Category Archive: Threatened Historic Resources
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Historic Brentwood restaurant to be razed
By Genea Webb
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 6, 2007The borough of Brentwood will be losing a vital piece of its history this fall.
The Point View Restaurant, formerly the Point View Hotel, on Brownsville Road, will be razed to make way for a three-story medical building to be occupied by Brentwood Medical Group.According to former Brentwood Councilman Ed Haney, the building, which originally was an inn built in 1832, served as a stop for former Presidents Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor and James Buchanan. The Point View was a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves escaping to Canada.
“The floor of the basement was dirt. There was a tunnel that led under Brownsville Road,” said Lions Club Secretary, Mary Cavataio.
Dr. Dushan Majkic, one of the partners of Brentwood Medical Group, said the newly built facility would help the group of doctors serve the community better.
“It’ll be a positive thing for Brentwood. We have lots of positive things to offer to the community and we’re very excited to offer full medical services to the community,” Majkic said.Council Vice President Jay Lieb agreed.
“I think any new construction is good for the community and the location for the medical building is ideal,” Lieb said.
Majkic and his partners plan to sale the existing medical building at 3028 Brownsville Road.
A plaque signifying the importance of the Point View will be erected somewhere on the site of the new medical building. Demolition of the Point View will occur some time this fall. Construction of the medical building is expected to take six to eight months.
The group held its meetings in the Point View until it closed last year.
“We were very happy there and everyone felt comfortable there,” said Cavataio, whose group held its meetings at the Point View until it closed last year. “We used to have our annual Mother’s Day breakfast there.”
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Many twists and turns for East plans in last three years
By Peggy Conrad,
Staff Writer
Woodland Progress
Wednesday, August 22, 2007By the end of this month or early in September, East Junior High School in Turtle Creek could be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It’s an excellent designation, an excellent honor,” says Ron Yochum, chief information officer of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
He hired a specialist in the field, Laura Ricketts, to research and document the history of the building and submit the proposal, which is “a very, very complicated process,” according to Yochum.
In March, the commission voted unanimously to nominate the structure to the National Register. The National Park Service requested some additional details, which Ricketts submitted with the nomination on July 16.
“We’re hopeful the National Park Service will agree with us, as well as with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,” Yochum says.
A decision could be made in the next couple of weeks, as the approval process takes about 45 days to complete. The designation would provide protection for the structure if any federally funded project were threatening the building.The school board voted to begin the process of closing East earlier this year and is scheduled to make a final decision in October. Generations of area residents have attended the school, and many are anxious to see what will become of it.
The first cornerstone for the building was laid in 1917. The school opened in 1918 and the first class graduated in 1919.
In 1939, an addition to house the gym and additional classrooms was built by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency that provided jobs during the Great Depression. A plaque stating the details of the addition is housed, but not currently mounted, at the school.
Originally Union High, the institution was the first joint high school in Pennsylvania, combining Turtle Creek, Wilmerding and East Pittsburgh high schools, according to Bob Mock, head of Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School.
The building became Turtle Creek High, then East Junior High after the merger that formed Woodland Hills School District.
“To remove such a wonderful landmark in the community would be tragic,” says Yochum. “I think it’s an asset for the community that should be preserved.”
If it achieves historic status and a project threatens the building, the case would go into an automatic review process, he says. If the district were to renovate the building, it would not be a problem, unless the renovation would affect the facade.
“I’m sure the community would not be happy with that.” Yochum, whose agency has been offering assistance to Committee to Save Turtle Creek High School, could not be more correct in that assessment.
About two and a half years ago, the group of Turtle Creek residents came together to protest the district’s plans to demolish the building and construct a new junior high school on the same spot.
“Had they done that, knowing what we know now, what a big mistake they would have made,” says Mock, who rallied his neighbors to join the cause.
A national preservationist who attended a town meeting in Turtle Creek in 2005 in support of preserving the school said the structure was a “slam dunk” for the National Register.
“It sailed right through at the state level,” says Mock, a 1968 alumnus of the high school. “This is a positive for our community and a positive for the school district.”
The past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for anyone invested in the future of East. A brief outline follows:
- August 2004 — HHSDR Architects presented preliminary plans for renovation and for new construction. The architects did three to four variations on plans for a new building in the months that followed.
