Category Archive: Threatened Historic Resources
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Vacant North Side church may find new life
By Jim Ritchie
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 25, 2008The North Side church nearly sold to a Manhattan developer and twice threatened with demolition has another chance at salvation.Talks began this month over whether the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh would sell the vacant St. Nicholas Church to a Croatian group that wants to preserve the 108-year-old building. It housed the first Croatian ethnic parish in the United States.Diocesan officials “encouraged” the Croatian American Cultural and Economic Alliance, based in Scott, to submit a proposal to buy the building with the intent of making it a museum and not to revive it as a church, according to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which spoke with the diocese on the matter.
The building along Route 28 closed in December 2004 and the parish was merged with a sister parish, also called St. Nicholas, in Millvale.
The diocese raised concerns that the space would be rented for special events where alcohol could be served, the foundation said.Former parishioners are hopeful they will buy the building but realize it would not return as a functioning part of the diocese.
“The church itself, as a Catholic Church, is not going to come back,” said Robert Sladack, a former parishioner from Reserve.
Selling to the Croatian group was not the first choice of the diocese. It chose not to accept the group’s initial offer in 2005 of $250,000. It then negotiated with a Manhattan developer, the Follieri Group.
Follieri proposed redeveloping it and several other vacant Catholic buildings in the region. Negotiations fell apart in the fall after an unrelated legal battle involving Follieri publicly unfolded.
The Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese, referred questions to the Rev. Larry Smith, pastor of the St. Nicholas parish. Smith did not return messages seeking comment.
Messages seeking comment from Marion Vujevich, who represents the Croatian group, were not returned. Vujevich, of Mt. Lebanon, is one of five honorary consuls for Croatia based in the United States, making him a top-ranking representative recognized by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the United States.
Pittsburgh has a strong Croatian presence. The Croatian Fraternal Union in Monroeville is the largest Croatian organization outside of Croatia.
St. Nicholas’ recent history has been controversial.
PennDOT initially called for the building to be razed or moved when it designed the reconstruction of East Ohio Street. Outcry from parishioners and historic preservation groups caused PennDOT to modify its plans, ultimately sparing the building.
The building faced a similar threat in 1920 when the city decided to widen East Ohio Street and called on building owners to relocate or move their buildings. The parish opted to move the church, by lifting it on jacks, about 20 feet back to accommodate the road, according to the diocese.
Jim Ritchie can be reached at jritchie@tribweb.com or 412-320-7933.
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Owners’ fear: Razing houses will bring down theirs too
Monday, March 10, 2008
By Diana Nelson Jones,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe estate of her dead neighbor owns the condemned vacant row house beside Cynthia Powell’s home on Chateau Street. Its facade is strenuously bowing and trying to persuade hers to come with it.
No contractor has been willing to touch the offending building, and Ms. Powell says she can’t afford the loan she needs to stabilize her house against it. So her house has been condemned, too.
This has been a three-year spiral for Ms. Powell, whose Manchester neighborhood has many pending dates with the wrecking ball. Of the 25 demolitions the city has asked the Historic Review Commission to approve since October 2006, 21 have been in that neighborhood. It’s the only entire neighborhood to have city historic designation, but that status is in danger; less and less density would eventually alter the boundary.
“Once you lose too many, then you have to question: What’s the value of an historic district?” said Tom Hardy, executive director of the Manchester Citizens Corp. The nonprofit development group counted 103 vacant properties — about 20 percent of the neighborhood — in a 2005 inventory and recommended 100 be renovated, he said. Some have been razed, either for safety reasons or because the properties were not feasible fixes, and more are slated for demolition.
“The challenge is,” said Mr. Hardy, “which ones will you be successful at turning around considering realistic market forces?”
Manchester’s story today is a tale of two neighborhoods: the one that tour buses drive through slowly so people can admire the Victorian architecture, and the other of dumb, hollow hulks, their balconies and porches sagging, the definition of their brickwork vague, as if they are literally fading away.
The dual identity coexists side by side in places, and that’s an untenable situation for Ms. Powell, whose house is a party-wall domino trying to remain standing. For Duane Hill, the decrepitude adjacent to his home on Sheffield Street is outrunning his efforts to renovate.
The Historic Review Commission provides oversight for changes to properties in the city’s 12 historic districts and advocates for the life of those properties. It almost never hears opposition to demolition applications, but last week, Ms. Powell and Mr. Hill showed up to fight.
Dan Cipriani, acting chief of the Bureau of Building Inspections, said that, of the 200 buildings the city razes each year, almost all go down without a champion. The owners either want them down or they belong to people who can’t be found or are dead.
Mr. Hill lives beside a property he had been trying to shore up when the city condemned it.
“I was working on it when one wall started to bow,” he told the commission. “I have a contractor who is going to take on the job. If I could get you some information to show you we are going to fix it, could you please not tear it down? We’re going to start working on it soon, as soon as the weather breaks.”
