Category Archive: Preservation News
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YMCA to anchor Market Square Place
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 1, 2007The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh will cut the size of its Downtown facility by more than half when it moves to the vacant G.C. Murphy store complex on Fifth Avenue on the edge of Market Square, officials said Thursday.
The nonprofit organization will lease space at the Murphy structure and the neighboring former D&K retail store building, with the move expected by late next year.The two buildings are being developed by Washington County-based Millcraft Industries Inc. as part of its Market Square Place project, a $32 million complex that will include retail stores, restaurants and apartments.
In November, the YMCA disclosed to its nearly 2,500 full-time and 500 seasonal members that it planned to sell its seven-story headquarters building on the Boulevard of the Allies and seek another Downtown site.
“The YMCA has made a major commitment to the revitalization of the Fifth and Market District and to making Downtown a much better place to live and work,” said Lucas Piatt, vice president of Millcraft Industries.
“As the lead tenant in the Market Square Place project, the YMCA will provide a sought-after amenity to the residential aspect of the project and provide essential foot traffic to help support the additional … retail use within the development.”The move will bring 200 staffers, including 50 new hires, and the 500 to 1,000 people who use the Downtown Y’s facilities each day into the heart of the city’s deteriorated retail corridor along Fifth and Forbes avenues.
In addition to its members, the YMCA serves hundreds of others through its wellness programs.
“In our new Downtown location, we will provide wellness and other services that match the needs of our Downtown members at a convenient central location,” said Dan Lebish, board chairman of the Downtown YMCA branch.
The facility at Market Square Place will include a 25-meter, five-lane pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms, wellness facilities with cardiovascular and strength equipment and exercise rooms.
However, it will not have the basketball court, running track and other court game facilities offered at the current site.
The YMCA signed a long-term lease at the Murphy site, but terms of the deal were not disclosed. Because it is a leased facility, the new YMCA will be fully taxable property, said Piatt and John Cardone, the Downtown Y’s executive director.
Over the years, the Downtown Y attempted to secure tax-free status for its land and building at 330 Blvd. of the Allies, which drew objections from private health clubs in the city.
The organization will not move from its current location until the new complex is ready, said Cardone. He said efforts continue to sell the building, which has been home to the YMCA for 20 years.
“Our new YMCA will not only help us serve our Downtown members better, it will also enable us to invest more in YMCA programming throughout the greater Pittsburgh community,” said Cardone.
The building will be substantially more cost-effective to operate, and Cardone said savings will be returned to the community in the form of scholarships and enhanced services.
The majority of the YMCA’s new facilities and offices will be on the second floor of the former G.C. Murphy complex, about 30,000 square feet of its 38,000-square-foot space, Piatt said.
However, its main entrance will be on the ground-level floor of the seven-story D&K building, across from PNC Financial Services Group’s Three PNC Plaza project under construction. The connection between the D&K and Murphy complex will be on the second level of the two structures.
The five floors above the Y’s facilities in the D&K structure will be developed as rental apartments. Other apartment units will be located on the upper levels of the former G.C. Murphy complex, which is a combination of several adjoining buildings.
The Piatt project is being built with the aid of about $6 million in state funds. Additional help is being sought in historic tax credits.
Possibilities for ground-level retail space include a high-end spa and salon, restaurants, clothing shops and a bank, Piatt said.
News of the YMCA’s decision was welcomed by Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which has been concerned about preservation of historic and architecturally significant structures Downtown.
“We’ve worked closely with the Piatts and their architect to ensure that the entire complex of buildings could be saved and made workable,” Ziegler said. “We’ve been pleased with the uses they are creating.”
