Category Archive: Religious Properties
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Temple members may face exodus
By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, December 23, 2005Sitting at center ice of the Penguins’ proposed new arena, Downtown’s only synagogue shouldn’t have to move for hockey again, Rabbi Stanley Savage says.
Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob congregation has worshipped at the aqua-green building on Colwell Street since 1963, after the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority demolished a Washington Place synagogue for the Civic Arena project.It would be a sin if the city’s oldest Orthodox congregation had to relocate for another arena project, said Savage, who has lived in the temple’s first-floor apartment for 21 years.
The synagogue sits halfway between Centre Avenue and Fifth Avenue, where the Penguins want to place a new arena. A casino likely would be built, at least temporarily, in the Mellon Arena parking lots.
“I don’t want to leave here,” Savage said. “I love this place. I love this congregation. I don’t want them to give this place to a casino.”
Whether that would happen isn’t certain, but the synagogue and several other properties might need to relocate under a $1 billion redevelopment of the Lower Hill District announced Wednesday by the Penguins. The team would partner with Isle of Capri Casinos of Biloxi, Miss., and Nationwide Realty Investors of Columbus, Ohio.
If Isle of Capri can win the city’s casino license, the company would give $290 million for a new arena. But to make room for it and other amenities in the plan, the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority — which owns Mellon Arena — might need to obtain a row of privately held properties along Fifth Avenue.
The site includes the synagogue, law offices, a barbecue restaurant, a clothing store, and a few vacant buildings among the surface parking lots.
The synagogue is a “small gem,” said Nick Lane, an amateur Pittsburgh Jewish historian who leads bus tours around the city. It’s the last of more than 20 synagogues once located throughout the Hill District.
Organized in 1873, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob is the city’s oldest Orthodox congregation — but it’s also somewhat of an anomaly. Few Jews remain in the Hill District, and most of the 75 members drive to the synagogue on the Sabbath, in violation of Orthodox rules. The synagogue locks its parking lot on the Sabbath; members park on surrounding streets.
Mellon Arena — then the Civic Arena — was the “nail in the coffin” for the Hill District’s Jewish community, Lane said. Although the congregation has moved more than once, he wonders whether it could withstand another move.
“It is, in a funny kind of way, reiterating the mistake made when the Civic Arena went in,” he said. “You demolish something of value and replace it with something that has a much shorter lifespan of its own. Look at the Civic Arena and all the things destroyed to make it happen.”
It would be up to the SEA to obtain the land for the arena and to decide whether to use eminent domain, said David Morehouse, the Penguins’ senior consultant. The arena could be moved to another site on land that the SEA already owns, he said, or the agency could develop land around the synagogue.
“But that would significantly impact the overall development,” Morehouse said.
SEA officials could not be reached for comment.
Separately, the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation determined yesterday that the 44-year-old Mellon Arena is six years too young to qualify for federal, state or city historic designation, said Al Tannler, a research historian.
The Penguins’ proposal also could include buying a former school building and other property around Epiphany Church, Uptown.
“The Pittsburgh Penguins have not talked to the diocese for a few years now,” said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. “We would want to sit down and just talk.”
Not everyone on the Fifth Avenue blocks — and not everyone in the Jewish congregation — opposes the arena project.
Julian Elbling’s family has run a men’s clothing store on Fifth Avenue since 1927. He’s a member of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob congregation. For the right price and a new location nearby, Elbling said, he would move his store.
The synagogue needs to be as willing, he said.
“They have to be flexible and look to the future of the neighborhood here,” Elbling said. “They moved twice before.”
The president of the congregation, Ira Frank, who owns the National Fabrics shop across Fifth Avenue, said he doesn’t want the synagogue to move but would listen to the Penguins’ offer.
The team met with him about three years ago when it first proposed building a new arena on the block. Frank said they have not been in contact or made an offer since.
It would be the congregation’s decision whether to relocate.
“The bottom line is, we’re here, we’re very viable and we plan on existing,” Frank said. “It’s all speculation. Are we willing to listen to them and talk? Absolutely. Are we happy about it? No.”
Savage said he wants to stay. The rabbi sees beauty in the building’s mix of the past and present. Despite its contemporary architecture and stained-glass windows, the synagogue’s ark came from Europe and dates to 1894. Its wooden pews were saved from the Washington Place synagogue.
