Category Archive: Preservation News
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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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House by house, North Side renovations go on
Saturday, November 10, 2001
By Bette McDevitt
Pittsburgh Post GazetteRehabbing one house can ruin your life, or your marriage,” says Nick Kyriazi, chairman of the Housing Committee for East Allegheny Community Council.
Now try doing 15, while also building five new homes, and you get an idea of how stressful life can be for Kyriazi and other members of this North Side neighborhood group.
It’s a major undertaking, even for a group accustomed to renovations. In 1993, the council did four new houses, in 1996, seven houses, both new and renovated, and in 1998, four renovations.
This $3.4 million project has been hectic but satisfying, Kyriazi said as he walked the streets of a neighborhood that runs from East Street to Cedar Avenue, and from Dunloe Street, at the foot of Fineview, to Pressley Street.
The 20 new or restored houses are on Cedar, James, Middle, Tripoli, Suismon and Pressley streets. Some are tall and skinny, some short and wide, some with turrets, some twins and one triplet. All but the new houses are about 80 percent finished and two are sold, including the centerpiece of the project, 810 Cedar Ave.
The grand dame of the 20 sits across from the East Allegheny Commons. The community council purchased the house four or five years ago, when it had a gaping hole in its roof and other evidence of neglect.
“People called this one ‘the graffiti house.’ An absentee doctor owned it, and neighbors were constantly painting out the graffiti,” said Ernie Hogan, associate director of the North Side Leadership Conference, the project manager for this development and others in nine North Side neighborhoods.
The inside and outside of the home cried out for major restoration. But a few people, including city Councilwoman Barbara Burns and Mark Masterson, a former employee of the North Side Leadership Conference, saw it as a chance to do even more, to make it a showcase of new technology and environmentally friendly construction techniques and materials known as “green building.”
“We are using recycled products, and the house was refurbished with steel rather than wood studs,” Hogan said. “We are using environmentally safe paints and the kitchen floor is made of recycled tires.”
The group got some help from the Green Building Alliance and Conservation Consultants on the South Side. Dietrich Industries provided the steel framing.
But the real groundbreaker here is the heating and cooling system. Geo Environmental Drilling Co. has gone 300 feet below the ground, seeking water at a constant 55 degrees. The water will be sent through coils to heat and cool the house.
“It’s a heat pump, which I have in my house, except that you use water for heat and cooling instead of outside air,” Kyriazi explained. “You draw the heat out of the water, and transfer it to the air to heat the house. To cool, you reverse the cycle.”
The group originally intended to install the system in several houses, as well as the James Street Tavern and the Old Towne Laundromat. But by the time the package was in place, one of the largest grants had expired, and they were able to afford the system for only one house.
The house, which is nearly finished, is also getting a state-of-the-art electrical system, controlled by a computer and equipped for high-speed Internet, multimedia entertainment and other current technologies. Sargent Electric donated some of the services and supplies.
“You will be able to turn on and off any lights from a phone,” said Hogan. “The house has incorporated everything that would have been grand about this house, and high technology, too.”
The Cedar Avenue home sold for slightly more than its $300,000 price tag because of a few extras the buyer wanted. Most of the homes are priced between $120,000 and $150,000, though one with only the exterior restored is selling for $53,000.
Over the next few months, environmental and educational groups will be allowed to tour 810 Cedar. Before the owner moves in, the community council also hopes to hold an open house to show off its many features to the public. In addition to gee-whiz technology, it is a fine example of a modified restoration.
“Plumbing, heating and wiring are easy. It’s the restoration that’s difficult — all the woodwork, the mantels, the balusters on the staircases,” said Kyriazi.
Architect Yoko Tai had one big advantage — the house’s twin next door. Martha Pasula’s house, whose interior is in the original state, served as a mirror for restorers. Tai duplicated some of the twin’s features in the blueprints, and Kyriazi and other volunteers helped to match balusters, doors and mantels from the cache of items they have been collecting from demolished houses for 25 years. Team Construction is the general contractor.
Sam Cammarata, a retired brick layer who lives in the neighborhood and regularly visited the houses being restored, was particularly taken with the work of master carpenter Jim Graczik.
“That guy is an artist,” he said.
Graczik’s handiwork is evident in the newel posts and spindles of the staircases at 810 Cedar.
The house’s old slate mantels were in as many as 20 pieces and had to be reassembled. They are painted to look like marble and have gold incising as decoration. Kyriazi thinks the slate pieces may have been dipped, like an Easter egg, in a solution with color floating on the top.