YMCA on the move
New site
Location: Former G.C. Murphy complex and D&K Store building
Size: 38,000 square feet
Pool: 25-meter, five lanes
Facilities: Men’s and women’s locker rooms; wellness facilities, with cardiovascular and strength equipment and exercise rooms; whirlpool, sauna and steam room
Current site
Location: 330 Blvd. of the Allies
Size: 97,000 square feet on seven stories
Pool: 25-meter, six lanes
Not moving from old site: Gymnasium, racquetball courts, walking/running track
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Stained-glass ‘puzzle’ is piece of Fayette County history
By Chris Foreman
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 1, 2007Terry Bengel hasn’t had an easy task restoring the long-hidden stained glass that once graced the rotunda ceiling in the 115-year-old Fayette County Courthouse.
For the past five weeks, the Greensburg artist has been refurbishing the soot-blemished panels that were in storage for at least decades, if not nearly the past century.Compounding matters, nobody in county government has any photos depicting how the glass, which has a pale amber ripple background, used to look.
But Bengel said he is confident he’ll have all 20 glass panels ready for installation by Andaloro Construction before a June 15 deadline.
“It was a bit of a mystery, and it turned into a puzzle that had to be put together,” Bengel said Thursday.
Fayette County President Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi has spurred the glass restoration, which he says will create a near-mirror image of the stained-glass dome outside his second-floor courtroom.In March, county commissioners hired Andaloro, of Hopwood, to complete the reinstallation for $124,200, although only $2,200 in matching money from the county’s general fund has been pledged.
The remaining $122,000 is split between a grant from the National Road Heritage Corridor and defendant fees paid into a county magisterial court fund.
Once mounted, the stained-glass panels will replace plain beige plaster slabs that have hung in their place in the 17.5-foot-by-22-foot ceiling.
“They all required some work,” Bengel said. “Three of the panels were total reconstructions. They were totally lost.”
Bengel is getting down to the final work in his George Street studio, mixing and grinding ceramic colors into the panels reproduced by Connellsville-based Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass.
“It’s an important piece of historic preservation,” he said.
Chris Foreman can be reached at cforeman@tribweb.com or 724-626-3561.
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New YMCA planned for Murphy building
Thursday, May 31, 2007By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh will move to the old G.C. Murphy’s building Downtown as part of efforts to revitalize the Fifth and Forbes corridor.It is teaming up with Washington County developer Millcraft Industries to open a 38,000-square-foot facility in the old building. The new facility at Market Square Place will include a 25-meter five-lane pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms, wellness facilities with cardiovascular and strength equipment, and exercise rooms.
As part of the move, the organization plans to sell its current building on the Boulevard of the Allies, where it has been for more than 20 years. The YMCA plans to make the official announcement at a banquet this evening.
The YMCA’s administrative offices, which are at its current site, also will be moved to a yet-to-be-determined location.
“The YMCA has made a major commitment to the revitalization of the Fifth and Market District and to making Downtown a much better place to live and work,” said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft vice president of real estate.
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Hazelwood welcomes new houses
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteCity officials and neighborhood leaders broke ground yesterday on the future site of two new townhouses, among six three-bedroom residences to be built in Hazelwood. They will be the first new homes in the neighborhood in about 15 years, said Jim Richter, executive director of the Hazelwood Initiative.
The $1.5 million project featuring four townhouses and two single-family homes is being developed under the auspices of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It has been planned for six or seven years, said Jerome Dettore, executive director of the URA.
Four townhouses will be built on Sylvan Avenue, across from the long-vacant Gladstone School. Monongahela Street and Homewood Avenue will each get a new single-family detached home. The townhouses are expected to sell for $129,500, the houses for $135,500. Two homes will be subsidized for home owners who make less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, according to the mayor’s office.
Vanessa Anderson has lived between the two townhouse lots for nine years. They have been vacant for much longer, said Arlene Dobbs, a 45-year resident of the street.
“I’ll be glad to see the weeds go,” said Ms. Dobbs. “Glad to see the land put to good use.”
“It’ll be a brighter place,” said Ms. Anderson, who considered the prospect of four new households on each side of her, saying, “I hope they’re good neighbors.”
