Category Archive: Religious Properties
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Landmarks Testimony Before the Historic Review Commission on Proposed Legislation by Councilman Bob O’Connor to Restrict the Nomination of Religious Properties
January, 9th 2003
Given by Elisa Cavalier, Attorney and Landmarks Staff Member
We are here today to consider Council Bill 1148 proposed by Councilman O’Connor. Let’s look more closely at issue at hand. It is the ….
People — that have a faith
People– that have — and continue to –help to build religious structures in which to exercise their religion,
People (not the church as a separate entity)
who have a constitutional right through the First Amendment to the free exercise of religion … to express their religious views, to associate, and assemble for that purpose.People who have a right, through Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, “to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.”
It is for thePeople through the Declaration of Policy in Pennsylvania’s History Code that “the irreplaceable historical, architectural, archaeological, and cultural heritage of this Commonwealth should be preserved and protected…[for] future generations.” [37 Pa. C.S. § 102]
and it is thePeople, as well as non-profit organizations, school boards, and businesses … ALL whom have the right under our existing ordinance to claim an ECONOMIC HARDSHIP as a remedy to application of the ordinance.
Yet it is the Church that claims that Pittsburgh’s preservation law interferes with the people’s right to the FREE EXERCISE of religion.
So what is there solution?
EXCLUDE the PEOPLE!!!
Our government and its laws are to be
OF THE PEOPLE
BY THE PEOPLE and
FOR THE PEOPLE.This legislation takes away from the people, — whether they are members of the congregation or the general public — the ability to participate in our democratic form of government. It prohibits PEOPLE to nominate religious structures for historic designation.
The proposed ordinance sets the church apart on a law of general applicability. Councilman O’Connor’s bill is inappropriate and should not be endorsed.
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O’Connor wants church owners to have control
By Stephanie Franken
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 5, 2003Pittsburgh Councilman Bob O’Connor fought to save his former church, but when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh decided it had to close St. Philomena in Squirrel Hill 10 years ago, he acquiesced.
O’Connor said he believes parishioners or others shouldn’t stand in the way when leaders decide it’s time for a place of worship to close.
At least 25 churches and temples could be affected by a bill he proposed that would prevent the public from nominating places of worship for city historic status, which often blocks the closing of the buildings. The legislation would allow only the owners of the buildings to nominate the structures.
“When they closed my church, it was the worst thing that happened to me outside a death in my family,” said O’Connor, the father of a priest. O’Connor’s proposal is supported by the diocese. “We fought to keep it open. We tried to raise money. But in the end, it was not to be.”
O’Connor’s bill “deprives all church members and all citizens of the right to protect their buildings through the nomination process, and it leaves the decision solely in the hands of the owners of the buildings, which are generally the diocese or other church leaders,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday before the city Historic Review Commission, 200 Ross St.
The public also may comment at meetings scheduled for Jan. 14 and 28 before the city Planning Commission. Ultimately, the city council will get the final say.
The Historic Review Commission so far has received only a handful of comments, said Angelique Bamberg, the city’s historic preservation planner. All oppose the legislation.
Ziegler said the measure could open the floodgates for other groups.
“Under the general principle (of the bill), any group could say that historic designation poses a problem for them. Why churches, and why not schools or factories or individual houses?”
Today, any city resident may nominate a building to become a City Designated Historic Landmark. The designation prevents alterations or demolition of structures without approval from the Historic Review Commission.
To be eligible for the designation, a building must be linked to historical events or people, represent a noted architectural type or have archaeological significance.
Six houses of worship have the designation today. Twenty-five more are eligible. A half-dozen local houses of worship are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which does not protect a building against demolition by private landowners. At Rodef Shalom Temple in Oakland, completed in 1907 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Executive Director Jeffrey Herzog said he has no problem with O’Connor’s bill.
“There is probably a difference of knowledge between the parishioners and the people who run the institution,” Herzog said. “In the case of the diocese, they would know whether a building is of significance as opposed to a parishioner, who would have an emotional tie.”
Pastor Michael Poloway, of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church on the South Side, agrees.
“A parishioner could make a suggestion,” Poloway said, “but a pastor is in charge, not the parishioner.”
Stephanie Franken can be reached at sfranken@tribweb.com.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Awards Grants to Historic Religious Properties
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (Landmarks) announced its 2002 Historic Religious Properties Grants and Technical Assistance Awards at their annual Awards Ceremony and Seminar, October 7 at Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Oakland.
The program, now in its seventh 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 on the structure.
