Category Archive: Planned Giving
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The Granite Building To House Luxury Condominiums
Built in 1889–90 as the German National Bank and now a contributing structure in the Pittsburgh Central Downtown National Register Historic District, The Granite Building provided German immigrants to the Pittsburgh area with a place where they could transact their banking in their native language.
Designed by Bickel & Brennan, the “Richardsonian Romanesque” granite building imitates the style of the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, designed by H. H. Richardson in 1884, just a few blocks away. Charles Bickel was a prominent Pittsburgh architect who designed several notable buildings downtown, among them Kaufmann’s department store.
After more than a century as an office building, Landmarks board member Holly Brubach is renovating The Granite Building as luxury condominiums and making the building available for a September 26th Heritage Society tour and reception.
Among the many downtown candidates for residential conversion, The Granite Building is considered ideal for its spaciousness and ample light. With only one 2,750-squarefoot unit per floor, The Granite Building provides the comfort and privacy of a single-family home in the heart of the city and represents another example of how historic buildings can stimulate economic development.
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Anne Nelson Joins our Team
Anne Nelson has joined the staff of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation as Program Associate where her responsibilities include assisting with general preservation programs as well as providing assistance on projects where a legal background is required, such as planned giving.
For the past two years, Anne interned at Landmarks and in 2006 was one of only three persons nationally to receive a summer legal internship at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington DC.
Anne recently completed her juris doctorate at Duquesne University School of Law, where she was a member of the Public Interest Law Association and the recipient of the University’s Pro Bono Award. In 2004, she earned a B.A. in history at Boston College, where she was also a four-year member of the varsity rowing team and captain in her senior year.
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North Side Woman Remembers Landmarks
by Jack Miller
Director of Gift Planning
September 1, 2007When Ethel Belcher learned about Landmarks in 1977 she immediately became a member. While she didn’t attend any events or volunteer her services, she appreciated Landmarks’ efforts to preserve western Pennsylvania, especially her beloved North Side.
Ethel lived most of her life in a working-class North Side neighborhood in a house that she inherited from her parents. The fact that the long-time dedicated secretary for the White Westinghouse Corporation never married gave her time to pursue personal interests. “She was far ahead of her time,” said neighbor and close friend Jan Wachter. “She was one of the first women to graduate from Robert Morris College. Ethel developed a keen interest in the environment and historic preservation before it was fashionable to do so.”
Mr. Wachter was so influenced by Ethel’s interest in preservation that he went on to earn his doctorate in environmental health science and is currently a professor in that field at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “Ethel saw it as a community responsibility to preserve our significant buildings and environment,” said Mr. Wachter. “Ethel always led by example and now I just practice what she preached.”
Over the years, Ethel methodically invested part of her meager salary in the stock market. In addition to her savings, she set aside another part of her income for travel, annually visiting one or two different countries. “I believe that’s how she developed a greater appreciation for western Pennsylvania,” said Mr. Wachter. “She’d often comment on how Pittsburgh’s architecture was reminiscent of something she saw in Europe or some other far-off place.”
On March 12, 2006, Ethel passed away and was laid to rest less than a mile from her home. In July, Landmarks was notified that it was one of nine charitable beneficiaries Ethel remembered in her will. Her generosity will result in a bequest of more than $15,000.
Landmarks will use her bequest to establish the Ethel M. Belcher Preservation Fund, the income from which will be used to support important projects with a focus on the North Side. “Ethel’s life was a testimony to her belief that people should embrace and care about the things around them,” said Mr. Wachter. “Her bequest is proof that she trusted Landmarks as an organization that would carry on that work.”
For more information on how to establish a similar fund through your will or living trust, please contact Jack Miller at jack@phlf.org or 412- 471-5808, ext. 538.
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Special Events to Recognize Landmark Donors
by Jack Miller
Director of Gift Planning
September 1, 2007Landmarks Heritage Society members will be acknowledged for their significant financial support in 2006/07 at two special events on September 26th at two historic downtown buildings.
All who made planned gift commitments or gifts of $1,000 or more during that period have been invited to a reception and tour of The Granite Building, formerly the German National Bank Building. Landmarks President Arthur Ziegler will not only be on hand to thank donors for their support, but will give his annual preservation report where he will focus on how Landmarks has used preservation to promote economic development in the region.
Following The Granite Building tour & reception, Heritage Society members who have made irrevocable planned gift commitments to Landmarks will attend a dinner and program at The Duquesne Club, adjacent to The Granite Building. These donors will receive a personalized pen made from salvaged wood from a local historic building.
