Category Archive: Preservation News
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Iconic Heinz sign could paint Strip District neon-red
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, July 11, 2007H.J. Heinz Co.’s iconic neon ketchup bottle could start pouring over Pittsburgh again with a new home in the Strip District.
The sign appears headed for the east side of the Senator John Heinz History Center, pending approval by the city Planning Commission. Members heard about the plan Tuesday and could vote on it in two weeks.
“We’re certainly very excited to have it continue as part of the Pittsburgh skyline,” said Michael Mullen, the ketchup-maker’s spokesman.
Heinz has its world headquarters in the U.S. Steel Tower, Downtown, and is paying an undisclosed amount to refurbish the sign and display it on the history museum.
Although it looks old, the sign went up on the North Side in 1995 to mark the company’s 125th anniversary. It came down in April.
Heinz spun off its North Side factory and several businesses to Del Monte Foods in 2002, with an agreement to keep the sign up four years. The company had been looking for a new place to hang the 42.5-foot-high sign since the lease expired.
The history center has established itself enough so most people should not get too mixed up over seeing the ketchup bottle on the museum, said Andy Masich, the history center’s CEO.
The center is named for the great-grandson of Henry J. Heinz, who founded the food company in 1869. Sen. H. John Heinz III died in a 1991 plane crash.
“There might be some confusion from people out of town thinking it’s the Heinz plant,” Masich said.
Heinz employs 1,200 people in Pittsburgh, but makes ketchup for North America in Fremont, Ohio. The ketchup sign appears to empty out and refill itself every 30 seconds — or 1,051,200 refills a year.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.
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Planners review North Side stable development
By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007A North Side building being considered for historic designation by City Council could someday give new meaning to the phrase “stable living arrangements.”
The Allegheny Stables, built by Allegheny City leaders as a place to house their Department of Public Works horses, appears poised for designation as a historic structure. If City Council approves the designation at its July 17 meeting, the building would be saved from possible demolition, clearing the way for developers to turn it into condominiums.
“It is one of the last vestiges of the City of Allegheny’s history,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference.
The building, in the 800 block of West North Avenue in the neighborhood of Allegheny West, is owned by Rutledge Equipment Co., according to Allegheny County real estate records. Menzock Scrap Inc., which owns a tiny scrap yard behind the former stables, wanted to buy and raze the building so the yard could be expanded, Fatla said.
Neither Rutledge Equipment nor Menzock Scrap could be reached for comment.
The former stables are surrounded by Victorian-era industrial buildings. Companies today prefer one-story, open floor plans to the old style of thin, multi-floor designs of the other buildings on the street. As a result, they’ve sat vacant for years, said Jim Wallace, chairman of the Allegheny West Civic Council’s Housing and Planning Committee.
But the old, detailed style of architecture common to the street and its proximity to Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park make the area ripe for loft-style apartments and condominiums, Fatla said.
That is, if neighborhood advocates can keep the buildings from being knocked down.
Preservationists and community leaders ultimately want the area designated as a historic neighborhood, which they said would preserve its unique architecture. Since the Allegheny Stables were in danger of being demolished first, the group started there — and got the blessing of the city’s planning and historic preservation commissions.
“People have returned to these neighborhoods for something they can’t get anywhere else,” Fatla said. “More and more homes are getting restored.”
The next step is organizing development of the entire block. Otherwise, once one condominium is finished, the first residents would have only abandoned industrial buildings as neighbors.
Should no one be keen on living in a former stable, Timothy G. Zinn, a co-author of the proposal for the building’s historic designation, urged them to consider this: It was a really nice stable.
“This would have been like a horse palace, almost,” said Zinn, 43, a historic preservationist with the Michael Baker Corp. architectural firm. “This had to be the most well-appointed of all the stable buildings. There’s nice architectural detailing and wonderful brickwork.”
Zinn said state records indicate 15 stables were built throughout Allegheny City, which became part of Pittsburgh after a controversial annexation in 1907.