Thirty-two applications for grants and technical assistance from historic religious institutions located throughout Allegheny County were reviewed and 24 received either grants or technical assistance. Applicable grants awarded this year included repairing and restoring stained glass, roof repair, and restoration of a church dome. Technical
Assistance is directed to assisting congregations in prioritizing restoration projects and establishing preventative maintenance programs.
The following churches were awarded grants:
-Bellefield Presbyterian Church, Oakland
-Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, North Side
-Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church, Etna
-Central Presbyterian Church, McKeesport
-Church of the Redeemer, Squirrel Hill
-First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Oakland
-First English Lutheran Church of Sharpsburg, Sharpsburg
-First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh, Shadyside
-First United Methodist Church of Wilmerding, Wilmerding
-Lamb of God Christian Ministries, Homestead
-Monumental Baptist Church, Hill District
-Mulberry Presbyterian Church, Wilkinsburg
-Riverview United Presbyterian Church, North Side
-Rodef Shalom, Oakland
-Round Hill Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth
-St. Benedict the Moor Church, Lower Hill District
-St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, North Side
-St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKees Rocks
-St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox G. C. Church, Carnegie
-St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Church, South Side
-St. Stanislaus, Strip District
-Wesley Center A.M.E. Zion Church, Hill District
-Zion Christian Church, Mt. Oliver
-Zion Hill Baptist Church, Hill DistrictThe grants were awarded at the seminar held at Bellefield Presbyterian Church, 4001 Fifth Avenue in Oakland. The symposium was held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, featured speakers offered information meeting community needs as a faith-based institution, fund raising, when to turn to an architect, and energy conservation.
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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Bill would restrict who is able to nominate churches as historic
Monday, November 25, 2002
By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
City Councilman Bob O’Connor plans to introduce a measure today that he says would free churches and other religious structures from some of the city’s historic preservation regulations.
His amendment to the city’s historic preservation code would allow only the owners of religious structures to nominate them as historic sites. Currently, any city resident can nominate structures for historic designation.
If a site is designated historic, plans to externally renovate or demolish it have to go before the city’s Historic Review Commission before they can be implemented.
According to O’Connor, the designation makes upkeep of historic buildings too expensive for religious groups. Plus, he doesn’t think just anyone should have nomination power over religious structures.
“I would certainly not appreciate it if someone out of the blue nominated my church simply because they felt they should,” he said in a statement. “I believe that places of worship and their symbols such as altars, stained glass windows and statues, are sacred expressions of religious faith and should be respected.”
Historic nominations now can be forwarded by the mayor; members of City Council, the Historic Review Commission and the city planning commission; building owners, and people who have lived in the city for one year or more. O’Connor’s amendment would allow only the owners of a “church, cathedral, mosque, temple, rectory, convent or similar structure used as a place of religious worship” to nominate it.
His bill will be sent to the historic review and planning commissions for comment before a public hearing is held and, finally, a City Council vote is taken. He already has four co-sponsors — council members Twanda Carlisle, Alan Hertzberg, Jim Motznik and Gene Ricciardi — meaning if a vote were taken today, it would pass.
O’Connor has been working with religious leaders for more than a year on the proposal, but today’s timing is significant: It will not come up for a vote until early next year, when City Council’s most experienced and vocal preservationist, Jim Ferlo, will be serving in the state Senate. Ferlo won election to the 38th District seat on Nov. 5.
Ferlo wandered into O’Connor’s office yesterday to complain about the measure, saying it is a “bad bill” that could stand in the way of adaptive re-uses of vacant church buildings, such as for restaurants and apartment buildings.
Referring to a battle O’Connor led years ago to keep St. Paul Cathedral outside the Oakland Historic District, Ferlo asked O’Connor if he was pushing through another “immaculate exception” for the Catholic Church. He also joked that O’Connor has a conflict of interest on church matters since his son, Terry, is a Catholic priest.
An ecumenical church group called Christian Leaders Fellowship is set to endorse O’Connor’s bill today, but the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has long led fights over historic preservation.
The diocesan spokesman, the Rev. Ron Lengwin, has said the church believes in preserving its prominent old buildings but without being forced into it by government. Designation is also a government-mandated drag on finances, he said.
“We believe to force historic designation on a houses of worship carries a real threat of requiring them to divert limited financial resources from schools and social service agencies toward much more costly maintenance of buildings,” Lengwin said.
“It is an unwarranted intrusion in their function and mission.”
Mark DeSantis, chairman of the Historic Review Commission, argued that designations actually help church coffers, not hurt them. Private organizations, such as Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, can help with renovation costs, which city government cannot, and the designations themselves are a helping hand in fund raising, he said.