“When I look at these, I think they are too intricate to have been painted by hand,” he said.
It is the kind of question he ponders as he visits houses built in the same period on tours around the city, the country, and recently, a trip to Spain.
“You observe and learn, and soon you begin to speak Victorian,” he said.
The house’s first floor has been opened up to create a large living room with a dining area. A powder room has been added and the kitchen overlooks a shared courtyard and a renovated four-room apartment above a garage.
On the second floor is a master bedroom, a bath with a Jacuzzi, a laundry room and a dressing room or study. The third floor has three bedrooms and a full bath.
Funding for the project came from grants, donated labor and loans. Money came from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Buhl Foundation, the Community Design Center, Allegheny County, North Side Bank, National City Bank, and National City’s Community Development Project.
For Kyriazi and others on the council, the project’s greatest success is creating more single-family, owner-occupied residences.
“We want properly restored, well-maintained houses, not absentee landlords, multifamily dwellings or remuddled, derelict buildings,” he said.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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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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Red tape slows plan to level crumbling structure in Harrison
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
By Susan Jacobs, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
At the turn of the 20th century, the Old Natrona Store in Harrison was at the heart of a bustling business district. Today, the same neighborhood is mostly residential, bordering the Allegheny Ludlum Corp. steel plant. The crumbling brick building stands silent and hollow, abandoned years ago by local merchants.
Harrison officials want to tear it down and earlier this year secured federal funding to pay for demolition. But since March, they have been waiting for the consent of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to do so.
“The building has to come down,” said Mike Stanoski, a Harrison commissioner who represents Natrona Heights. “It should have come down two years ago. One more winter, and I think this thing is going to fall down.”
Parts of the three-story brick building are still solid, but the roof has collapsed, along with the two floors beneath it. Bricks near the top of the building are loose, and parts of the building have shifted and settled.
The store, built by the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co., is part of the Pennsalt Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Allegheny County is required by federal law to consult the state commission before allowing any municipality to proceed with demolitions in historic districts.
In cases where demolition seems inevitable, the commission usually requires that the town photograph the building, record its history and take other steps to preserve the memory of the structure, such as erecting a sign to mark the spot where the building stood.
The commission seems willing to make that concession and may do so this week, but until approval is received, the building will continue to threaten to collapse from its perch on Federal and Vine streets.
“It’s always our position that if a building is physically preserved it should be saved,” said Dan Deibler, chief of preservation services for the commission. A few weeks ago, he visited Harrison to see the building himself.
“The building is not in good condition,” he said. But Deibler said he’s seen buildings in worse condition that have been restored. The decision to preserve a building is as much a product of the will of the community, and the availability of money for restoration, as the physical condition of the structure.
“It depends on the circumstances of the interested community,” said Deibler. Harrison officials say the township does not have the means to restore the building, which could cost upward of $1 million, and the building is no longer in a commercial district, making it nearly impossible to attract tenants.
“It really is a loss that I think is regrettable,” said Deibler. The store is one of the few remaining structures from the town’s early days as a center for the salt industry. Deibler said it is one of the oldest company towns in the state.
“Once you demolish it, it’s gone,” he said.
But even the Alle-Kiski Historical Society supports demolishing the old store.
“That building’s just too far gone,” said S. Hartley Johnston, president and chief executive officer of the historical society. “It would be horrendously expensive to fix.
“Twenty five, 30 years ago maybe something could have been done with it,” he said. “It’s about ready to fall down.”
The building is owned by Marc Scoratow of Pittsburgh. He operated a kitchen countertop business at the site from the late 1960s to the 1980s. About 11 years ago, he said he sold the building, but bought the building back a few years ago. By then, the building was so deteriorated it was impossible to resell. The town condemned the building six months later, Scoratow said.
In March, Harrison was awarded a federal grant to proceed with the demolition. The Allegheny Valley North Council of Governments is responsible for administering the grant.
“This building can’t be salvaged,” said Tom Benecki, executive director of the council. He estimated that repairs would cost at least $500,000, probably more.
“No one is going to spend that money. Natrona no longer has a vital business district.” He said it usually takes several weeks to get written approval from the state to proceed with a demolition, but Harrison officials have been waiting for nearly five months.
The commission sent a letter to the Allegheny County Economic Development office in July that said demolishing the building would adversely affect the Pennsalt Historic District. The letter instructed the county to find ways of minimizing the impact and to “provide documentation showing that preservation alternatives were considered.”