“How do they want to get rid of this?” Savage said, standing in the main sanctuary. “It’s so beautiful.”
Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835
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Grants help churches restore their beauty
By Violet Law
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 25, 2005Rain no longer trickles down through the roof during worship services at the Pittsburgh New Church in Point Breeze.
New equipment at Zion Christian Church in Carrick allows Spanish-speaking members to understand and take part in worship services.The stained-glass windows that filter light into the sanctuary of Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Oakland have been restored to their former glory.
In its 10th year, a program by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation that offers grants and technical assistance to houses of worship to maintain their facilities has not only helped preserve historically significant architecture in the region but has strengthened congregations that have wrestled with crumbling structures.
More than 130 grants have been awarded to 88 churches in Allegheny County during the past decade.
The program, which includes historic religious properties grants and technical assistance awards, began in 1996 with seed money from the Allegheny Foundation. A survey by the foundation at the time documented more than 6,000 architecturally significant religious structures in the county.
But most couldn’t qualify for any government grants for repairs because of the constitutional separation between church and state.
“The buildings were growing older, and their needs are increasing,” said Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s chief programs officer. She said that through the grant program, “we’ve been able to build the relationships with churches and watch their progress.”
The grants range from $2,000 to $8,000 and require matching donations from the receiving congregations. For those who have been awarded the grants, many repeatedly, these dollars have made a big impact.
When the Bellefield Presbyterian Church board members solicited bids several years ago to repair all of the Oakland church’s stained-glass windows, they found the price tag — roughly $400,000 — staggering.
But after seven grants, which totaled $20,650, the church’s members have mended the 15 windows that surround the sanctuary. They also received professional advice on masonry work on the sandstone facade.
“The most significant for us is that it has enabled us to keep the momentum going,” said Susan Norman, the church’s volunteer treasurer. The matching donation requirement, Norman said, has kept the congregation focused on budgeting the money where it is most needed and helped it chip away at what seems to be a gargantuan project. “It’s a good way to keep it moving along,” she said.
At Zion Christian Church in Carrick, a portion of one of the four grants awarded paid for a translation broadcasting unit, which helps Spanish-speaking members — who account for at least one-fifth of the church’s attendance — to follow the sermons and announcements.
With an $8,000 grant in 2004, the members of Pittsburgh New Church have patched up the long-deteroriating slate roof and don’t have to use buckets to catch the drops from the sanctuary. The new $8,000 grant will help repoint the masonry and fix the steeple.
“Now we can focus on religious and spiritual things,” said Steve David, who heads the church’s maintenance committee. “We’re not as much about the building as we’re about the congregation.”
Violet Law can be reached at vlaw@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7884.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Diocese has faith in preservation spirit
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 3, 2005When the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese agrees to close church buildings, the decision helps keep parishes from being saddled with buildings they can no longer afford to maintain.
But the closing of a church often raises a red flag for people who want to save historically or architecturally significant buildings from the wrecking ball.
In the future, local church officials will collaborate with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to find ways to serve the mission of both organizations.
An agreement announced recently by foundation President Arthur Ziegler Jr. calls for the diocese to give his organization first crack at buying a church that is closed. If the foundation passes on the purchase, it will assist in finding a new use for the building.
The foundation also will provide tax credits and other benefits if a historic designation helps the buyer of a church building adapt it for another use. The diocese also agreed to accept the plaques the Landmarks Foundation places on buildings with historic or architectural significance.
“This agreement is a realization that while we may have different missions, there is a shared goal that we can work together on,” said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese.
“Church buildings are closed for a number of reasons, such as the loss of population we’ve experienced in the region and shifts in where people are living,” Lengwin said. “Our first priority is to serve the needs of people, not put our resources in maintaining buildings we no longer need. At the same time, we are sensitive to the significance of historic religious properties.”
The diocese currently does not plan to close any churches that would be affected by this agreement, said Lengwin, who will serve as a consultant on the planning committee when the National Trust for Historic Preservation has its annual conference in Pittsburgh next year. Lengwin is expected to participate in a session on the challenges of reusing historic religious properties during that conference.
For its part, the Landmarks Foundation will agree not to nominate buildings owned by the diocese to either the National Register or the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission without the church’s consent.
In 2001, preservationists essentially prevented the diocese from selling St. Nicholas Church along Route 28 in the North Side to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a highway-widening project by securing a historic designation from the city.