- January 2005 — Hundreds of residents turned out for a town meeting held by the board to voice their opinions on proposed renovation plans for several district buildings. Options for East included the possibility of relocating the school.
- April 2005 — Survey companies were authorized to begin surveying the property at East in preparation for renovation or reconstruction.
- November 2005 — The school board voted in favor of borrowing approximately $30 million to fund the proposed building of a new East Junior High and renovations of the Wolvarena and high school soccer stadium. The district scheduled groundbreaking for the new school building in the summer of 2006.
- November 2005 — A town meeting organized by Commit-tee to Save Turtle Creek High School overflowed with outraged residents who wanted the building to be preserved.
- December 2005 — The board directed HHSDR to de-velop further renovation plans following objections by residents to the planned demolition and rebuilding of the school. Construction costs increased to estimates of $20,641,170 for renovation and $20,329,874 for new construction.
- Initial plans called for putting an addition on the front of the building, but the committee requested the facade not be altered. The administration said keeping the exact shell of a renovated building would increase the cost.
- February 2006 — The board decided to not vote on whether to rebuild or renovate the school until it received more public input on the issue. The district sought residents from all its communities to serve on an ad hoc committee to study the proposed renovation / construction plans.
- May 2006 — After meeting for two months, the committee recommended the district create detailed and comparable design plans, one each for a renovated and new structure, and that the board commit to the least expensive option. Be-cause of a lack of support among members, the board voted to not follow the recommendation and to no longer pursue constructing a new building, but to have renovation plans developed in more detail.
- June 2006 — HHSDR presented an update on work needed immediately at East and asked for direction. Cost of the urgent “A-list” items was $500,000 to $750,000.
- A “B-list” of needed but not urgent items would have cost about $5 million. Following discussion, it was clear the board would not reach a consensus, so the architects were asked to return at a meeting on June 28.
- There was no discussion regarding renovation at that meeting because the board had not had adequate time to meet with the architects and make a decision.
- October 2006 — The superintendent announced the district would consider closing East and two other schools due to declining enrollment.
- Superintendent Roslynne Wilson recommended, as part of the Next Quarter Century Plan, closing Rankin Intermediate, Shaffer Primary and East, as they had the biggest enrollment declines. The proposal was based, in part, on state Act 1, which limits how much districts can hike taxes. The closing of East would save more than $800,000 a year.
- December 2006 — Parents voiced concerns at a public hearing on the plan to consolidate schools. Several board members were concerned that the proposal would have a negative impact.
- January 2007 — All who spoke at a second public hearing were opposed to the consolidation plan. At its next meeting, the board listened to residents and voted down the superintendent’s plan as well as a counterproposal to close East in 2008.
- March 2007 — The board voted to begin the process of closing East and consolidating all seventh- and eighth-graders at West Junior High in 2008-09.
- The Swissvale school, to be renamed Woodland Hills Mid-dle School, would have to be renovated at a cost about $5 million and would have about 740 students in the first year.
- July 2007 — The board held a public hearing on the possible closing of East. Res-idents were opposed to closing the building without a definite plan in place on its future use.
Several options were discussed, including moving ad-ministration offices to the school, turning the building into a creative and performing arts high school for the district and turning it into a charter high school.
Wilson said the process to close the school will include formation of an ad hoc committee that will be asked to report to the board on Oct. 3. The board expects to vote to close the school on Oct. 10.
“It’s been a long saga with a lot of twists and turns,” says Mock, who believes East deserves historic designation for many reasons. The white brick structure was built in the neo-classical style as part of a “City Beautiful” campaign designed to uplift communities in the early 1900s, he says.
“There’s a lot of history here.”
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Brentwood’s Point View won’t be saved – Final OK Given to Tear It Down
By Erin Gibson Allen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, August 02, 2007The Point View Hotel on Brownsville Road in Brentwood is believed by local historians to have been a likely stop for slaves hoping to escape to Canada on the Underground Railroad.
At its July 24 meeting, Brentwood council gave final approval to demolish the historic hotel. Brentwood Medical Group, which now owns the hotel, plans to build a three-story medical building on the site.
Louise Sturgess, of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said there are few buildings in Pittsburgh that are as old as the Point View Hotel.
“Based on documents the foundation has seen, we believe the building did serve as a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s.” Estimates of the construction date are as early as 1832.