Those conditions weren’t fulfilled until late September, when state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, organized a public tour of the site. She has been lobbying the state to consent to the demolition.
Representatives of Harrison, Allegheny County and the state commission attended the meeting. The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which had previously advocated preserving the site, was also represented, among other agencies.
“Everybody’s pretty much in agreement that it’s a safety hazard,” said Orie.
Timing is crucial because the demolition grant expires at the end of February and cannot be extended. In order to be covered by the grant, all of the demolition work must be completed by the end of February.
In addition to losing the grant, there is some concern that Harrison will lose a low bid on the demolition.
Crivelli Services of McKees Rocks said it would perform the demolition for about $44,000, compared to other bids that ranged as high as $124,000.
“We probably won’t get that price again,” said David Chavara, a representative of NIRA Consulting Engineers, the township consultant.
He said it’s hard to tell how much longer the building can stand without restoration. It might last a few more years, but he warned that a heavy snow or strong winds this winter could topple the building.
“There could be a catastrophic failure,” he said. “It is in imminent danger to the surrounding community. The clock is ticking.”
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Competition draws out ideas for public spaces
Tuesday, October 09, 2001
By Patricia Lowry, Post-Gazette Architecture Critic
Little by little, piece by piece, the sides of Lawrenceville’s Doughboy Square have fallen away.
The demolition of historic but deteriorated commercial buildings in recent years has left the square — really a triangle — looking and feeling like little more than the tired and uneventful coming together of Butler Street and Penn Avenue, the neighborhood’s two main thoroughfares.
The 1902 beaux arts former Pennsylvania National Bank building within the crotch of the Y — capably restored in the early 1990s by its owner/occupant, the architectural firm Charles L. Desmone and Associates — and the Doughboy himself give the square character and a sense of place, but they cannot handle the whole job by themselves. Urban public spaces are defined by their perimeter walls, and big chunks of Doughboy Square’s walls have gone missing.
Architects Christine Brill and Jonathan Kline, who live just up the street, would like to change that.
“We want it to be a place of celebration,” said Brill, who with Kline entered Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s recent competition for the design of public spaces and squares, open to architects, landscape architects, planners and artists under the age of 35. They were invited to come up with ideas for making eight historic public spaces in the city more attractive and more usable.
The eight spaces ranged from large public plazas, such as Market Square, Downtown, and the sunken plaza at Allegheny Center on the North Side, to tiny Lyndhurst Green in Point Breeze and the area formed by the convergence of three streets in Troy Hill.
Although 24 individuals or teams initially expressed interest, in the end PHLF received only seven entries — a disappointingly tiny fraction of the young designers working here. The seven ideas, detailed in models and presentations boards, are on view through Oct. 21 at the Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, Manchester.
The Brill/Kline entry for Doughboy Square, which didn’t win a prize, nevertheless was the most ambitious, professional, detailed and carefully thought out scheme. It is, as they put it, “an attempt to set the stage for Doughboy Square to be filled with life again.”
Two years ago, the 20-something architects bought a house on Penn Avenue, a little more than two blocks up from the square. Brill passes through the square every morning on her walk Downtown, where she works at Pfaffmann + Associates.
“Aside from the bank building, it’s the least memorable space in the walk,” Brill said. “There’s so much potential that’s unrealized.”
The Brill/Kline plan calls for wider, brick sidewalks around the Doughboy and elsewhere along the square, which would accommodate new trees and seating for outdoor cafes.
For infill buildings, Kline and Brill wrote urban design guidelines regulating height, massing, use and parking in a manner consistent with the existing neighborhood. But the guidelines don’t dictate style, inviting a variety of architectural expression.
The plan also shifts the focus of the square to the west, creating new public space and a new monument, at the corner of Penn Avenue and 34th Street, which serves as a terminus to Butler Street. Part observation tower and part Victorian folly, the 60-foot steel-and-copper monument celebrates Lawrenceville’s industrial heritage, with winding interior stairs providing close-up views of a collage of salvaged architectural fragments. Kline and Brill see it not as dwarfing and dominating the Doughboy but as having a dialogue with it.
Relocated traffic lights ensure that vehicles stop before they enter the square, to create a safer pedestrian zone and to signify arrival.