The rest of the stables “were not like this,” Zinn said. “This was certainly the most grand structure.”
Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or (412) 391-0927.
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New owner is restoring the 80-year-old George Washington Hotel – Builder falls in love with Washington historic treasure
Sunday, July 08, 2007By Gretchen McKay,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAs a builder who specializes in high-end period restorations, Kyrk Pyros is something of a sucker for historic structures.
When it comes to deciding which long-forgotten buildings are worth bringing back from the dead, though, the Thornburg resident and president of KP Builders in Robinson is usually pretty good at following the No. 1 rule of commercial real estate: Keep your emotions out of it.
Fall in love with a building, Mr. Pyros cautions, and you might end up basing a decision to buy on how the property looks and makes you feel instead of whether it makes sense from a financial or functional standpoint. And that, he says, “is a bad thing.”
So what was he thinking, buying the 200-room George Washington Hotel in downtown Washington? Abandoned by a series of owners who followed what Mr. Pyros calls the “deferred maintenance plan,” the 80-year-old landmark was pretty much uninhabitable by the time he spied it for sale four years ago in the classified section of Preservation, a magazine put out by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And it was in Washington County, of all places, not in Washington, D.C., as he’d assumed when he first read the ad.
“I couldn’t believe it, to be honest with you,” Mr. Pyros, 40, recalls with a laugh. “It was like, you mean the Washington 30 miles south of Pittsburgh?”
Yet a historic treasure is still a historic treasure, no matter what its location, and Mr. Pyros, who also owns Allegheny Crane Rental in Richland, was well acquainted with the building’s past. Designed by renowned architect William Lee Stoddart, the George Washington Hotel for much of its history counted famous actors, politicians, athletes and even rock stars among its guests.
John F. Kennedy gave a speech to supporters from the marble steps of its Oval Room when he was campaigning for the presidency, and baseball great Lou Gehrig and car maker Henry Ford also checked in. So did the Beatles when they finally made it to Pittsburgh in September 1964 for a long-awaited show at the Civic Arena.
But who could blame them? The hotel was modeled after the famous Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., where President and Mrs. Lincoln lived before they moved into the White House in 1861. The 10-story building boasted a two-story, balconied grand ballroom with hardwood floors and crystal chandeliers and a grand entrance on West Cherry Avenue that delivered guests into an exquisite marbled lobby. It also featured an equally elegant dining room that told the story of the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s via a series of murals by Washington artist Malcolm Parcell (1896-1987).
So, even though the hotel — which at the time was being used for Section 8 housing — was close to being condemned, Mr. Pyros followed his heart instead of his head and put in a bid. Many of the small towns he’d stayed in over the years had wonderful boutique hotels; just look at the Inn at Little Washington in the Shenandoah Valley or the Buhl Mansion in Sharon, Mercer County. With Washington on the upswing, he reasoned, perhaps the time was ripe for one there, too.
“I thought it was great,” he said, recalling how he sped to the site within 30 minutes of making the call on a Friday night. “I could see the potential.”
Four years into a projected five- to seven-year project, Mr. Pyros is well on his way to accomplishing that goal. With all of its 72 apartments renovated and the facility’s banquet and restaurant businesses flourishing, he’s about to embark on the final stage of this labor of love: construction of the first 16 of 32 hotel rooms on the third and fourth floors. They should be open by the end of September, says Mr. Pyros, with the final 16 being completed by Christmas.
At the same time, a work crew will renovate the spacious lobby so it’s the image of what existed when the hotel opened in 1923.
In addition to refurbishing all the intricate plaster work on the main and mezzanine levels and restoring the inlaid mosaic marble floor, they’ll add the same kind of giant wood registration desk that distinguishes the Willard. Cushy furniture and a giant Oriental rug are also planned.
“We pay attention to detail,” says Mr. Pyros. “We want it crisp and perfect. Our motto is to be the best.”
