — offers self-service meals and snacks featuring locally grown produce.
About the Welcome Center
Nearly 25 percent of the materials used are manufactured from within a 500-mile radius of Pittsburgh. Much of the material — such as steel, concrete, limestone block and bricks — also are extracted regionally, and much material was recycled.
The facility is awaiting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification at the silver level, which means it meets strict environmental and sustainability guidelines.
The building is environmentally conscious in its operations. For instance, energy used to operate the building comes from wind power, which helps prevent global warming and conserve natural resources.
About the Tropical Forest ExhibitThe 12,000-square-foot facility, scheduled to open in the fall of 2006, will be about one and a half times the size of the existing tropical exhibit, which is about 7,900 square feet. It will be 60 feet high and feature cascading indoor waterfalls spanned by an overhead catwalk.
The Tropical Forest Exhibit will have a rotating schedule, with a new country’s tropical region featured every two years. The first country featured will be Thailand.
The forest will have an 8,000-square-foot, single-pane glass wall that will maximize sunlight. It will include a Palm Circle, where as many as 40 visitors can gather to hear presentations, sample tropical foods, weave baskets, pot plants and participate in other learning activities.
Docents will lead in-depth tours throughout the exhibit, and hands-on educational areas will be available. Phipps’ Botany in Action researchers will be on hand throughout the year to talk with visitors and explain their work.
The exhibit will be environmentally friendly in its structures and operations. For instance, it will utilize a venting system on its glass roof that aims to conserve energy, and a blanket-curtain system at night to retain heat.
Source: Phipps Conservatory and Botanical GardensKellie B. Gormly can be reached at kgormly@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7824.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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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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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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Hammering away historically
By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, December 15, 2004Wearing their trademark black wide-brimmed hats, Amish men pounded away Tuesday at the heavy oak timbers in a swirl of snow and piercing winter wind.
“I like to build them so they don’t sag, so they last almost forever,” said Melvin Weingerd, of Apple Creek, Ohio, one of seven men building a replica of an 18th-century barn at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park.The barn, which will house displays, is part of a restoration and expansion of the homestead, where the first shots of the Whiskey Rebellion were fired in 1794. The site became a National Registered Landmark in 1934.
Even with the help of a crane to hoist 1,000-pound oak beams, the group will need three days to finish a job that 100 Amish men typically finish in as little as four hours.
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Historic church closes its doors forever
By Megan McCloskey
TRIBUNE REVIEW
Tuesday, December 7, 2004The statue of the Virgin Mary still sits atop the hill where generations of Croatians have prayed in the grotto beneath her, but it has been almost a month since worshipers last attended Mass in their historic church.
Despite parishioners’ fight to save the building from the wrecking ball, the St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church building on Route 28 will close permanently today.The 100-year-old church needs repairs the parish cannot afford and has been closed since mid-November because of a boiler leaking carbon monoxide, said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Robert Sladack, who has been attending the church for 70 years, said he is heartbroken. Sladack was baptized, schooled and married at the East Ohio Street church.
“I was hoping to have my funeral there,” he said.
The Rev. Gabriel Badurina, pastor of St. Nicholas parish, said he understood parishioners’ feelings of loss and pain, “but life has to move on.” The parish has two churches. The other is in Millvale.
The St. Nicholas parish is not alone in that sentiment.
Two other parishes this year have had to look at consolidating buildings, joining 17 others that have done so since 1994.
Good Samaritan Parish in Ambridge closed three of its four buildings this fall. St. John Vianney Parish, which encompasses several south Pittsburgh neighborhoods, has sent a proposal to Bishop Donald Wuerl for approval to do the same thing.
From 1988 to 1994, 48 church buildings closed during Wuerl’s reorganization and revitalization plan that was aimed at adjusting the diocese to better fit the changing demographics of Catholics in Pittsburgh, Lengwin said.
Many of the Catholic churches in Pittsburgh had been formed by European immigrants who came to the city to work the coal mines and steel mills. Croatians settled in the North Side and founded St. Nicholas, the first Croatian Catholic church in North America.