St. Nicholas, home to the first Croatian parish in the United States, was closed last year. The diocese is working with Croatian fraternal organizations to possibly use the building or convert the former church into a shrine. PennDOT has altered its design for Route 28 to avoid the need to raze the church.
In 2003, the diocese successfully lobbied the city to exclude all active churches from being nominated as historic structures by anyone except the owner. The change, however, does not apply to church buildings that are closed.
Being placed on the National Register affects the alterations the owner of a property can make to the exterior of a building when federal funding is involved.
But the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission must approve all exterior changes to city-designated historic buildings and buildings located in one of a dozen city historic districts. The agreement between the Landmarks Foundation and the diocese does not prevent another preservation group or an individual from nominating a closed church building.
Ziegler praised the pact, saying it could serve as a model for historic preservation of religious buildings in other cities.
“This is perhaps the only such agreement between preservationists and the Roman Catholic Church, and we are pleased to have been part of it,” Ziegler said.
Collaborations between churches and historic preservationists are rare, said Jeannie McPherson, spokeswoman for the National Historic Trust.
“What’s happening in Pittsburgh is encouraging because many urban houses of worship are at risk around the country,” McPherson said. “It is important that we find ways to preserve these buildings, which, in addition to their architectural beauty, often are the anchors to a neighborhood. The way to make sure they are saved is for groups to work together.”
Tony LaRussa can be reached at tlarussa@tribweb.com or .
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Accord reached on old churches, ‘Sensitive’ reuse of buildings sought
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, October 01, 2005When the Church Brew Works opened in the former St. John the Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese officials were not happy to see gleaming steel and copper brew tanks on the site of the former altar and patrons sipping beers under religious-themed windows.
Now a new, informal partnership between the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and the diocese aims to encourage a more sensitive reuse of religious buildings. It may be the first such agreement of its kind.
The two organizations, which traditionally have found themselves on opposite sides of historic preservation battles, have agreed to work together on the sale and reuse of churches, rectories, convents, schools and other buildings owned by the diocese.
Sealed with a handshake, it’s only a gentlemen’s agreement, but one that could have a significant impact on the future of religious buildings in Allegheny County.
“It’s two people who trust one another and respect one another, which is the way I think agreements used to be made,” said diocesan spokesman the Rev. Ron Lengwin, who entered the agreement with Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Landmarks.
Under terms of the partnership, Landmarks will have an opportunity to purchase churches and other buildings the diocese no longer needs.
Although selling to other religious groups is always the first choice, Lengwin said, each case is unique, and Landmarks sometimes may have the first opportunity to purchase a building.
“They are part of the process,” he said.
The preservation group will review the buildings and decide if it has any interest in purchasing them for reuse. If not, it will assist in marketing the buildings and possibly fund adaptive reuse studies, if they are needed.
The agreement has been in the works for several years, said Cathy McCollom, Landmarks’ chief programs officer. In 2002, when the diocese began lobbying City Council for legislation stipulating that only the owner of a religious building could nominate it for city historic designation, Landmarks approached the diocese.
“We began talking to Father Lengwin about what could be done to address their concerns and our concerns,” McCollom said.
The legislation, sponsored by then-Councilman Bob O’Connor, passed in 2003.
In the new agreement, Landmarks has pledged not to nominate diocesan buildings to either the National Register of Historic Places or for city historic designation without the consent of the diocese.
“We mentioned it in case the legislation is ever changed,” McCollom said.
The diocese will begin to participate in Landmarks’ Historic Religious Properties Program, which began in 1993 and provides grants and technical assistance for the preservation of religious buildings in Allegheny County.
The diocese also will begin to accept the plaques Landmarks produces to call attention to historic buildings.
If potential buyers are interested in pursuing National Register historic designation and the federal tax credit that comes with it, the diocese will work with Landmarks to seek designation.
The diocese retains the right to remove interior or exterior religious symbols or artwork, including stained glass windows with religious themes, baptismal fonts and statues.
In the case of the St. John the Baptist Church, which closed in 1993 and became the Brew Works, “We were assured that all of the sacred items had been removed” before the sale, Lengwin said. “In fact, that was not true. We learned a good lesson, that we needed to go in and look at the church before it was marketed for sale.”