To help establish the hotel’s boutique character, each room will be named after a famous person who stayed there, and have its own unique theme. For example, there will be Kennedy and Ford rooms, along with one that pays homage to the Beatles. All will be priced from about $135 on weekdays and from $195 on weekends.
Mr. Pyros concedes that in a city where many consider a half-hour drive from home a day’s trip — and the Point is just 30 minutes from downtown Washington — it may be difficult to attract those first guests. But he’s confident once they see it as a destination, that will change.
Already, he notes, the hotel is booking banquets and weddings in its two ballrooms for guests from as far away as Greensburg, Westmoreland County, and Weirton, W.Va. In addition, one of his first projects after purchasing the hotel — turning a boarded-up storeroom on the ground level into the casual Cherry Blossom Bistro — is pulling in regular crowds.
So is Bradford’s, an old hair salon-turned neighborhood bar that serves upscale wines to the white-collar crowd. It’s named after Whiskey Rebellion leader David Bradford, whose 1788 house just a few blocks away on South Main Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“We’re at the crossroad of the U.S., on the National Road,” he says. “Interstates “79, 70 and [Route] 19 all intersect here. So I believe it will be successful.”
Patrons will certainly have someplace nice to while away the evening, in the renovated Pioneer Grill. Previous owners boarded up those famous Parcell paintings in this old-fashioned, formal dining room. But under Mr. Pyros’ ownership, the murals, which are valued at $3.8 million, once again set the stage for diners who stop by to enjoy chef Renee Gordon’s upscale menu.
Since February, Ms. Gordon has also offered “white glove” dinners one weekend a month in the renovated Oval Room. Priced between $60 and $80 per couple, the five-course meals include everything from appetizers and dessert to such gourmet entrees as Mediterranean Halibut in Parchment. This month’s dinner, offered on July 13-14, will feature all Italian dishes.
“Every weekend is busier and busier,” says manager Ron DeVerse, who also is the administrator of the Cherry Tree Assisted Living facility on the sixth floor.
Taking the old hotel where he wants it to go, Mr. Pyros readily concedes, hasn’t been easy. One small setback, for example, was an electrical fire Oct. 15 that destroyed two entire floors. Because the building was built out of cast-in-place concrete, it didn’t do any structural damage.
And it hasn’t been cheap; when the project is finished, he expects to have sunk about $8 million into it.
“When you have a vision and believe in something, you have to go all the way,” says Mr. Pyros. “Once I start something, I don’t quit.”
(Gretchen McKay can be reached at gmckay@post-gazette.com or 412-761-4670. )
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Residents say quaint Zelienople has it all
By Joan Greene
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 8, 2007Zelienople’s official motto is “Zelienople — a modern place with old-fashioned grace.”
But many residents also refer to the picturesque borough as a “Crossroads Community.”
Located seven miles north of Cranberry in Butler County, the historic borough of 4,300 residents is a popular destination for both highway travelers and visitors attracted to Zelienople’s small-town charm.
On their way from visiting friends in Erie to catch a flight out of Pittsburgh International Airport, Peter and Kathy Eyster, of Lakewood, Colo., decided to have lunch at the historic Kaufman House and take a brief tour of the town.
“(Zelienople) looked like a quaint, interesting town, and we had read about the Kaufman House in a AAA Tour Book, so we decided to stop, have lunch and look around,” Peter Eyster says.
Nestled among trees and rolling hills near the Connoquenessing Creek, Zelienople’s picturesque location is what compelled the borough’s founder, Baron Dettmar Friederich Basse, to buy 10,000 acres of Revolutionary War Depreciations Land in 1802.
Basse laid out the town and named it after his daughter, Zelie, who arrived in Zelienople from Germany in 1807 with her new husband, Philippe Louis Passavant.
After discovering iron ore on his land, Basse, in 1813, built Zelienople’s first industrial plant, Bassenheim Furnace, one of the first charcoal blast furnaces in Western Pennsylvania.
Zelienople was incorporated as a borough in 1840, and by the turn of the 20th century, industrial expansion spurred growth.