But Kline and Brill, who are among the co-founders of the activist group Ground Zero, didn’t stop there. They see the square’s redevelopment as a catalyst for broader neighborhood revitalization, with streetscape improvements on 33rd and 35th streets, a new street connecting 33rd and 35th streets and a new riverfront park. They also would transform the railroad trestle above 33rd Street into a gateway, with a linear light sculpture leading to the river.
There are, to be sure, other worthy entries, including that of the $5,000 first-place winner, architect Nathan Hart of Oakland, who rightly recognized that Oakland Square needs only to be tweaked, not overhauled. Hart believes improvements there would encourage home-ownership on the square and keep it from suffering the absentee-landlord fate of other parts of Oakland.
The square — a tree-filled rectangle surrounded by middle-class houses off Dawson Street — gets a modest tree-thinning, new curbs and new planting beds, but is otherwise unchanged. Enhancements include an arbor gateway leading to a terraced garden at the east end of the square, stepping down the hillside into Panther Hollow.
Hart proposes an assisted living facility and child-care center for the west end of the square, as well as solutions for pedestrian and vehicular issues. And Hart, too, extends his reach beyond the square, suggesting locations for a community deli, elementary school and supermarket, in the hope of attracting more families to his neighborhood.
The $2,000, second-place award went to Nick Tobier and Rebekah Modra, who came up with the competition’s most poetic and fanciful, if not the most practical, solution — a balloon launch area for Troy Hill’s main intersection.
The $1,000, third-place prize was presented to a team comprising artist Carin Mincemoyer and four staff members of the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum — Thad Bobula, Keny Marshall, Laura Shaffalo and Chris Seifert — for turning Allegheny Center’s plaza into a naturalistic pond.
In the spring, PHLF will launch another public space competition for young designers, one that will allow them to generate ideas for “orphaned public spaces.”
“They’re the leftover spaces, perhaps full of weeds or trash, where there’s been a building or a highway put in, and nobody wanted this space,” said Barry Hannegan, PHLF’s director of historic design programs. “They’re negative elements that do nothing to improve the image of the city, where an intelligent design intervention would immeasurably enhance the city’s appearance.”
There’s a $10,000 purse that will be awarded any way the jury sees fit, so it’s possible a single entry could claim the entire prize — a strong incentive that should encourage more designers to take the challenge.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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2001 Historic Religious Properties Grants and Technical Assistance Awards
10/8/01
The conference and awards ceremony was sponsored with the Church Restoration Group, a division of Mistick Construction. The Church Restoration Group provides historic restoration, renovation and construction services to religious properties throughout the east coast.
The program, now in its sixth year, assists architecturally significant religious properties that also provide social services to their neighborhoods, have a viable congregation, and are able to match the grant. Grants are to be used for architectural restoration projects of the structure.
Twenty-six applications for grants and technical assistance from historic religious institutions located throughout Allegheny County were reviewed and 18 received either grants or technical assistance. Applicable grants awarded this year included painting and pointing, roof repair, stained glass repair, water damage repair within a sanctuary, and repairs of exterior walls. Technical Assistance is directed to assisting congregations in prioritizing restoration projects and establishing preventative maintenance programs.
The following churches were awarded grants:
Emsworth United Presbyterian Church, Emsworth
First English Lutheran Church of Sharpsburg, Sharpsburg
First Presbyterian Church of Castle Shannon, Castle Shannon
Monumental Baptist Church, Hill District
New Life Community Baptist Church, North Braddock
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. Church, North Side
Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church, Etna
The Church of the Good Shepherd, Hazelwood
Episcopal Church of the Nativity, 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 DistrictThe grants were awarded at a ceremony and seminar held at Episcopal Church of the Nativity, 33 Alice Street in Crafton. The seminar, held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., featured speakers offering successful strategies in fundraising, dealing with contractors, planning for disasters, and prolonging the life of the structure’s roof.
Alice Greller, Chairman of the Historic Religious Properties Committee and trustee of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation said, “Our seminars often impart information as valuable as the grants we award. It is a goal of Landmarks to continue to offer grants, technical assistance and the valuable information provided at these seminars.”
The Historic Religious Properties grants program is funded by year-end gifts from Landmarks members and trustees and from general funds budgeted by Landmarks.
Founded in 1964, Landmarks is a nonprofit historic preservation group serving Allegheny County. It is dedicated to identifying a preserving the architectural landmarks, historic neighborhoods, and historic design landscapes of Allegheny County, and to educating people about this region’s architectural heritage and urban and landscape design history.
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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