“We’re glad to hear that,” said the commission’s chairman, Michael Stern, referring to any plan to redeem a building. “Usually, we’re up here just voting on demolitions.”
Commissioners denied the city its demolition of Mr. Hill’s property but with a stipulation — that a building permit be in place within two months.
For Ms. Powell, the outlook isn’t as rosy.
“We were trying to tear down 1904 to help her out, so she could fix her wall,” Russ Blaich, the Bureau of Building Inspection’s demolitions inspector, told the commission. “But the contractor who got the bid was afraid the bricks would blow.”
Mr. Cipriani said the building beside Ms. Powell’s was approved for demolition last year, but the demolition contractor “found that anything he would do would have an adverse effect on Ms. Powell’s house.”
“I moved out,” Ms. Powell told the commission. “I pay my taxes like anyone else, and I am not behind on my water bill. I want to keep my house.”
“Russ thinks there’s a public safety hazard,” said Mr. Stern.
“Rock and a hard place,” Mr. Blaich said sympathetically.
“I’m not going to tear my house down,” Ms. Powell said.
“I know they have a limited budget,” said Mr. Stern, “but maybe we could try to talk to Manchester Citizens Corp. and maybe [Pittsburgh] History & Landmarks [Foundation] to see if they could help. What about if we’d ask them to consider funding or working with you on this?”
“Whatever it takes,” said Ms. Powell.
Katherine Molnar, the city’s preservation planner, said she will talk to Manchester Citizens and the foundation but is “unaware of the various options and possibilities that might assist Ms. Powell.”
“Ms. Powell did indicate a willingness to repair her own building if the neighboring structure was shored up first. I feel hopeful that these two structures will persevere,” Ms. Molnar said.
Mr. Cipriani said the lamentable fact is that a delay of demolition usually just means further debilitation. In most cases, he said, “any of this should have been done 10 years ago.”
Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.
First published on March 10, 2008 at 12:00 am -
St. Nicholas North Side
PHLF News
March 7, 2008St Nicholas Church on East Ohio Street was closed several years ago by the Roman Catholic Diocese and merged with St. Nicholas Millvale.
A group envisioned saving the church and using it as a Croatian Heritage Museum, a goal that we were glad to see set forth. Unfortunately no agreement could be reached and the Follier group from Italy, indicated that it wanted to buy the church property.
However, that group is not going forward with its plan, and PHLF contacted the Diocese at the request of the Croatian Heritage Group to see if it could be for sale again for that purpose.
The Diocese encouraged a proposal to purchase the building for a Museum, but not for church purposes, particularly if the space is also rented for special events where alcohol might be sold.
We hope that the group can consider the Museum and events purposes only so that the buildings and its marvelous interiors can be saved and continue in a public use.
PHLF, the Croatian organization leaders, Preservation Pittsburgh and others participated in the efforts to redesign the proposed Rt. 28 Expressway so that the church could be saved and would have a private entrance road to it.
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Worrisome in Manchester
PHLF News
March 7, 2008City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Building Inspection continues to list deteriorated, but architecturally valuable houses in Manchester for demolition.
If these houses are lost, the magic of historic Manchester will be forfeited and can never be recovered. It is the architectural continuity of Manchester that makes it such an attractive place to live.
We are working with the City and the Manchester Citizens Corporation to try to develop ways to keep these buildings, and we seek new owners for them.
Cost of acquisitions are low; call Tom Hardy at Manchester Citizens Corporation: 412/323-1743.
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Black leaders seek delay in Schenley decision
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 27, 2008A group of black community leaders is urging the city school board tonight to postpone or vote against a proposal to move students from Schenley High School in Oakland.
In a letter dated today to board members, the Black Political Empowerment Project or B-PEP urged the board to reconsider Superintendent Mark Roosevelt’s proposed closing of Schenley. Roosevelt wants to close the school because of the estimated $64.3 million cost of removing asbestos and upgrading the building.
Under Roosevelt’s plan, to be voted on today, the district would close Schenley and move students this fall while it decides whether to shut the school down permanently or renovate it. As a result, the board is considering the following actions:
* Relocating Schenley students who would be in grades 10 through 12 to now-closed Reizenstein in East Liberty; * Shifting 174 students in the robotics technology program at Schenley to Peabody High School in East Liberty: and * Sending ninth graders who live in Schenley’s feeder pattern to a proposed University Prep School at Milliones in the Hill District.
B-PEP Chairman Tim Stevens recommended hold off on moving the Schenley students until the district develops a comprehensive approach to meeting the needs of the nine high schools that did not meet federal academic standards.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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North Side groups at odds over former bank’s historic status
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe city planning commission will leave it up to City Council to decide whether a North Side building linked to prominent Chicago architect D.H. Burnham will be preserved or perhaps face the wrecking ball.