Zelie and Philippe settled into their permanent home, Passavant House, on South Main Street (Route 19), where Zelie gave birth to five children, among them William Alfred Passavant, founder of hospitals, homes for the aged and orphans, and schools and churches — many of which still carry his name.
Passavant House, which was built in 1808, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to the Zelienople Historical Society. The restored home is open for tours and features a vast collection of historic items, including clothes worn by family members, furnishings, family portraits and letters written by Zelie to her children and other family members.
Buhl House (built in 1805) is the oldest existing building in Zelienople and is named after another early settler, Christian Buhl. In 1804, Buhl, a German immigrant furrier, married Fredericka Dorothea Goehring, of Cranberry, and they had 11 children. Today, the Buhl family name is associated with philanthropy. Buhl Planetarium, opened in 1939 on the North Side, was built with money from a foundation set up by Christian’s grandson, Henry Buhl Jr. The new planetarium at the Carnegie Science Center retains the Buhl name.
Joyce Bessor, 75, executive director of the historical society, has vivid memories of growing up in Zelienople. One of the biggest changes that affected Zelienople was the opening of Interstate 79 in the 1970s, Bessor says. Before that, Route 19 was the main thoroughfare heading north from Pittsburgh to Erie.
“When I was a child growing up in the 1930s and ’40s, there was only one stoplight on Route 19 between West View and Mercer,” she says. “On Sundays, when people were driving to and from Erie, Route 19 was packed with cars, backed up for miles.”
Although Zelienople retains its small-town charm, the stores and schools have changed “considerably,” Bessor says.
Today, St. Gregory’s Elementary School is the only school within Zelienople’s borders. Zelienople Elementary School and High School were torn down in the 1960s. Students living in Zelienople attend Connoquenessing Elementary School, in the neighboring borough of Harmony, and Seneca Valley Middle, Intermediate and Senior High Schools, in Jackson Township.
Although many of the shops and restaurants lining Main Street have retained their facades, the types of businesses have changed, Bessor says. The antiques stores have been replaced by gift shops. “For 60 years, Buhl House was owned by an antique dealer, and people came from all over to buy antiques,” Bessor says. The home now is operated by the historical society and is open for tours.
Ketterer’s, owned by two sisters, was a popular clothing and dry goods store when Bessor was growing up and “almost everyone in town” bought shoes at Blum’s shoe store, which closed in the 1980s after being in business for almost 100 years. Today, it is a bicycle shop.
The Strand Theater, which is undergoing renovation, was where children would flock to the Saturday matinees. “In those days, Saturday night at the movies was a big deal,” Bessor says.
The Strand closed its doors in 1984. In 2001, Ron Carter, of Cranberry, formed the nonprofit Strand Theater Initiative to raise $5 million for its restoration. The goal is transorm the theater, which was built in 1914, into a performing-arts center for touring groups, off-Broadway plays, classic films, orchestras and bands.
To date, the theater’s facade has been renovated, and a new marquee lights up Main Street at night. Work on the theater’s 2,700-square-foot interior is under way. Recently, 300 seats were removed and auctioned to raise funds. “There’s nothing like it in the North Hills,” Carter says. “The Strand Theater will be a destination and another reason for people to come to Main Street. It will feed into the restaurants and shops.”
Today, shoppers strolling along Main Street will find an array of shops reflecting old and new, ranging from Mathew Jewelers — in business for 60 years — to Tattoos by Boney Joe, Room to Grow toy store and C.T. McCormick Hardware, specializing in Lionel Electric Trains.
“Business is good,” says Claudia Brueckman, owner of Gift Baskets, Flowers & More. “Zelienople is still a walking town, and people are now into exercise. The events and attractions bring people into town.”
Borough Manager Don Pepe describes Zelienople as “a town of sidewalks.”
“Sidewalks promote communities,” he says. “We still have pressure to compete with the strip malls, but Zelie still retains itself because the type of businesses here seem to thrive and have found a niche.”