The facility opened in 1996 as a microbrewery and it maintains a steady clientele.
St. John’s windows are a comfort to some Church Brew Works patrons, said Phillip Moran, who manages the restaurant’s dining room.
“They feel very happy that they can come and see them. It makes them remember their family, because [their ancestors’] names are at the bottom of the windows. And they end up telling you a story about when they came to church or school here, or their family did.”
Lengwin said Landmarks looked at two worship sites in St. John Vianney parish that closed last month, St. Canice Church in Knoxville and St. Henry Church in Arlington.
“These are possibly the first buildings the agreement would have an impact on,” he said. “A developer is looking at those two buildings and they might be sold. I’m not sure what the uses would be, but it’s a developer that we have confidence in.”
In Ambridge, three closed churches “are in various stages of perhaps being sold,” including one to a congregation of another faith, Lengwin said. “Landmarks won’t have an impact there. But there will be other buildings in the future for which we look to this agreement with great hope.”
“This is perhaps the only such agreement between preservationists and the Roman Catholic church,” Ziegler said, “and we are pleased to have been part of it, setting a model for others who are trying to preserve such structures.”
(Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.)
Copyright ©1997-2005 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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St. Paul’s Cathedral prepares for facelift
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW REAL ESTATE WRITER
Saturday, September 10, 2005On the threshold of its 100th birthday, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oakland is due for a major restoration.
The landmark church building, located along Fifth Avenue on a block bordered by North Craig and North Dithridge streets, is to undergo a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation expected to be completed in time for its anniversary celebration in October 2006.“This is the mother church for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, and hopefully this work will help preserve its legacy for hundreds of years to come,” said the Rev. Donald P. Breier, rector and pastor.
“This has to be done to preserve the structural integrity of the building as a safety factor, not only for those who worship at the cathedral, but for people passing by.”
A Sunday church bulletin for St. Paul’s approximately 1,700 member families explained the work will include reinforcing the two front towers of the Flemish Gothic style cathedral with new steel interior girders, rebuilding four side towers and repairing or replacing exterior stonework.
In addition, the entire building will be re-pointed and cleaned.
Breier said he hopes the work will begin in October and be complete within seven months.
Normal church operations won’t be affected, he said.
Preliminary cost estimates for the project range from $5 million to $10 million, but aren’t final, he said.
A planned fundraising campaign is temporarily on hold because of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast.
“Funding will be delayed for a time so that people’s focus can be on the tremendous need for hurricane victims,” Breier said.
Cathy McCollom, program officer for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said the foundation designated the cathedral a historic landmark in 1975.
“The twin spires of St. Paul’s Cathedral are prominent, familiar objects on the Oakland skyline, establishing the eastern part of the neighborhood,” McCollom said.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Route 28 redesign relies on railroad
By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 27, 2005Norfolk Southern Railway Co. is negotiating with PennDOT to provide land for widening Route 28 in Pittsburgh, which could speed commute times and possibly spare the vacant St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church.
Only a sidewalk separates St. Nicholas — the nation’s first Croatian Catholic church — from the busy highway, which PennDOT plans to rebuild from Millvale to the North Side in 2008. The project, previously estimated to cost up to $200 million, would add shoulders to the narrow highway and eliminate traffic signals at the 31st and 40th Street bridges that cause traffic tie-ups.
“It’s bits and pieces of other designs,” said Cheryl Moon-Sirianni, PennDOT’s assistant district executive for design. “We’re trying to please all of the stakeholders, and we think this alignment will please most of the traveling public, property owners and community groups.”
PennDOT would not divulge more details of its plan, but said it would reveal the design this summer, likely in July.
“We don’t want to go out to the public until we know what the railroad says,” Moon-Sirianni said. “Once we hear back from the railroad, we’ll have a better sense of where we’re going.”
Railway spokeswoman Susan Terpay declined to discuss details of the proposal because it involved a possible real estate transaction. “We continue to have ongoing negotiations with them, and we are reviewing the first draft of their proposed plans,” she said.
There’s just one hitch that has former St. Nicholas parishioners concerned: The project would close the church’s driveway from Route 28 and, so far, the new design does not provide for a replacement.
Members of the Preserve Croatian Heritage Foundation, which wants to preserve and reopen the church, lobbied PennDOT a week ago to build a new access road. They fear the absence of a new road in the design means PennDOT might use the church property, especially if talks with the railroad fall through.