She said she has walked to the curb regularly to confront people hanging out in cars whom she presumed were there to sell drugs, she said.
The Rev. Tim Smith, board chair of the Hazelwood Initiative, also has confronted visitors with questionable intentions.
“It has been quiet for the past year, and I think that’s why,” she said, adding that otherwise, the street is peaceful, with lots of homeowners.
As District 5 Councilman Doug Shields described Hazelwood, “You’re six minutes from Oakland and connected to everywhere.”
To give the Hazelwood housing development a boost, the city committed community development block grant money to cover an almost $300,000 gap in financing, Mr. Richter said.
“It’s a sunny day in Hazelwood,” Mr. Richter said yesterday. “Maybe it’s a sign of a sunny future.”
(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )
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Historical state marker will honor playwright August Wilson’s childhood home in Hill District
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
By Christopher Rawson,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteToday at 10 a.m., an official Pennsylvania State Historical Marker will be unveiled at 1727 Bedford Ave., Hill District, the childhood home of the late Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning playwright August Wilson.
The text will recognize not only Mr. Wilson but also the Hill, which inspired his poetry and plays and provided the setting for nine of his epic 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle, which chronicles African American life decade-by-decade throughout the 20th century.
The marker is being presented by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in partnership with the Senator John Heinz History Center, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture and the Estate of August Wilson.
Making remarks will be some of Mr. Wilson’s brothers and sisters, along with his daughter, Sakina Ansari-Wilson, who will do the unveiling, although not until a number of officials have also had their say.
They include Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Councilwoman Tonya Payne, Andrew E. Masich of the History Center, Neil Barclay of the August Wilson Center and Barbara Franco of the Historical and Museum Commission.
There will also be messages from Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and state representative Jake Wheatley.
The ceremony is open to the public. The rain location is the Ammon Recreation Center, 2217 Bedford Ave.
(Post-Gazette theater editor Christopher Rawson can be reached at crawson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1666. )
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Free tours showcase city’s special sites
By Brianna Horan
For the Tribune-Review
Wednesday, May 30, 2007Pittsburghers didn’t need USA Today to tell them the view from the Mt. Washington overlook is one of the best in the nation. But as they work, play and live among the modern skyscrapers and repurposed factory buildings that meld to form the city’s skyline, sometimes locals forget to look up.
“People don’t see a lot of the details and don’t realize the significance of the things we have in the city. Too often people are looking down,” says tour guide Drew Chelosky. “If you wrap a nice present, you put the bow on the top. Architecture designers work the same way.”Eight free tours of Pittsburgh neighborhoods, offered by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, will point out unique aspects to the city, like the first drive-through banking window at the Iron & Glass Bank on East Carson Street, South Side; the world’s second-tallest educational building in Oakland; and portraits of history makers like Mary Croghan Schenley and Andrew Carnegie on the facade of Midtown Towers at Liberty and Seventh, Downtown.
“I think the tours are very nice because they help people to appreciate how interesting a city Pittsburgh is,” says William Garrett, 78, who has been leading tours for the last decade. “They make people appreciate things they see frequently, but they may not realize the importance of.”
Like Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh’s “Wall Street” at the turn of the 20th century that held more capital than the combined holdings of the banks of England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Russia. Or East Carson Street, one of only 58 “Great American Main Streets,” once travelled by John F. Kennedy.
“Our tours are of places that have a fascinating history and are a vibrant place today, or that is an area in transition — and this transition is making it into a vibrant place,” says Louise Sturgess, executive director of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks.
This is the first year the organization will lead tours through the civic center of Oakland, a neighborhood where tens of thousands of students, medical staff, business people and residents give life to the buildings, parks and institutions made possible by people like Schenley and Andrew Carnegie in the late 1800s.
“It was one of the first true civic centers of its kind in the country. It’s an area where some of the most influential people came together. You can literally stand in one spot and turn 360 degrees, without moving, and see so many important elements,” says Chelosky, who’s enthusiasm of Oakland’s treasures was the first step to creating the walking tour.