Mayor Tom Oliverio says residents have a great deal of pride in their town. “Everything grows off of that. People love their Main Street, and they keep the shops vital,” he says. “At the hardware store, you can buy one bolt at a time, not the entire package.”
Events commemorating Zelienople’s history and celebrating holidays draw huge crowds from Zelienople and neighboring communities, Pepe says.
One popular event, sponsored by the Zelienople Lion’s Club, is an annual summer horse show. In its 44th year, the event has been renamed Horse Trading Days and is Zelienople’s premiere attraction, attracting as many as 40,000 people during three days in July.
The borough has four or five parades a year for holidays like Halloween, where children and their pets dress up and parade down Main Street. When Santa arrives at Christmas, he takes up residence at Four Corner Park, where he is visited by thousands of children.
“People love the parades. A town is not a town unless you have a Main Street with a parade,” says Oliverio, who enjoys watching the parades with his grandchildren.
The Kountry Kitchen is a favorite among residents and commuters who work in Zelienople. Eating lunch at the family-style restaurant, Kelvin Mack, 22, says Zelienople was “an amazing place to grow up.”
“We could walk to wherever we wanted to go — the park, the pool, the basketball court. My favorite sight is coming down the hill off of Route 19 from Cranberry into Zelienople at night. I like the way the streets and buildings are lit up,” says Mack, who lives in Evans City.
Built in 1902, the Kaufman House is a destination restaurant and bar that attracts visitors from throughout the region, says owner Ken Pilarski, of Cranberry. “It’s popular because of the food, the location in a quaint town and the history of the town and building,” he says. Early in the 20th century, the railroads housed workers in the 32 rooms at the Kaufman House. The hotel portion of the building closed several years ago, Pilarski says.
Residents at Lutheran SeniorLife Passavant Retirement Community, on North Main Street, enjoy “the walking town atmosphere of Zelienople,” says Laura Roy, Passavant’s executive director. “They can walk to the grocery store, shops, bank and restaurants.”
Established in 1905 as the Old People’s Home, the retirement community has grown from eight acres to 42 and serves 650 residents in assisted-living, independent-living and skilled-nursing facilities, Roy says.
Originally named the Orphans Home and Farm School, Glade Run, on West Beaver Road, was founded in 1854 by Rev. William Alfred Passavant and offers residential services to abused and neglected children.
Zelienople’s demographics are a mix of older, longtime residents and families moving in to raise their children in a small-town atmosphere, Pepe says.
In addition to Passavant Retirement Community, which employs more than 300 people, Sysco Food Services of Pittsburgh, Billco Manufacturing, BNZ Materials, ITT Leopold and Robinson Industries are major employers. The 100-year-old Robinson Industries employs 100 people, manufacturing fan equipment for steel, aluminum, mining and utility companies.
Because the borough encompasses only two square miles, there’s not much room to grow. Three hundred acres of land, owned by Glade Run, is the last large parcel left and is being considered for single-family and multi-family development, Pepe says.
Pepe says he would love to start a project to beautify Main Street by burying the utility cables and improve parking.
A picturesque borough that offers historic charm with modern living, Zelienople lives up to its description by the Chamber of Commerce as a place “Where the Past Is Always Present.”
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Can the former Fourth United Presbyterian Church be saved? – Friendship landmark abandoned and crumbling
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, July 7, 2007With its rugged presence, the former Fourth United Presbyterian Church holds a prominent corner in Friendship, at the intersection of Friendship and South Pacific avenues. But for how long? It’s a good building fallen on bad times.
Built in the 1890s when the Richardsonian Romanesque was in vogue, the sandstone church has an arcaded porch with three arches supported by massive columns. Inspired by the welcoming, triple-arched porches of several of Richardson’s civic buildings, this one also promises shelter and security.
Sadly, the building no longer provides either. From the outside, the lack of maintenance is apparent in the missing windows and mortar. But that doesn’t prepare you for the scene of utter devastation and chaos inside.