“It’s essential that the access road go in,” said Robert Sladack, of Reserve, who belongs to the group. “On the more recent preliminary design, it was not listed.”
PennDOT has not ruled out building the access road, which could be added in later versions of the design, said Moon-Sirianni.
“Nothing’s been decided,” she said. “Everything is still on the table.”
Rebuilding Route 28, which is used by about 60,000 drivers each day, became an engineering nightmare in the last several years. Most problems are linked to the highway’s narrow path in the city. Numerous buildings, including the church and the Millvale Industrial Park, line one side of Route 28, while the railroad tracks border the other side. Behind the row of buildings is a steep hillside climbing up to Troy Hill.
In order for the new Route 28 to carry high-speed traffic through the city the way the Parkways North and East do, PennDOT must build shoulders on both sides to improve safety. Adding the shoulders likely would increase speed limits to 50-55 mph, from 35-40 mph.
PennDOT’s initial plan called for leveling the church to make enough room for a faster, four-lane highway. Churchgoers and preservationist groups objected and PennDOT decided to find alternatives.
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh closed the church in December and moved the parish to a Millvale church, but formed a group to research other possible uses, said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, a diocesan spokesman. The diocese advanced $50,000 to St. Nicholas parish to repair a broken boiler so it could heat the empty building during the winter and avoid damage such as frozen pipes.
PennDOT’s last round of proposals included tall retaining walls along the highway. Groups such as the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and the Riverlife Task Force objected, and the transportation department again chose to find a new plan.
“We were concerned, as was Riverlife, about an 80-foot retaining wall,” said Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s chief programs officer.
Until now, PennDOT and the railroad were unable to agree on a plan that would use railway property. That changed after the proposal of a state law that would have allowed Allegheny County government to take railroad property through eminent domain.
“In the course of introducing the legislation, I found it was not necessary to push the movement of the bill because Norfolk Southern became amenable to working with PennDOT,” said state Rep. Don Walko, a North Side Democrat. “Suddenly, things just seemed to open up.”
Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7933.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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South Side church becomes restaurant
By Johnna A. Pro,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, April 14, 2005The historic Cleaves Temple on the South Side had been left to deteriorate in recent years, its stained glass windows covered in grime, its majestic columns and dome towers marred by the hands of vandals and Mother Nature.It was little more than a crumbling eyesore on Carson Street between 10th and 11th streets, a fate hardly befitting a building that served as a place of Christian worship for nearly 100 years.
Since January, though, contractors and artisans working for developer and restaurateur Clint Pohl have worked painstakingly to recapture the building’s past while readying it for a future as a restaurant, the Halo Cafe, much to the delight of the city’s historical preservationists.
“It’s going to be fabulous,” said Maria Burgwin of the city’s Historic Preservation office, which approved the renovation plans in the fall. “We hate to see vacant buildings in historic districts.”
The project is the second one undertaken by Pohl, who spearheaded the renovation of the St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in the Strip District, turning it into Sanctuary, a nightclub.
While records about Cleaves Temple are sometimes sketchy, the building was constructed in 1913 by J.O. Keller at the behest of a congregation of Ukrainian Presbyterians formed several years earlier. At the time, the two existing churches that served the large Ukrainian population living on the South Side were Byzantine Catholic churches.
The newly formed congregation found a patron in a wealthy woman named Mrs. William McKelvey of East Liberty Presbyterian Church. She donated the money to construct the church, a building with an exterior reminiscent of an ornate Eastern European church and an interior reflecting a classic Calvanist tradition. On the outside, the red-brick facade featured an entrance reminiscent of a Greek Temple with a wide staircase leading from the sidewalks and four massive columns supporting a triangular gable. On either side of the building were twin hexagonal towers capped at some point by Byzantine onion domes, each topped with a traditional Orthodox three-bar cross. Stained glass windows adorn the building.
Inside, rich woodwork, clean lines and simple frescoes were the church’s hallmarks.
The church was initially called the First Ruthenian Church. In 1949, that congregation merged with South Side Presbyterian, which today remains one of the most vibrant churches in the neighborhood.
Some historians have written that the building’s onion domes were added in its early history and it was used as a Greek Catholic Church, although none of the experts cite a specific reason for that conclusion.
