Category Archive: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Officials to unveil plans for bridge
11/23/2001
Tribune ReviewCity of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials say they’ll shed a little light next week on their plan to shine some light on the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
The bridge is one of three bright yellow “sister” bridges linking Downtown to the North Side, and the closest of the three to PNC Park.
The Riverlife Task Force, a 40-member, privately funded group looking to promote riverfront development and aesthetics, last month said one of its goals would be to creatively light the city’s bridges.
At a news conference scheduled for Tuesday on the bridge, officials from the task force, city, county, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and Duquesne Light Co. will detail their lighting plans.
The bridge is closed when the Pirates and Steelers play at home and has become a popular pedestrian link to PNC Park and Heinz Field from Downtown parking lots.
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Study reveals history of Route 28-Archaeologists to report findings to PennDOT
11/12/2001
By Brandon Keat
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
When archaeologists are in the field, some days they find gems, and some days just stones.
But even when the artifacts they unearth are not especially valuable, each excavation adds layers of information to the historical record.
The initial archaeological investigation of the Route 28 corridor recently was completed, and the firms that did the digging have prepared a report on what they found on and under that patch of ground.
The report will be analyzed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg and be used to determine the path of the road’s expansion and to decide which portions of the corridor – if any – need to be further excavated or documented.
The archaeological study of the corridor from the Heinz plant on the North Side to the 40th Street Bridge at Millvale was done by the engineering firm Michael Baker Jr. Inc. and by the urban archaeologist firm Christine Davis Associates.
From spring to fall of 2001, they studied historical records to learn about the area and dug excavation pits.
Christine Davis said her company dug 15 “backhoe trenches” about 13 feet deep.
“You don’t know what you’re going to find,” Davis said. “There’s many, many times that there’s nothing found.”
When her firm excavated the site of PNC Park, workers found a wealth of valuable artifacts, but the Heinz Field site right next door yielded almost nothing of interest.
David Anderson, an archaeologist for Michael Baker, said, “We really didn’t find all that much (in the Route 28 corridor).”
He said this is partly because the site has been so disrupted over the past 100 years.
What they did find, either through excavations or research about existing structures, are buildings and artifacts related to a former Millvale brewery, the Croation enclave that was centered around St. Nicholas Church along Route 28 and an older, mostly Irish, community called Duquesne Borough.
David Anthony, historical structures specialist for PennDOT, said other noteworthy structures on the site are the former American Brewing Co., which is located in what now is the Millvale Industrial Park.
Baker’s excavations revealed a large subterranean brewery vault.
Built in 1866, the building operated as part of the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. after Prohibition before becoming a meat-packing plant from 1930 to 1961.
The site currently houses a wide array of businesses, from an artist’s studio to a fence company.
On the other side of Route 28, the pre-Civil War hamlet of Duquesne was well situated, with access to the Allegheny River, the Pennsylvania Canal and the Pittsburgh and Butler Turnpike – what would become East Ohio Street and then Route 28.
The remains of Thomas Carlin’s foundry and coke ovens, which operated from 1890 to 1915, also were discovered by the archaeologists.
The town also became an important railroad interchange.
“You had a major transition from this little riverside village to this major (railroad) round house and foundry,” Davis said.
“It was one of those communities that started as a small village, then became an industrial area and then was wiped out by construction (of the current Route 28 and by railroad expansion). ”
The study also identified buildings associated with the area’s Croatian community, including St. Nicholas Church and the Marohnic Book Store, founded in 1893 to sell religious literature written in Croatian.
Anthony said the archaeological and historical report prepared by Davis has been sent to the Federal Highway Administration, which will in turn pass it on to the state museum commission.
He said the reports will be made public by the end of this year.
At that time, the public and interested organizations such as the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, the Preserve Croatian Heritage Society, Preservation Pittsburgh and the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will get to weigh in on the plan.
Those groups, along with PennDOT, the museum commission and the highway administration will decide on a mitigation plan – what will be done to preserve the historical resources in the path of construction.
“Most of the time, we’re on the same page,” said Pat Remy, PennDOT environmental manager for District 11, which includes Allegheny County.
Sometimes, roadways are rerouted to avoid destroying historic resources.