In a 3-1 vote with one abstention, the commission decided to take no action on the proposed nomination of the former Workingmen’s Savings Bank on East Ohio Street as a city historic structure after North Side groups and residents offered mixed views of the designation, with some favoring it and some opposed.
A Lawrenceville company, Bentley Commercial, recently purchased the vacant Beaux Arts-style building with the intent to redevelop it. At one point, Bentley stated it had plans to demolish the structure, triggering the nomination to preserve it.
Since then, some North Side neighborhood groups have been working with the developer to try to devise a plan that would preserve the building, built in 1902, while allowing development to proceed.
Some fear the designation, which would protect the building from demolition, could interfere with development.
Pam Minton, vice president of the Deutschtown New Hope Council, said restoration could be extremely expensive. With a historic designation, “I know what will happen, it will just sit there,” she said.
But those who supported the designation said there could be tax credits and other incentives for historic renovation that could lower Bentley’s costs.
Rather than making a recommendation, the commission decided to take no action, meaning it automatically goes to City Council, which will have 90 days to act on the nomination.
In a separate action, the commission did recommend a historic designation for a Homewood house at 7101 Apple St. that once served as headquarters of the National Negro Opera Company.
Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First published on February 27, 2008 at 12:00 am -
Vote on closing Schenley High School delayed
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 21, 2008City schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he delayed a vote on closing Schenley High School to give supporters time to raise money to fix it and to study if it would be cheaper in the long run to repair the structure.
“We think it is indeed worth the time and exploration,” Roosevelt told members of the school board at Wednesday’s agenda review meeting. “It does not imply a decision has been made either way.”
Roosevelt said the district is studying whether it would be more cost-effective to fix Schenley because of its sturdy construction compared to a more recent building that might not last as long.
The Oakland school has 1,086 students and was built in 1916. Roosevelt last year recommended closing Schenley because of the $64.3 million cost of renovating it and removing its asbestos.
The board yesterday discussed his proposal to make a couple of moves he believes necessary whether Schenley is permanently closed or temporarily shut down for repairs.
Those actions, to be voted on Feb. 27, involve moving Schenley students in grades 10 through 12 to Reizenstein in East Liberty in the fall. At the same time, the 174 students in the robotics technology program at Schenley would be relocated to Peabody High School in East Liberty.
Ninth-graders from Schenley’s feeder pattern would go to a University Prep School at Milliones in the Hill District. Eventually Milliones would expand to a grade 6-12 school.
Ninth-graders in the International Baccalaureate and international studies programs, both of which are at Schenley, would go to Frick School in Oakland.
Board member Sherry Hazuda questioned whether it would make more sense to keep Schenley open while fixing it as opposed to shutting it down.
Richard Fellers, chief operations officer, warned that fixing Schenley while leaving part of the school open could endanger students from falling plaster.
“We think it would be cost-effective, faster and removes the health risk” to close the building, he said.
At one point, Roosevelt and board member Mark Brentley became involved in a heated exchange when Brentley criticized the move of black students from the Hill District to Milliones.
“We take very seriously our obligation to better serve kids that the data tell us are not doing well off,” Roosevelt said.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or 412-320-7828.
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Preservationist seeks delay in sale of land for library
Thursday, December 27, 2007
By Rich Lord,
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA historic preservationist yesterday asked Pittsburgh City Council to withhold approval of a land sale that would allow the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to move its Allegheny Regional branch, warning that he and others may sue.
David Tessitor argued in a letter to Council President Doug Shields that because the old library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, federal and state law demand that a study be done before it is altered.
He said he and others will “pursue legal remedies” should council approve the sale of a Central North Side plot to the library system without analysis of alternatives. The sale is on the agenda for council’s meeting today, and if not aproved would need to be reintroduced next year.
The Allegheny Regional branch in Allegheny Center was damaged by lightning in April 2006, and has been closed ever since. The library system wants to move it to the corner of Federal and Parkhurst streets, near the Federal North development.
“The longer the process goes on, the longer there isn’t library service,” said Suzanne Thinnes, communications manager for the library system. There is paperwork to be done even after the city approves the sale of the plot, now owned by its Urban Redevelopment Authority. “Barring any complications, or any unforeseen circumstances, the groundbreaking will occur in April.”
The old library, though repaired since the lightning strike, is inconvenient and inefficient, the library system has argued. It is now being used to house rare books and artifacts, and Ms. Thinnes said no decision has been made regarding its future. It is owned by the city.
“I guess we would all like to see the library stay in the library,” said Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. At the same time, he added, “We have to be sympathetic to the library’s economic situation. … I wish we had time to get to a global solution.”
Mr. Tessitor, of Allegheny West, and other activists engineered a Dec. 18 public hearing on the library’s fate. “That’s important to the federal courts, that you’ve done everything you can” before suing, he said.
Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.