In a first-floor hallway, water bubbles up from a hole in the floor, causing the floor tiles to buckle under puddles. Because water leaks through a portion of the roof when it rains, a staircase has rotted, and mold and mildew are everywhere. In the sanctuary, plaster falls from the ceiling onto the pews and paint peels from the columns, which still carry their Byzantine capitals, one of the interior’s few grace notes that have survived unscathed.
Stained-glass windows have been removed and replaced by plywood, which is falling away, or by nothing at all. Furniture is strewn about and packaged food still stands on the kitchen counters. In an office room, file cabinets hold manila folders full of church records.
It looks as if the congregation just up and left, which is exactly what happened several years ago, said the Rev. Lorraine Williams. The Fourth United Presbyterian Church — not to be confused with the still-active Fourth Presbyterian Church at Friendship Avenue and Roup Street — closed in the 1960s. Then it rented the church building to a school for about 10 years, the Rev. Williams said. She and her former husband, also a pastor, purchased the church in 1976 from Pittsburgh Presbytery. He now suffers from Alzheimer’s in an assisted living facility. She left their congregation in the mid-1980s and now is pastor of a church she declined to identify because she did not want to associate it with this situation.
She said the congregation that abandoned the church — the Greater Pittsburgh Gospel Deliverance Center — now calls itself New Day Ministries and rents space in Emory United Methodist Church. But her name is still on the deed. The Rev. Williams said she, too, was appalled at the condition of the building when she was last inside about two years ago.
The church has been on the market for more than a year and been under agreement three times, including twice with the same buyer. Neither was able to come up with financing for what they wanted to do — demolish the church and replace it with townhouses.
The Rev. Williams said windows and other objects were sold and removed from the building when it looked as if it would be demolished.
For the past year, the church has been listed with Tim Kimbel, president of Star Real Estate, and is now priced at $165,000. Mr. Kimbel will hold an open house on Monday and Tuesday for qualified bidders. About 20 parties expressed interest in the property while it was under agreement, including two who’d like to turn it into a neighborhood arts center. Of those 20, nine will be touring the building. Others are welcome to do so, but they must call Star Real Estate at 412-494-4110 on Monday morning to report their interest.
After the open house, to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. Kimbel will take bids on the property.
“This is not an auction,” he said. “We want people to submit their highest and best offer” by Thursday, along with a refundable deposit in the amount of their choice between $1,000 and $5,000. He and the Rev. Williams then will decide which to accept or counter-offer.
The Rev. Williams said the income from the sale would be distributed to a church ministry but not to New Day Ministries.
The church’s architect is unknown; several local and out-of-town firms were working in the Richardsonian Romanesque style in the 1890s here. Nevertheless, the building is a neighborhood landmark, although not, unfortunately, an official city historic landmark nor part of a city historic district. Demolition will require only a permit and, Mr. Kimbel said, about $85,000, according to estimates he had received from demolition contractors who looked at the building.
Jeffrey Dorsey, director of the neighborhood nonprofit Friendship Development Associates, said his group was inside the church as recently as late winter.
“By our estimate it’s close to a $2 million project to rehab it,” he said, adding that while Friendship is full of preservationists, they are also realists. “It’s just not a front-burner project for us because we have other projects going, mostly on Penn Avenue,” including development of the Glass Lofts at Penn Avenue and Fairmount Street.
Can this church be saved? Yes, it can and should. But it will take someone with vision — and very deep pockets.
(Architecture critic Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590. )
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Monroeville history can be viewed on Web
By Jake Panasevich
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007In the past month, Monroeville Historical Society president Lynn Chandler has witnessed what she thinks are the organization’s most exciting changes since she became a member 27 years ago.
Those changes are allowing history to be pieced together by Monroeville natives scattered across the country.After six years of work and nearly a year of revision, the Monroeville Historical Society’s improved Web site is up and running at www.monroevillehistorical.org.