More typically, structures to be razed are documented with drawings and photographs, and artifacts are removed and given to museums or other interested parties.
“In a case like Route 28, there may not be any other alternative than to build it where it is,” Remy said. “It may not be the best alternative. It may be the only alternative.”
Remy said archaeological excavation of government construction sites began after the federal National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was passed.
Other protection laws followed, and their effect came into play in PennDOT projects beginning in the 1980s.
“People are surprised what we have to look at to get a new bridge or road,” Remy said.
“There are laws protecting all cultural resources at a state and federal level, and even a local level, so we have to assess that on all our projects.”
Davis said PennDOT seems to take the laws seriously.
“PennDOT does a good job about coming in early and getting it done,” Davis said. “They do a really good job when it comes to cultural resources.”
Davis said that even if the Route 28 excavations did not reveal anything of major significance, valuable information still was gleaned through the study.
“It’s this little part of history that’s gone and through this work can be brought to life again,” she said. “It’s one little piece of history that’s been lost and now we can have it back again.”
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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O’Hara log cabin deemed historical landmark
By Tawnya Panizzi
Staff writer
Friday, October 19, 2001O’HARA: The red metal-sided exterior of Margaret and Andrew Weil’s home belies the historical treasure inside.
Passers-by likely would not guess that the interior of the home along White Gate Road is true to its 1797 log cabin construction, down to the choppy ax marks embedded in the wood.
“We think of this as a great treasure, we always thought so,” said Margaret, who with her husband has lived in the James Powers Homestead since 1958.
The Weils’ 18th century-era cabin might be the oldest, and perhaps the only home of its kind remaining in the Lower Valley.
That has earned it a place in the history books. The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation named the home, and its 14-acre site, as one of 27 significant historical structures chosen in 2001. An Historic Landmark plaque will grace the property in hopes of spreading, or at least, securing its story.
Powers is thought to be the first settler in the Fox Chapel area. He, as were many soldiers after the Revolutionary War, was given a depreciatory land grant after returning from battle. His brother, John, built a log cabin, which has since been demolished, on nearby Field Club.
“So few older buildings exist,” said Cathy McCollom, director of operations and marketing for the Landmarks Foundation. “The fact that it is an authentic log cabin is really special. There are a lot of reproductions. This is the real thing.”
The Historic Landmarks committee reviews as many as 50 nominations each year. The program was founded in 1968 to recognize structures and landscapes throughout Allegheny County as vital pieces of local heritage.
Eligibility hinges on architecture, renovation and age. The Weils’ home was eligible for the honor because the construction imparts a sense of history, few alterations have been made and it is over the required 50-year mark.
“It is very worthy,” said Margaret, who plans to erect the plaque on a granite stone in the front yard. “It means something to the neighborhood, and to the city. Few people know, now it’s written down.”
Although the front road is paved and an oven has replaced the fireplace as a means of cooking, the couple never allowed renovations that would detract from the story behind the home.
Ironically, it was commonplace in colonial days to hide the workmanship and tell-tale signs of a log cabin.
“Ladies then didn’t want log cabins,” Margaret said. “They covered them up with air space and plaster.”
The first home along White Gate Road fell in line with the times. It was covered with a burnt sienna metal siding and no one would guess the detailed work underneath.
The only giveaway is the stone chimney that rises from the original fireplace, which was used to heat the cabin and cook for Powers and his eight siblings. Margaret said the stone rising is similar to homes in historic Williamsburg.
It took little work to restore the interior to its authentic look.
Prior owners ripped down wallpaper and removed plaster, and behind the air pocket, the log cabin stood pristine.
“People come in and stop in their tracks,” Andrew said. “There, they’re standing in a 200-year old log cabin.
“When you think back to that time, there were Indians living here then. Nine children were raised in this 20-by-20-foot room.”
There have been four previous owners of the home, from which you can hear the waters of Powers Run trickling.
In fact, several members of the Powers family have paid visits and reminisced with the Weils about how the cabin was maintained as part of a farm during the World War II-era.
One such visit came last year, after one member of the Powers family, home for a school reunion, knocked on the door.
“He was about 80,” Andrew said. “He talked about being born and raised here, and he was very pleased that we’ve kept it.”