“Not only has designation not been a burden, but many of [the churches] use that designation as a way of directing funding and renovation efforts toward buildings that would otherwise have trouble attracting those funds,” DeSantis said.
He said he would make the case to City Council that the measure would inappropriately treat classes of building owners differently.
“I can’t imagine there is a worse thing for a community to do than identify two classes of citizens in any community. You either make laws that apply to everyone or make laws that apply to no one. It seems to me patently unfair to other types of property owners,” he said.
DeSantis said he was unaware of O’Connor’s legislation until late last week. He said he was “very disappointed” to hear the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese had been working on the bill, saying he and other preservationists have been working with the diocese at the same time to identify churches that could benefit from historic designation.
Tim McNulty can be reached at tmcnulty@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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Bill would limit historic status designation
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 25, 2002The public would no longer be able to nominate houses of worship for historic designation status in Pittsburgh under legislation Councilman Bob O’Connor plans to introduce today.
Only the owner could seek such status, removing a significant hurdle the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and others face when they seek to close or raze a church.
Parishioners and community groups have been able to delay or thwart such closings by nominating churches for city historic status.
Once a building has been nominated, the owner cannot make significant changes to its exterior until the city’s Historic Review Commission reviews the application. If a building is designated as an historic landmark, the commission has jurisdiction over all proposed new construction, demolition and exterior work to the structure.
O’Connor’s legislation has the support of four co-sponsors: President Gene Ricciardi, James Motznik, Twanda Carlisle and Alan Hertzberg.
“I don’t think anyone has the right to put an undue burden on” the owners of houses of worship, said O’Connor, whose son is a Catholic priest and whose office has a picture of his son with the pope.
“I have always been on the side of churches,” O’Connor said. “I believe it really is a hardship on them.”
When St. Nicholas Church on the city’s North Side was designated an historic structure by City Council last year, it affected the diocese’s plans to sell the church to PennDOT ? and the transportation department’s Route 28 expansion project.
The Christian Leaders Fellowship, an organization representing 10 local bishops and denominational executives, supports the legislation, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, the Catholic Diocese spokesman who also works with the leaders fellowship.
“The position of the church is to preserve our churches,” Lengwin said. “We are absolutely for preservation, but the crux of the matter is if it comes down to maintaining the exterior of the church or providing funds to educate children in the faith or assist people with needs, we’re going to follow our ministry.”
While the proposed changes would afford religious groups a greater say over how their property is used, it also takes away public initiative to preserve historic structures for the greater good, said Cathy McCollom, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
“In preservation, the designation of a building is the only safeguard there is,” McCollom said. “Any cathedral could come down.”
O’Connor’s bill seeks to make two changes to the city code. It would define religious structures as a “church, cathedral, mosque, temple, rectory, convent or similar structure used as a place of worship.” He also would add language saying the “nomination of a religious structure (for historic status) shall only be made by the owner(s) of record of the religious structure.”
The city’s Historic Review Commission and Planning Commission will have 30 days to review the legislation and report back to City Council. O’Connor then plans to hold a public hearing on the proposal before council votes on it.
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © The Tribune-Review Publishing Co
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Old church to celebrate Easter at sunrise
By Treshea N. Wade
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 30, 2002Jo-Anne Tierno has been visiting Old St. Luke’s Church in Scott Township since she was a little girl, and not just because it’s a picturesque historic landmark.
The church is part of her family’s history. She recalls looking during many visits for the burial stone of Jane Lee Nixon, one of her ancestors. Jane’s father, William Lee, donated the land where the church now stands.Attending the Easter sunrise ecumenical service at the church has been a family tradition since 1984, said Tierno, a Banksville resident.
“I keep going because it’s a part of my history,” she said. “I think everyone is looking to connect with the past. Especially since the present is so crazy. People look to the past for stability.”
The church will hold the service for the 26th year at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. And the Rev. Richard Davies, curator of the historic church, expects the stone building that holds 150 worshipers to be packed, even though Old St. Luke’s has no year-round congregation.
Davies conducts tours of Old St. Luke’s Church — which dates to 1852 — and holds ecumenical services there for the Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
“Easter morning is always jammed,” he said. “Who knows why people come, especially at that early hour.”
Perhaps it’s the church’s antiquity and all the tumultuous times that the building has survived, Davies suggested.
A stockade was built on the land in 1765, after British engineers were sent to secure a lookout to protect Fort Pitt from the Indians.