The foundation included the hotel in its book, “A Legacy in Bricks & Mortar, African-American Landmarks in Allegheny County.”
Samuel Black, the curator for African American history exhibits at the Senator John Heinz History Center, agreed that the Point View Hotel is an historic site, although it was never officially designated. He regrets the pending loss of the building not only for its historical significance, but also for its potential to serve as a tool for teaching about the antebellum era.
“It is an important asset that places the community in American history,” he said.
Sarah Martin, a teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and self-described Underground Railroad buff, has for years given tours to area children of Pittsburgh locations believed to have served as safe houses for fleeing slaves.
Of visiting the Point View she said: “Over the years not much was done to the basement. I got chills standing on the dirt floor. My hair stood on end. It was a very moving experience.”
Pittsburgh was a strong force in helping slaves escape to Canada, she said.
“African Americans in Pittsburgh were more active than in a lot of other places,” Ms. Martin said. She believes that because many African Americans in Pittsburgh were business owners at the time, a slave could easily disappear by finding a sympathetic person with access to places to hide.
In recent times, Point View has been used as a bar and restaurant, although historically it was an inn. Famous Americans who allegedly stopped at the inn include Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor and James Buchanan.
Keith Andreyko, an architect with Integrity Design, the firm responsible for design of the new building to be erected on the site, said that he had not toured much of the hotel himself because he thinks it is unsafe.
Several historical sites in the area have been lost over the past 15 years because they were not kept in their original condition, Mr. Black said.
Dr. Scott Carnivale, president of Brentwood Medical, said, “It’s sad for a building of that age to be demolished. I recognize that it’s a loss for the community.”
Although it initially hoped that the building could be kept intact, once the History & Landmarks Foundation determined that it could not be saved, its strategy was to stay in contact with Brentwood council and the developers. The foundation hopes to be granted a final tour of the historic site.
Ms. Sturgess, Mr. Black, and Ms. Martin each said that honoring the building’s place in history is important and hope that a permanent plaque describing the hotel’s role in the Underground Railroad can be installed somewhere on the site.
Both Dr. Carnivale and Mr. Andreyko indicated that they are optimistic that they can arrange a final tour of the building.
Demolition is expected early this fall.
Erin Gibson Allen is a freelance writer.
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Nephew seeks city historic status for August Wilson home
By Jodi Weigand
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 12, 2007The nephew of late Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson wants his uncle’s childhood home to mean as much to the community as did the man who once lived there.
“He wrote plays about the Hill District that took on national significance,” attorney Paul Ellis Jr. said of his uncle’s 10-play chronicle of black American life.
On Wednesday, Ellis asked the city’s Historic Review Commission to name Wilson’s former home — at 1727 Bedford Ave. — a historic structure. Commission members will vote Aug. 1. The request would need approval from the city Planning Commission and City Council.
“I don’t think there’s a question about whether we should designate this,” said commission Chairman Michael Stern.
The state dedicated a historical marker in May.
Ellis, 37, lives a block away from where Wilson grew up with his five brothers and sisters. Ellis bought the house in 2005 — the same year his uncle died at age 60. He began pursuing the historical designation about a year later.
“Many of the identified historical aspects in the Hill are gone,” Steven Paul, executive director of Preservation Pittsburgh, told the commission. “This is an example of an important structure for the community.”
Ellis said he has begun interior renovations and plans to restore the exterior of the structure to what it looked like when Wilson was a child.
“(The task) is physically and emotionally draining,” Ellis said. “What keeps me going is the spirit of my uncle and the desire to make a significant contribution to my community.
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Postal Service staying in Carnegie, but not in old post office
Thursday, July 12, 2007
By Carole Gilbert Brown
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe bad news for Carnegie is that the U.S. Postal Service is not interested in continuing ownership of its landmark post office building on East Main Street in the heart of the borough.
But the really good news is that the Postal Service intends to remain in the borough and relocate into leased space at the corner of Broadway and East Main streets, just a few blocks away.
No time frame for the relocation has been announced.
The developments were announced following a special meeting Monday afternoon at the Carnegie Municipal Building attended by U. S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, a team of USPS officials from the Pittsburgh District Post Office and representatives from Carnegie, Collier, Moon and Robinson.
“They don’t want to own buildings anymore is what they said,” reported Carnegie Council member Dorothy Kelly, who attended the private meeting.