It was the Weils’ intention by nominating it for historical designation to preserve the homestead for future generations.
The Landmarks Foundation has bestowed 400 historical designations throughout the county.
The marking offers no legal protection from those who would want to alter or demolish the structures. What it does is tell the world that the building is significant, McCollom said.
It is a public acknowledgment that would hopefully cause a future owner to think about the changes they make.
“We know there is a risk, but we hope that whoever buys the property will feel as keen about it as we do,” Andrew said.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Restoring church history-Foundation grants help preserve worship places
10/08/2001
By Dave Copeland
TRIBUNE-REVIEWThey’re not pennies from heaven, but grants from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
The foundation awarded 19 grants to historic religious properties in the Pittsburgh region for architectural restoration projects. The recipients will be honored today at an all-day workshop at the Episcopal Church of Nativity in Crafton.
Pittsburgh is one of only about a dozen regions with a formal program dedicated to preserving historic churches, said A. Robert Jaeger, co-founder of Partners for Sacred Places in Philadelphia.
“Too few cities are undertaking these type of efforts,” Jaeger said. “On the other hand, all we’re doing is really just a drop in the bucket – there is a great need for more funding and more support for these types of places.”
His 12-year-old group is the only national nonprofit organization that focuses on historic houses of worship.
A recent study by Partners for Sacred Places found that 80 percent of the people who use urban churches are nonmembers. That, coupled with the architectural significance of older churches, makes them important for cities, Jaeger said.
Those involved with the local projects agree.
“There’s a real character and spirituality in older churches,” said Barbara Thompson, who wrote the grant application for Brown Chapel A.M.E on the North Side. “I don’t think a lot of the newer churches, while beautiful in their own right, capture that character.”
Brown’s husband, Lawrence, is pastor for the 100-member congregation. The church will use the $2,000 grant for ceiling repairs and painting.
The project was spurred by the church’s senior choir; while volunteers have been working two nights a week since August to paint the walls of the sanctuary, the church needs to hire a professional company for the ceiling work.
Brown Chapel was built in 1903. Churches generally need to be more than 50 years old to be considered for the grants.
“It makes a big difference,” said Rev. Scott Quinn of the Episcopal Church of Nativity in Crafton. “As soon as we say we have a grant from the History & Landmarks Foundation, people in the congregation get very interested in the project.”
Nativity Episcopal used the $3,000 grant it received this year to replace window wells. Two years ago, the church used a similar grant to defray some of the $70,000 cost for replacing the church’s roof.
“One of our strategies is to think in terms of longer-term projects for the properties, rather than a finger-in-the-dike kind of approach,” said Foundation Operations Director Cathy McCollom. “We want to work with them over a longer period of time and make certain they have maintenance priorities, a master plan and that they’re thinking ahead.
Other criteria for the grants include churches that provide social services in their neighborhoods, have a viable congregation and are able to match the grant.
This is the sixth year the foundation has awarded the grants. This year, 26 churches applied. The foundation handed out $53,000 this year, up from $20,000 six years ago.
Jaeger said Pittsburgh’s religious architecture is noteworthy.
“Pittsburgh has one of finest collections of religious architecture in nation. A lot of important national architects, as well as some really talented regional architects, designed churches in Pittsburgh,” he said.
Victor Norman, a trustee at Bellefield Presbyterian in Oakland, said his church fits the criteria by offering several programs and social services to the University of Pittsburgh. The church is located across from the Pitt bookstore.
“Our attendance is actually higher than our membership, which is rare in Presbyterian churches,” Norman said. “Usually you have a lot of members who don’t always show up. We have a lot of members who all show up, then we have a lot of students and visitors as well.”
Bellefield received its second $3,000 grant for an ongoing stained-glass window restoration project. Currently, the church has replaced four of 25 windows in a project estimated to cost between $350,000 and $600,000, Norman said.
“This is going to keep going for years and years. It’s going to be a long time before we get them all done,” Norman said.
In addition to replacing the four windows, the church has used money from Landmarks, its members, and endowments to remove a plastic coating that had been applied to the outside of the windows. While originally designed to protect the windows, it yellowed over time and gave the church the appearance of being boarded up, Norman said.