Keeping the church open is “extremely important” to keeping Croatian traditions alive in Pittsburgh, Sladack said. He is co-chairman on the Preserve Croatian Heritage Foundation, formed after the parish voted in 2000 to close the building.
“We are not giving up the fight,” Sladack said.
However, the diocese said closing the church is a way to preserve a Croatian heritage that is dwindling along with the numbers of parishioners. With the consolidation, Lengwin said, the 400 members of the two-church parish — which had 900 members in 1994 — can go to Mass together in Millvale. Badurina also will increase the number of Masses celebrated in the Croatian tongue to one a week, up from one a month, Lengwin said.
Both churches were recommended for closure during the diocese’s reorganization plan, but Wuerl wouldn’t let that happen because of the need for preserving Croatian culture, Lengwin said.
“These are not easy decisions to make,” he said. “Everyone’s been given time to see if there was a solution to this problem.”
Members of the foundation said they don’t think their proposals to save the church were given adequate consideration by the pastor or the diocese.
“They just wanted to close the church,” said Jack Schmitt, a board member with both the foundation and Pittsburgh Preservation.
Both groups lobbied successfully to get the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to reconsider its plans to widen Route 28, two of which included razing the church.
After the East Ohio Street building earned a historical designation by the city, the Catholic Diocese successfully lobbied to have churches excluded from any further landmark designations, said Cathy McCollom, chief programs officer for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Megan McCloskey can be reached at mmccloskey@tribweb.com.
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Historic status eyed for area
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 15, 2004An effort to get a historic district designation for the city’s Oakland Square section has cleared its first major hurdle: Enough homeowners have signed on to the idea to put the matter before the city’s Historic Review Commission.
Architect Nathan Hart, who has been spearheading the process, said his pitch to residents and landlords mostly has steered clear of purely aesthetic reasons for historic designation and focused more on the economic benefits of an approval.The city has 11 other historic districts, including East Carson Street, Manchester, the Mexican War Streets and Schenley Farms.
The proposed district would cover Oakland Square, Parkview Avenue and part of Dawson Street. The neighborhood, which is perched several hundred feet above Panther Hollow, was conceived in the 1890s by developer Eugene O’Neill to mimic the streets of Victorian England.
“I try to get people to look ahead to the day when the demand for off-campus student housing has diminished,” said Hart, who also is president of the Oakland Community Council.
The University of Pittsburgh has announced plans to build more housing near the Peterson Events Center to accommodate 1,000 students.
“Creation of the historic district is as much about preserving the future of the neighborhood as it is about preserving the past,” said Hart, who believes landlords will be better able to survive declining demand for student housing if they can appeal to a different type of tenant.
“The idea is to rent to working people rather than college students,” Hart said. “They appreciate the beauty of a finely restored Victorian home, which translates into higher rents.
“Landlords also stand to save the considerable cost of cleaning and repairing apartments that is associated with renting to students.”
Lee Gross, who has bought and restored dozens of Victorian-era buildings on the South Side and in Lawrenceville, agrees that people are willing to pay for a piece of Pittsburgh’s past.
“I’ve found there is a nice market for restored historic buildings, both for rental and purchase,” said Gross, owner of A1-Realty. “People are definitely attracted to the Old World charm of these buildings.”
The original 67 houses in Oakland Square were built of brick or stone in the late-Victorian or Queen Anne style and feature stylish wood porches, false gables, dormers, round-head windows, mansard roofs, fireplaces and decorative wood details inside and out, according to Walter Kidney of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
Hart, who has bought, restored and sold or rented several historic homes in the neighborhood, said the only concern raised by people who declined to sign the petition was a potential loss of control over their properties.
Maria Burgwin, who is on the staff of the Historic Review Commission, said historic designation need not burden property owners. The review of work is limited only to the exterior of homes that can be seen from the street and on new alterations.
Cathy McCollom, executive director of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said historic district status also can open the door to federal and state tax incentives to do historic preservation work.
The proposed district also might qualify for assistance through the state’s proposed “Elm Street” program, which addresses the lack of financial assistance in residential areas, she said.
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com.