Several church congregations have gathered there but have been displaced during troubled times such as the Whiskey Rebellion, the Civil War and World War I.
The church closed in 1930 and fell into disrepair, said Davies, a retired Episcopal priest who serves at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh owns Old St. Luke’s, but regular Sunday services haven’t been held there in decades. The nonprofit Old St. Luke’s Church, Burial Ground and Garden Inc. administers it, and Davies is the president of the board of directors.
The church is a primitive Gothic structure. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation heralded it as one of 70 outstanding pieces of architecture of its type in the state.
After its closing in 1930, the church remained idle until about 1960.
“It just disintegrated. The plaster crumbled. St. Paul’s church worked at it as much as they could for about five years, but then from 1965 to 1974 it sat again, just idle,” Davies said.
The diocese at the time said that the building either had to be sold for $1 or given to Scott Township for use as a recreation site.
“We just couldn’t let that happen,” Davies said. “So with thousands of dollars in donations, we began to restore the church. It’s a great example of what restoration actually means.”
The church’s roof was repaired. Most of the floor was replaced with pine boards of random length for a sense of authenticity. New pews were added. Plaster was stripped from interior walls, revealing an inner layer of stone. And new, donated stained glass windows were installed.
Maude McDowell of Mt. Lebanon has attended almost all the church’s ecumenical services.
“It’s one of Pittsburgh’s best hidden treasures,” she said. McDowell is an original board member at the church, and a former wedding consultant who helped to coordinate more than 330 weddings there.
The Easter service should last about an hour. Speakers include the Rev. Dr. H. Pat Albright, former pastor of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church, and the Rev. Dr. John Yohe, former pastor at the Chartiers Valley United Presbyterian Church.
David Frankowski, dressed in Revolutionary War garb, will read scripture, and Davies will dress as a clergyman would have in the 1790s.
Musicians for the service include Thomas Thompson, a Pittsburgh Symphony clarinetist, and his daughter, Alexandra, who plays the cello.
Someone also will play the church’s Joseph Harvey pipe organ, a rare English cabinet instrument that dates to 1823. Trinity Episcopal Church, Downtown, gave the organ to St. Luke’s as a gift in 1852.
Davies said the classic organ was the first one brought over the Allegheny Mountains, and arrived via mule pack.
If you go
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Etna landmark receives needed renovations
By Tawnya Panizzi
Staff writer
Thursday, December 6, 2001ETNA: The bright red door at Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church acts as a welcome sign to residents here.
At least that is the feeling its pastor, the Rev. Cynthia Jackson ,is hoping to create with the paint job and other renovations taking place at the 92-year old church.
The church was granted $3,000 from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation to restore it’s century-old stonework. But the money, according to Jackson, will help refresh more than gritty stone and chipped paint.
It will help solidify the splendid stone building, constructed in 1909, as one of the borough’s oldest treasures and perhaps attract a larger congregation.
The church is a vital presence in the community, but not solely because of its ministries. The congregation totals about 60 members.
“The building houses the services that are much needed in this community,” Jackson said.
Often, residents don’t relate the church with some of the many services located inside, Jackson said. If the building were to crumble, it would eliminate a home for the Girl Scouts, Homework Helper and an Allegheny County elections polling site. The Bread of Life food pantry, which serves 100 families each month, also is located there.
Representatives from the landmarks foundation granted the maximum allowance of $3,000 because Jackson showed that it is integral to town.
“We have a smaller congregation, but we are reaching into the community in many ways,” Jackson said.
Just this summer, the church hosted a reading program for 17 children. Sixteen of them received $270 scholarships through the church to participate. Two days each week, an employment specialist visits the food pantry to advise residents on job opportunities. Jackson is trying to arrange for GED classes at the building.
“We provide services for people of all ages,” Jackson said. “We hope to be able to have more soon.”
The renovation work, while costly, may go unnoticed by some of the congregation. The bulk of the work included repointing the stone, a job that works to salvage the structure of a building. The repointing has stopped leaking on the church’s interior. Plaster work is next, Jackson said.
“You may not be able to tell real well, but there aren’t big gaping holes in the mortar anymore,” she said.
Now in its fifth year, the program has distributed more than $65,000 to churches in Allegheny County. The money, given to sites at least 50 years old, was made available through year-end gifts made by Landmarks members and trustees. Eligibility depends on the architectural significance of each building, as well as community outreach.
A panel of historians and the History and Landmarks staff review more than 40 applicants each year, largely to determine if the building is worth saving. Money doled out must be used for construction work, not operating expenses.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. © Tribune Review
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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.