Today’s program will feature workshops, including seminars on fund raising and grant writing and a tour of Nativity Episcopal, as well as the formal presentation of the grants.
Nativity Episcopal is the second oldest in Crafton and was built on land donated by the Craft family in 1908.
Some decedents of the family, which owned the farm land that became Crafton, still attend the church. An addition was built in 1955.
“The grants just feed on themselves. Once you get one, people are more willing to contribute,” Quinn said. “No one was more surprised by that than me.”
The following churches received grants of up to $3,000 for architectural restoration projects from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation:
– Emsworth United Presbyterian Church, Emsworth
– First Presbyterian Church of Castle Shannon, Castle Shannon
– Monumental Baptist Church, Hill District
– New Life Community Baptist Church, Hill District
– Pittsburgh North Side Church of God, North Side
– St. James A.M.E. Church, East End
– St. Stephen, Hazelwood
– Zion Christian Church, Carrick
– Bellefield Presbyterian, Oakland
– Brown Chapel A.M.E., North Side
– Calvary United Methodist Church, Allegheny Way
– Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church, Etna
– The Church of the Good Shepherd, Hazelwood
– Nativity Episcopal, Crafton
– Old St. Lukes, Scott Township
– St. Matthews A.M.E. Zion, Sewickley
– Verona United Methodist Church, Verona
– Wesley Center A.M.E. Zion, Hill District
– Deep Spring Temple, SewickleyThis article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Fifth & Forbes battle recalled
10/02/2001
Downtown planners from across the United States and Canada got an overview Monday of the four-year battle in Pittsburgh known as Market Place at Fifth & Forbes.
“We learned that there is something even further beyond polarization. I don’t think you would have seen the four of us in the same room together two years ago,” said Cathy McCollum of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
McCollum was joined on the panel by Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership Executive Director Harry Finnigan, Downtown retailer Patty Maloney and City Planning Director Susan Golomb.
The panel members spoke about the Fifth and Forbes plan to 60 attendees of the International Downtown Association’s annual conference at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers. The association’s 47th annual conference addresses strategies and issues for making Downtown areas better and stronger.
Fifth and Forbes, and the subsequent Plan C Task Force, were presented as a case study in massive downtown revitalization projects.
The task force was formed in November to look at new strategies for redeveloping Pittsburgh’s retail core after the collapse of Mayor Tom Murphy’s hotly debated, $480.5 million Market Place at Fifth & Forbes proposal. The proposal raised hackles over government subsidies, eminent domain and the demolition of historic buildings.
The task force plans to name a private developer later this year as managing partner of a new redevelopment strategy.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Diocese to decide on churches’ historic status
09/30/2001
By Brandon Keat TRIBUNE-REVIEW
When the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation designated 27 historic structures this year, St. Mary Magdalene Church in Homestead and St. Michael Archangel Church in Munhall were on the list.
But the Pittsburgh Diocese has not yet decided whether to accept the designations and the plaques that come with them.
Inspired by the recent events surrounding St. Nicholas Church on the North Side, where a last-minute historic designation threatens to block the diocese’s plan to sell the church, diocese officials met Wednesday to re-evaluate historic designations.
“The decision is that we want to have a procedure where, before a plaque such as that can be accepted, it will have to be reviewed by the diocese,” said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, a spokesman for the diocese.
Lengwin said a decision on the two churches should be made soon, once a specific process for arriving at a decision has been established.
“We’re just in the process of determining how approval will be given,” he said. “It’s not going to be very complex.”
Lengwin said many of the diocese’s churches have been among the more than 400 historic structures designated by the foundation since the group’s plaque program began in 1968.
He said this designation, which places a plaque on the building or structure indicating its name, date of construction and architect, has not been problematic for the diocese in the past.
Such a designation “could become a matter of pride for a parish,” Lengwin said.
“There are a number of buildings in the diocese that have received this. It doesn’t impose any restrictions on the building, it’s just recognition,” Lengwin said. “It’s a rather simple matter, but it’s part of a larger issue that’s rather important to us.”
That larger issue – one that does trouble the diocese – is other historic designations, such as the one given by the City of Pittsburgh to St. Nicholas Church.