“The advantage to have an organ to reach out to the public is very important,” Chandler said. “We hear from people from all over the country. The fact that we can do all of this is wonderful.”
The site features a much-expanded “Our Photo Album” with more than 600 pictures. They are organized into different categories, such as people, events and street scenes. One category displays multiple shots of the same location that illustrate changes in the local landscape over the years.
The “Significant Houses” and “Monroeville’s History” sections have been updated and expanded with the help of feedback given by visitors to the site.
The society’s Web designer, Jeff Federoff, said the information on the site is presented more clearly, and it’s easier to navigate. It allows visitors to search and download articles with ease, he said.
“There’s more menu options available,” said Federoff, a Monroeville native who now lives in Forest Hills. “You can view articles faster with the new menu options.”
Family profiles have been added to the Web site. This section contains biographical sketches of 20 families who helped shape the community. The society collected information for the profiles over the years.
The profiles are a work in progress. The society is seeking additional information on the Tilbrook, Snodgrass, Lang, Simpson, Speelman, McMasters and McGinnis families.
It is seeking comments, corrections, additional photos and ideas on how to improve the site. People can contact Louis Chandler, the Web site coordinator, and Lynn Chandler’s husband, at lchan@alltel.net or 724-327-6164.
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Building on Saltsburg history
By Paul Paterra
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 5, 2007A builder is doing his part to preserve the historic flavor of downtown Saltsburg, and he’s hoping to entice new residents in the process.
Bob Sekora, of Salem, purchased buildings at 214 and 216 Washington St., as well as the structure in the rear of one of the buildings, which he’s converting into three townhouses that might be ready for tenants in two or three months.
“I’m a retired engineer, and I’m always building something or restoring something,” Sekora said.
He’s giving the buildings a modern touch with insulation and gutters, but the structures willl retain their 19th-century look, including colonial-style shutters and traditional color schemes.
The buildings are deeply connected to Saltsburg’s history. The Indiana County borough of little more than 900 residents was founded in 1769 where the Kiskiminetas River is formed by the convergence of the Conemaugh River and Loyalhanna Creek.
The stone house at 214 Washington St. is the town’s oldest building, reportedly constructed in 1827. In the Pennsylvania Canal’s heyday, brothers Robert and William McIlwain established a general store there.The brick building at 216 Washington St. once housed a drugstore, along with the office of Dr. John McFarland, the town’s first physician. McFarland wore many hats throughout his life, including a stint as director of the Indiana County Medical Society. He later served in the state House of Representatives and was one of the first directors of the Northern Pennsylvania Railroad.
P.J. Hruska, council vice president, says Sekora’s plans to keep the buildings true to form are important.
“To some people, it’s life or death,” Hruska said. “I want to keep it that way myself, (but) I know it’s hard and expensive to do it that way. It looks good to people coming into town. It’s important to me personally, and I know it’s important to a lot of people in the town.”
Local historian Jack Maguire appreciates Sekora’s efforts.
“That’s important to have that attitude, to preserve that rather than just tear it down,” said Maguire, president of Historical Saltsburg Inc. and past president of the Saltsburg Area Historical Society. “It’s important to have somebody who has the energy to do that.”
Sekora wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You don’t have a historic district if you tear your structures down. We’ve removed over 180 years of changes and modifications. It’s like doing an archaeological dig on a building. It’s really the only way you can find the true history of a structure,” he said.
He’s already received inquiries from people interested in renting the townhouses, but he hasn’t decided just what he’s going to do with the other buildings.
“They can be private residences, or I can seek a permit and change the use and make them commercial,” he said.
After completing the townhouses, Sekora will focus on 214 Washington St. He’s planning to have that completed in about two years.
Sekora will call his enclave of buildings Canal Commons, because the townhouses will face Canal Park, as will the rear entrances of 214 and 216 Washington St.
Sekora, who’s doing most of the work himself with the help of some family members, hopes to plant a seed for growth in the community.