Those interested in exploring the civic center can meet him every Wednesday at noon next to Dippy, a life-sized replica of the Diplodocus carnegii that Andrew Carnegie scrambled to acquire for his Institute in 1898. The group will wind around Schenley Memorial Fountain, then walk the former baselines of Forbes Field — now site of the University of Pittsburgh’s Wesley W. Posvar Hall, home to social scientists and education students. Past Schenley Plaza, the tour will continue to the Cathedral of Learning and the William Pitt Student Union, the former Hotel Schenley where Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Babe Ruth were among the elite to check in.
Central Oakland’s history is a main element of the tour, but “we also talk about how it’s the core of a very vital district today,” says Sturgess. “We like to talk about this area in a very present-day way.”
It’s often residents of the region who take the History & Landmarks tours.
“We can see retired people, we can see business people from Downtown, and we can see students,” says Garrett. “They’re people who have some connection to the city and some source of information about it.”
As a child in the East End, Chelosky, 31, learned a hand-me-down history of Pittsburgh similar to that which many locals acquire.
“Growing up in Pittsburgh, people and their families have their own stories that they kind of tell,” he says.
His curiosity about local history led him to check the truth behind these stories, and as an employee at Pitt, and formerly at Carnegie Mellon University, Chelosky focused his research on Oakland. He has found plenty of historical significance to share during his hour-long tours.
“Oakland has that blend of a business area, a cultural area, learning institutions, residential areas and, of course, you have Schenley Park,” Chelosky says. “So within walking distance, you have a blend of everything.”
Free walking tours schedule
Old Allegheny County Jail Museum: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Mondays through October
Oakland Civic Center: Noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays in JuneSouthside Strolls: 10:30-11:45 a.m. Saturdays in June
Downtown Walks: Noon-1 p.m. Fridays
June: Bridges and More
July: Penn-Liberty Cultural District
August: Fourth Avenue and PPG Place
September: Revitalizing Fifth and Forbes
Pittsburgh’s Parks: 4-5 p.m. Sundays in SeptemberSept. 2: Schenley Park
Sept. 9: Frick Park
Sept. 16: Highland Park
Sept. 23: Riverview Park
Sept. 30: Allegheny Commons
Special one-time tours:August Wilson’s Hill District (walking tour), 2-4 p.m. June 23, $5
Pittsburgh’s Bridges from the Rivers (boat tour), 1:45-4 p.m. July 15, $45
Homewood’s Historic Landmarks (bus and walking tour), 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sept. 15, $45
Vandergrift, Pa. (bus and walking tour), 1:30-5 p.m. Oct. 13, $50
Details: 412-471-5808, ext. 527, or www.phlf.org -
Pitt aims to preserve the Cathedral of Learning
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, May 28, 2007Pitt is “redding up” the Cathedral of Learning.
Workers from Forest Hills-based Cost Co. are hosing down the University of Pittsburgh icon to remove 70 years of soot.“We feel better when we’re redd up,” said Albert J. Novak, Jr., vice chancellor for institutional advancement.
Since 2000, Cost and Pitt have experimented with everything from baking soda to chemicals to remove the grime. They settled on a mixture of water and recycled glass, an abrasive as fine as powdered sugar, because it is the least harmful to the workers, lawn and plants and does not react with the iron in the building’s Indiana limestone.
Forty-two Cost employees have been working on the project since March. Some use pressure washers to blast the 42-story building at 70 pounds of pressure per square inch.
Others replace broken or cracked stone and repoint the missing or loose mortar. About 40 percent of the building has been cleaned.The idea is not just to give the building a bath, but to restore it.
“It’s really to save the building for another 100 years,” university architect Park L. Rankin said.
The project will cost $4.8 million. The university plans to pay for the restoration with donations or its own money. Anyone who gives at least $1,000 will become a member of the Cathedral Preservation Society.