Those designations can prevent the diocese from selling churches.
“It imposes restrictions on a building that could limit the church in its mission and ministry,” Lengwin said.
“The church supports the notion of historic preservation. It’s done that since the founding of the church. But not nonconsensual historic designation.”
In May, Pittsburgh City Council designated St. Nicholas a historic structure, which might interfere with the diocese’s plans.
Lengwin said the situation with St. Nicholas, which the diocese wants to sell to the state Department of Transportation so it can be demolished and allow for the expansion of Route 28, is not the first of its kind for the diocese. Similar scenarios have played out at St. Leo on the North Side and St. Michael on the South Side.
“There are other incidents, (St. Nicholas) is just the latest one,” Lengwin said.
Cathy McCollom of History and Landmarks said the designation does not prevent the owner of the building from altering, selling or demolishing it.
“It’s not legally restrictive,” she said.
McCollom said some structures are nominated by their owners, while others are selected by the foundation’s staff because they are “buildings that we feel are important to be acknowledged.”
McCollom said the east suburban churches were nominated by the foundation’s staff.
“They’re both built by significant architectural firms,” she said.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Wrecking ball ends quest to preserve historic house – Fast-food restaurant slated for construction on site
09/28/2001
By Daniel Reynolds TRIBUNE-REVIEW
The Wilkinsburg house where one of the pioneers of commercial radio did his earliest work was demolished Thursday, despite efforts by preservationists to save the structure.
“I feel like we failed,” said Rick Harris, treasurer of the National Museum of Broadcasting, a Forest Hills group that tried for years to convince government officials and foundations to give them the money to save the building.
Harris and his group are still trying to establish a museum commemorating Frank Conrad, the Westinghouse engineer and former Wilkinsburg resident whose engineering team sent the first shortwave radio broadcasts around the world.
But yesterday, Harris said he could only stand, watch, and snap a few photos as the house Conrad did some of his early work in was demolished.
“I think years from now people will look back and say ‘It’s just a shame that they couldn’t save it. What was wrong with people back then in the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000 that they couldn’t have gotten a few hundred thousand together to buy it and restore it?'” Harris said.
Cathy McCollom, director of operations for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, has said her organization spent significant amounts of time working with Harris’ organization.
She said the group never could find a way to preserve the house Conrad rented in a way that would be financially feasible.
Contractors for the Wendy’s Corp. began tearing down the house at 577 Penn Ave. down yesterday afternoon.
The house that Conrad rented from approximately the mid-1910s to the early 1930s was sold to Wendy’s in August by Elks Lodge No. 577, which has since moved to Wilkins Township.
Wendy’s plans to build a new restaurant on the site. Harris said the restaurant chain has given him permission to gather remnants of the brick structure after demolition to include in a museum or some other fitting display.
Harris said the beginnings of commercial radio took place in the house’s garage and music room, where Conrad assembled groups of musicians and narrators for early radio broadcasts throughout the Pittsburgh area.
Conrad’s experiments evolved into local broadcasting stalwart KDKA, the first commercial radio station in the world.
Later on, Conrad led a Westinghouse team that broadcast the first world-wide short wave radio broadcasts from a lab in Forest Hills.
Forest Hills officials are negotiating with Harris’ group to determine whether a museum can be established in Forest Hills dedicated to Conrad’s work.
The National Museum of Broadcasting was able to salvage the Wilkinsburg garage of the home that Conrad rented. The bricks from that garage are stored on pallets in a warehouse owned by the Thomas Rigging Co. at Keystone Commons in Turtle Creek.
Harris’ group hopes to rebuild the garage as part of the museum, but Forest Hills officials have not yet announced where in the borough that might be able to occur.
In January, the Forest Hills site of Conrad’s early work was designated as historically significant by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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Pieces of history – Five eastern suburban sites among those being honored
09/25/2001
By Brandon Keat – TRIBUNE-REVIEW
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has awarded plaques recognizing the historic significance of five structures in the eastern suburbs
The structures, among 27 sites designated by the foundation this year, include two homes, two churches and a bridge. The foundation has been awarding the plaques to Allegheny County landmarks since 1968.
“The Mon Valley has been a little weak as far as plaque building, but yet it has a lot of great architecture,” said Cathy McCollom of the foundation.