“Saltsburg is a well-kept secret,” Sekora said. “You have everything you want here. It’s a very peaceful, quiet community. There’s a very broad range of ages. There’s a lot of senior citizens, but you also see a lot of youth. It’s a family community. There’s going to be more people coming. There’s more restoring that’s going to be done.”
Paul Paterra can be reached at ppaterra@tribweb.com or (724) 836-6220.
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Property owner uncovers log home
By MICHAEL DIVITTORIO
Daily News Staff Writer
July 3, 2007
McKeesport Daily NewsOne of the four known log cabins in Elizabeth Twp. has been uncovered after the new property owner wanted to tear down the building.
Jeff Heinichen, an Elizabeth Twp. resident and owner of five properties in the community, said he bought the property at 1235 Greenock-Buena Vista Road in February from a real estate company because it looked horrendous.
“I come home this way every day, and I got tired of looking at the eyesore. So that’s why I was going to buy it just to tear it down ’cause I was tired of looking at it, and then when I went to tear it down, this is what I found,” Heinichen said.
Ronald Morgenstern, one of the Elizabeth Twp. Historical Society founders and current board member is a walking encyclopedia full of knowledge about Heinichen’s purchase, and beyond.
“That was the old Kelly farm owned by Andrew and Dave Kelly in the early 1800s. It stretched from Everglade Drive, Wexford Drive, Dalewood Street, State Street, Constitution Boulevard and the Greenock Heights area. Constitution (Boulevard) was just a dirt road then. There was an entrance to a coal mine, and the land was next to the Calhoun farm,” Morgenstern said.
The Calhouns, Mohlmans and the Widanys were the other families to have log cabins, he added.
The Kelly farmland was purchased in sections by several different families and Greenock United Methodist Church.
“The Barncords bought the portion of land where Jeff is now from the Kellys in the 1900s. Dave Oberdick bought the land of Everglade and Wexford Drive in the early 1940s for a housing plan. I cut brush and trees and was laying out where the street was going there in 1942,” Morgenstern said.
Morgenstern, 81, was born and raised in Elizabeth Twp. and can give historical tours of numerous sites within the township.
“There are more than 300 points of historical interests here,” he said.
The cabin is supported by eight huge logs that are stabilized by railroad .
“It serves as what an I-beam does in a house today,” Heinichen said.
A coal furnace with pipes leading up through the basement, wooden floor joists, and more than three-fourths of a fieldstone chimney are among the original pieces of the cabin on the 11/2-acre site.
The second floor features three bedrooms, with 7-foot ceilings.
Heinichen’s find was one of great significance, according to historical society officials.
“It always had clapboard siding for as long as I can remember. It’s a very historical find, and I hope he preserves it,” Morgenstern said.
Pittsburgh History & Landmark Foundation Property and Construction Manager Thomas Keffer took a look at the log cabin Wednesday morning.
“I was very impressed,” Keffer said. “It’s in good standing condition and a nice discovery for Elizabeth Twp.”
Keffer assists individuals with preparing their homes or
properties before an application is presented for consideration to their potential landmarks before a presentation is made to the foundation’s plaque committee.
“I offered him (Heinichen) advice and answered his questions,” Keffer said.
Keffer is not on the plaque committee, but knows the requirements of a building in order to be considered a landmark.
A structure has to be at least 50 years old, very close to its original construction and natural colors, and “having a landscape close to the building’s era is a nice touch,” he said.
“It’s a landmark now. With proper restoration it will certainly pass,” Keffer added. “There needs to be work done on the roof and the chimney needs to be put back.”
According to Heinichen, the history foundation might acquire the log cabin and could continue the preservation efforts.
Keffer also looked at another property of Heinichen’s Wednesday, a house believed to be built in 1840 that was turned into a preschool at 5303 Smithfield St.
Aside from the vinyl siding, Keffer said the house is in excellent condition with its original windows and other features.
Keffer said he would help Heinichen with this additional structure, and try to have it declared a landmark.
mdivittorio@dailynewsemail.com