Both events are being underwritten by Alan Greenberg and Matt Thompson of The North Shore Group, Citi Smith Barney in New York. The Granite Building owner Holly Brubach has generously made her building available for an exclusive “under construction” tour. “In Landmarks board member Holly Brubach, we have a Pittsburgher who toured the world, then returned home to develop a downtown landmark for residential housing and retail use,” says Landmarks President Arthur Ziegler. “In Alan Greenberg and Matt Thompson, we have two out-of-state investment specialists who recognize the value of the Pittsburgh region and are actively
involved here. “It’s that type of external enthusiasm coupled with preservation easements and historic tax credits that’s driving useful development in the Pittsburgh market.” Heritage Society members who have not responded to their invitation are encouraged to do so as soon as possible. For more information, please contact Jack Miller at jack@phlf.org or 412- 471-5808, ext. 538.
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Vandergrift Gift to Make History
In 2004, a group of concerned citizens came together to form the Vandergrift Improvement Program (VIP) with the goal of revitalizing the town’s business district.
Last June, the VIP asked Landmarks Development Corporation, a wholly owned Landmarks subsidiary, to manage Vandergrift’s Main Street Program. Preservationists learned in the 1960s that preservation-sensitive development works, but demands a broad-based neighborhood approach to be successful. Signs of residential enthusiasm are now afoot in Vandergrift.
Recently, a resident of this Frederick Law Olmsted community and owner of the J. C. Penny Building met with the VIP and Landmarks to discuss donating the building to fund a charitable gift annuity. Such a gift would result in lifetime income and income tax benefits for the donor and would allow the VIP to acquire a key building that could stimulate similar gifts to help develop the central business district. In addition, a Named Fund would be created at Landmarks to support preservation projects in Vandergrift.
In early March, Landmarks’ Planned Giving Office was notified that the building owner has contracted with a qualified appraiser to determine the value of the building and is proceeding with the gift. We plan to feature more information about this gift and its impact on Vandergrift in the next issue of Landmark Legacies.
For now, anyone interested in exploring a gift of real property in the Vandergrift area is asked to contact Shaun Yurcaba, Main Street Manager at 724-567-5286.
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The Harry C. Goldby Pittsburgh Preservation Fund Makes First Distribution
The Harry C. Goldby Pittsburgh Preservation Fund recently made its first distribution to underwrite a keynote address on April 19th commemorating the 75th anniversary of Chatham Village.
The 46-acre planned community, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2005, was
begun in the 1930s. It is one of the most celebrated and influential projects designed by Clarence S. Stein and Henry Wright, America’s foremost urban planners of the Garden City movement. The event, co-sponsored by Landmarks, was held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland. -
Wilkinsburghs Historic Packard Building Sold to Landmarks
Jackie and Jay Johnson recently sold Landmarks the former Packard Building in Wilkinsburg for 40% of their asking price.
Landmarks got a building it needed to proceed with its Crescent Building Development Project, and the Johnsons were entitled to a charitable contribution deduction on their federal income tax return for the difference between the price Landmarks paid and the substantiated fair market value of the property.
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Anonymous But Not Forgotten
By Jack Miller
Director of Gift PlanningElizabeth Bruck Carroll rarely ventured out of her apartment. She was a private woman who spent much of her time supporting her community from her living room at St. Barnabas Retirement Village.
Her fiancé was killed in action during World War II. The man she later married was blinded by diabetes and totally dependent upon her until he died more than three decades ago. The couple had no children.
These may have been factors that contributed to Mrs. Carroll’s independent attitude and abhorrence for pity. She accepted her fate and moved forward because of her Faith.
I met her while director of planned giving for St. Barnabas Charitable Foundation. Then 80, she was conducting an income tax clinic for the “older residents.” She did it with passion only a volunteer could understand. I think she took an interest in me because I could provide her with new insight into the tax code and how it might be used to help the people she was counseling.
As we got better acquainted, I learned that she spent much of her childhood on Mt. Washington, although her family roots could be traced to a house atop Milroy Street on the North Side, one of the steepest disconnected streets in the city. I grew up near the bottom of that street, giving us many common reference points, most now buried under Interstate 279.
Like most persons in their eighties, Mrs. Carroll feared outliving her money. Given her husband’s health history, she couldn’t stand the thought of being dependent upon others, a fear that led her to explore the merits of planned gifts. Eventually, she created a gift annuity that tripled her income and would result in a gift to St. Barnabas Charitable Foundation at her death. She insisted that no one ever know about it or any of her gifts until after her death.
Over the next 14 years, Mrs. Carroll established three other annuities; one was with Landmarks. When I asked why she wanted to support our mission, she reminded me of Milroy Street. “All that remains of that house,” she said, “is a vacant lot and memories. They took the house; they can’t take the memories. You can help save both buildings and memories for those who come after me.”
Mrs. Carroll died on Wednesday, February 28th at 5:25 a.m. She would have been 95 on May 8th. Per her wish, the proceeds of her gift annuity, nearly $40,000, will be used to create The Elizabeth B. Carroll Named Fund to support Mt. Washington and North Side preservation efforts. Per her wish, I waited until now to share this story. For Landmarks, her Named Fund will be her legacy; for me, the empty lot on Milroy Street will forever be holy ground.