Many historic structures are nominated by their owners, while others are nominated by the foundation staff.
Staff members are responsible for nominating all five of the structures that were selected in the Mon Valley this year.
McCollom said staff members working in the Homestead historic district have been struck by the impressive structures in the Mon Valley.
“Whenever staff sees these things, they have a tendency to nominate them,” she said.
The most well known of the historic sites is the Homestead High Level Bridge, which connects Homestead to the city of Pittsburgh.
It was selected largely because it utilized cutting-edge technology when it was constructed from 1935 to 1937.
Its innovative Wichert truss allows the bridge to automatically adjust to unpredictable stresses and settling.
“This was at a time when there were no computers and you didn’t know quite how the stresses would pile under loads,” said Walter Kidney, an architectural historian with the History & Landmarks Foundation.
The two residential houses – the 1820 Muse house in McKeesport and the 1844 Walker house in Elizabeth – remain much as they were when constructed.
“There aren’t many houses of that period in that condition of integrity,” Kidney said.
Ted Erkman, a McKeesport native, jumped at the chance to buy the Muse house about 30 years ago.
He said he and his family have worked to maintain the house’s historic aspects.
He said the house, which was built by slave labor and has only had four owners since it was constructed, is “probably the oldest in McKeesport. We tried to save what we could in it. We’ve tried to keep it up.”
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh owns the two churches that received the historic designation this year – St. Mary Magdalene at the corner of 10th Avenue and Amity Street in Homestead, and St. Michael Archangel on Ninth Avenue and Library Place in Munhall.
Kidney said both churches were designed by noted architects.
The Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, said the diocese has not decided if it will participate in the plaque program.
He said in light of the recent controversy surrounding St. Nicholas Church on the North Side, the diocese has decided to take a hard look at historic designations for its buildings.
Some St. Nicholas parishioners have fought the diocese’s decision to allow the demolition of the church to make way for the Route 28 expansion project.
St. Nicholas received a different type of historic designation – from City Council – in July.
“We’re just looking at the whole idea and determining what our position is going to be,” Lengwin said.
The nonprofit Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation was formed in 1964 to identify, preserve and educate people about important architectural landmarks, historic neighborhoods and designed landscapes.
Since 1969, it has awarded more than 400 plaques to remarkable pieces of architecture, engineering or construction that are a least 50 years old and have not been extensively altered. The plaques are expected to go up within the next six weeks.
The History & Landmarks Foundation designation does not confer any type of protection on the sites selected. And it does not prevent the property owners from making changes to their structures, though the foundation can remove the plaque if it believes the changes lessen the historical value of the site.
“It’s an acknowledgement by expert archaeologists and historians who know that the building is significant, but it does not prevent owners from changing it or affecting it,” McCollom said.
The cost of the plaque, which typically includes the structure’s name, the date it was built and the name of the architect, is shared by the property owner and History & Landmarks.
Bronze plaques cost about $200, and cast aluminum runs about $130.
McCollom said the foundation recognition can help property owners interested in pursuing historic designations from the state or federal government.
“What it does is offer some significant public acknowledgement, which sometimes plays out to help it in the future,” she said. “People know right up front it’s an important building. It’s a sign they’ve been judged by people who know.”
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Local landmarks
The following have been designated significant historic structures by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation:
– Homestead High Level Bridge – Constructed between 1935 and 1937, it was designed by engineer George F. Richardson. The bridge utilized cutting edge technology for the time.
– The Muse House – Located at 4222 Third St. in McKeesport, the house was built in 1820.
– The Walker House – A Greek revival- style house located at 1026 Third Ave. overlooking the Monongahela River in Elizabeth. It was constructed in 1844.
– St. Mary Magdalene Church – A Romanesque church located at the corner of 10th Avenue and Amity Street in Homestead, designed by Frederick Sauer and built in 1895. A 1936 restoration was done by Button and MacLean.
– St. Michael Archangel Church – An Italian Romanesque church located at the corner of 9th Avenue and Library Place in Munhall, designed by Comes, Perry & McMullen and built in 1927. It features a statue of St. Joseph the Worker by noted sculptor Frank Vittor.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review