“We’re coming at it from a legacy perspective — preserving the cathedral for future generations,” Novak said.
When university officials first considered scrubbing the building, some preservationists objected, contending the soot was part of the city’s industrial heritage.
Historical or not, the soot was harming the stone, Rankin said.
“It doesn’t allow the stone to breathe. It clogs the pores.”
In deference to the preservationists, the university is leaving a 3- by 2-foot section of stone black, behind the Fifth Avenue entrance.
Besides hurting the stone, the soot hid beautiful details, such as the cast aluminum window spandrels with molded medallions made by Alcoa. The grime hid damage, such as fallen ornamental spires that will be replaced.
Work on the restoration is expected to be finished Sept. 28.
Cost’s crews normally work from the top down, but are working from the bottom up on this project. That’s because they don’t want to tangle with the peregrine falcons and their chicks roosting on the 39th floor.
“If the falcons see us, they’ll try to do damage to the workmen,” company owner Corky Cost said.
The young falcons are expected to leave June 21, and the crews will be able to clean above the 25th floor.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.
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After 70 years with no maintenance, inspectors assess Heinz Chapel
By Jodi Weigand
For the Tribune-Review
Saturday, May 26, 2007Like a scene from the movie “Mission Impossible,” a climber made his way up the inside of the spire atop Heinz Chapel, drilled a hole and dropped ropes to two accomplices waiting on the ground. The three then scaled the side of the 70-year-old building.
“It was a first for us, having people rappel off the side of the building,” said Pat Gibbons, director of the Oakland chapel. “We got a few phone calls from people asking if we knew people were climbing around on the building.”The three work for Vertical Access, an Ithaca, N.Y., company that inspects buildings in extreme locations. They spent three days this month documenting damage to the chapel’s fleche, the spire at the crossing of the nave and transept. The company will submit recommendations to help determine whether to preserve, restore, or replace it.
The project, which also involves inspection of the heating and ventilation system and the stained glass windows, is funded by a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments, which likely will work with the University of Pittsburgh to pay for repairs, Gibbons said.
H.J. Heinz Co. founder Henry John Heinz donated the building as a memorial to his wife, Anna. Their children saw to its construction and Heinz Chapel was dedicated in 1938.
“It was really a great project for us due to the architecture and prominence of the building,” said Vertical Access conservator Evan Kopelson. “It’s a spectacular building and just a fantastic structure.”It’s been 20 years since major work was done on the sheet-copper fleche, but university personnel decided it needed another look in 1995, when they found that one of the 16 hollow, metal grotesques attached to it had fallen onto the upper roof, Gibbons said.
Vertical Access was called in for the job because it was more cost-effective than assembling scaffolding, she said.
Even with their climbing equipment, it was difficult to scale the 9 1/2-foot fleche, Kopelson said. Modern buildings have elevators or stairs that lead to the roof, where climbers can find access points through which to drop ropes, but that was not the case with Heinz Chapel.
“It was a challenge in terms of rigging because the internal structure wouldn’t allow access to the outside,” Kopelson said. “There were openings about halfway up the spire, but for the upper portion we had to drill a hole from the inside.”
Once on top, the inspection team discovered that another of the 3-foot-tall grotesques had come loose, he said. The two figures will be put in storage until they can be reattached, Gibbons said.
Overall, the fleche is in good condition and shows aging and deterioration expected with exposure to an urban environment, Kopelson said.
“We found nothing we would call imminently hazardous,” he said. “We recommend that a pretty comprehensive restoration project should be undertaken.”
Ellis Schmidlapp, president of Landmarks Design Associates, the architectural firm overseeing the inspection, said he doesn’t anticipate an extensive overhaul because, compared to similar structures, the fleche was designed to withstand the elements. The South Side firm will advise the university on the best action to take once it receives Vertical Access’ report, he said.