What is certain is that by the 1950s, members of the South Side Christian Methodist Episcopal Conference owned the building and had renamed it Cleaves Temple CME Church. It would remain an active congregation through the turn of the century until the building was put on the market.
Enter Pohl — owner of Andora restaurant in Ohio Township — who was looking to do a project on the South Side. While much development in the neighborhood is occurring on the far end of Carson Street at the South Side Works, Pohl was drawn to blocks near the 10th Street Bridge, where an eclectic array of businesses are.
While he wasn’t looking for a church in particular, Cleaves Temple caught his eye.
“I was looking for a real estate investment and it happened to be a church. It’s good architecture and it’s inexpensive,” said Pohl, who paid $135,000 for the property, but will invest 10 times as much on the renovations. He also will provide parking at a lot less than a block away.
“I see this as the entrance to the South Side,” Pohl said.
He enlisted the design help of architect Felix G. Fukui of Fukui Architects, who also helped to create Sanctuary.
“Structurally, it’s great,” Fukui said. “The challenge is to marry the new and the old. To tie the rhythm and the form of the church together with the modern design.”
In this case, that means restoring stained glass, bringing the woodwork back to it original luster, using the former balcony space for seating and designing lighting so that it fits with the interior space.
Because the building sits back from the street, Fukui has redesigned the entrance so that a center staircase will lead from street level down to a lower level lounge. Two other staircases will sweep from street level up either side to the portico and the restaurant’s main entrance.
The restaurant, expected to open in early June, will feature intimate booths and table seating surrounding a main bar. The separate spaces are meant to provide patrons privacy while allowing them to be part of the activity. Additional dining space will be in the former balcony.
Jeff and Laura Mae Greene of Greene Glass in Sharon have overseen the restoration of the two dozen stained glass windows.
“I just loved the building from the first time I saw it,” Jeff Greene said. “I just was fascinated with the idea of fixing a building like that up.”
The stained glass was less damaged than it appeared, Greene said.
“In the scale of what we have seen over the years, it was in pretty good shape. To the untrained eye, it can often look pretty bad. It was not in disastrous condition. The painting is beautiful, well done, and the colors are fantastic. The bulk of the effort was just cleaning them.”
Louise Sturgess of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation said that one of the reasons the South Side remains a vibrant neighborhood is because so many of its former churches have found new uses.
Cleaves Temple, while not one of the largest, has always attracted attention because of its charm.
“It’s been scaled to fit right in that block of workers rowhouses,” Burgess said. “It should be grander but humbly fits in there with the streetscape. When you think about the scale of things it takes you by surprise to see this ethnic church.
“I think it’s great that it’s being reused. We’re all for imaginative reuses as long as the historical integrity is retained. It’s wonderful how generally on the South Side, historic churches have been treasured, given a new life and a new use. They create a quality of life that wouldn’t exist without them. They help people feel connected to the story of a neighborhood’s history.”
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Landmarks Awards $70,000 to 11 Historic Religious Properties
Trustee George Dorman chairs Landmarks’ Historic Religious Properties Committee that oversees a program of financial and technical assistance to churches and synagogues in Allegheny County that have viable congregations and provide social services in their communities. By the end of 2004, we announced grants totaling $70,000 to eleven historic churches:
Bellefield Presbyterian Church (Oakland)
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (Squirrel Hill)
First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh (Oakland)
First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (Shadyside)
Hawthorne Avenue Presbyterian Church (Crafton)
Mulberry Presbyterian Church (Wilkinsburg)
The Pittsburgh New Church (Homewood)
Presbyterian Church of Mount Washington
St. Andrew Lutheran Church (Shadyside)
St. Thomas Memorial Episcopal Church (Oakmont)
Zion Christian Church (Carrick)
Grant funds support architectural restoration projects and are matched
by each congregation. In addition, the following churches will receive technical assistance from Landmarks:
Clark Memorial Baptist Church (Homestead)
First United Presbyterian Church (Crafton Heights)
Emsworth United Presbyterian Church
Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church (Carnegie)
Risen Lord Church (North Side)
Landmarks’ Historic Religious Properties Program is funded through year-end gifts from its members; through grants from private foundations, including in 2004 the Anne L. and George H. Clapp Charitable and Educational Trust, the Forbes Funds, the Milton G. Hulme Charitable Foundation, and the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation; and through general funds budgeted by Landmarks.