She went on to say that she made a case for the federal government to turn over the 1916 Beaux Arts style building to the borough, arguing that, as a government building, it has not had to pay taxes on the structure and that it has failed to keep up with routine maintenance.
The roof leaks and some sections of the building, which was designed and built to be a post office, need to be painted.
Because of its age, architecture and history, the building would qualify for listings in national and state historic landmark registries.
Mrs. Kelly said she did not receive a specific response to her suggestion, though postal officials said future uses for the building would be handled by its assets management department.
Authorities indicated the USPS has suffered financially because of competition from private mail delivery services like UPS and FedEx. Last November, USPS spokesman Tad Kelley said, “What’s important to us is that we have a delivery [method] for people in the Carnegie ZIP code and that we have retail space.”
The Carnegie 15106 ZIP code serves Carnegie, Rosslyn Farms, Heidelberg and portions of Scott and Collier.
He added that USPS is trying to keep costs in line with services and comply with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.
The new location would have access to parking in front of the Family Dollar store, as well as maneuvering ease to a loading dock.
Monday’s session also addressed concerns from surrounding, growing communities that would like to have their own ZIP codes. Moon shares its 15108 ZIP code with Coraopolis, but five ZIP codes service Robinson and four are used in Collier.
Mr. Kelley said last year that municipalities often attach their identities to ZIP codes, which the USPS views as simply numerical paths for sorting mail, much of which is done by automation.
Municipal representatives interested in obtaining single ZIP codes for their communities were given procedural information and contact numbers.
(Carole Gilbert Brown is a freelance writer. )
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Ceiling collapse at Schenley High clouds building’s future
Wednesday, July 11, 2007By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials will check ceilings throughout Schenley High School after a collapse in a second-floor stairwell yesterday forced the relocation of summer school for about 900 students.
The incident may rekindle debate about the future of the triangle-shaped Oakland landmark, which architects have said would need $55.7 million to $86.9 million in renovations to remove asbestos and address other problems.
A custodian found the fallen ceiling after arriving at work early yesterday.
The district canceled summer school for high school students yesterday and later announced it was relocating the classes to Peabody High School in East Liberty for the duration of the term, which expires July 30.
Schenley hosted summer classes for students from all 10 district high schools.
Classes will operate on the usual schedule. The district today will begin providing shuttle buses at dismissal time to help students get from Peabody to their regular Port Authority bus stops.
District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said she did not know whether the ceiling collapse released asbestos into the air.
She said tests determined there was no air-quality problem immediately outside the stairwell. But she said no test yet had been performed inside the stairwell, which was enclosed after the ceiling collapse.
Ms. Pugh wasn’t able to say whether Schenley will hold its orientation program for incoming freshmen next month. Each high school is scheduled to hold the orientation, a new program, before the 2007-08 year begins.
The fate of the building, which is more than 90 years old and on the National Register of Historic Places, has been in limbo since November 2005. That’s when school Superintendent Mark Roosevelt, citing the high renovation costs, proposed closing the building and moving Schenley High School to the former Reizenstein Middle School building in Shadyside.
He pulled the proposal for further study after students and parents objected, citing Schenley’s storied history and high achievement. Supporters said the school’s location in vibrant Oakland had helped to make its international studies program a success.
Since then, officials have discussed possible financing methods but made no decision, even though they’ve lamented the district’s growing capital costs and the related strain on the operating budget. The recently launched project on districtwide high school improvement could help to determine the building’s future.
(Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548. )
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Planners review North Side stable development
By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, July 9, 2007A North Side building being considered for historic designation by City Council could someday give new meaning to the phrase “stable living arrangements.”
The Allegheny Stables, built by Allegheny City leaders as a place to house their Department of Public Works horses, appears poised for designation as a historic structure. If City Council approves the designation at its July 17 meeting, the building would be saved from possible demolition, clearing the way for developers to turn it into condominiums.
“It is one of the last vestiges of the City of Allegheny’s history,” said Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference.
The building, in the 800 block of West North Avenue in the neighborhood of Allegheny West, is owned by Rutledge Equipment Co., according to Allegheny County real estate records. Menzock Scrap Inc., which owns a tiny scrap yard behind the former stables, wanted to buy and raze the building so the yard could be expanded, Fatla said.
Neither Rutledge Equipment nor Menzock Scrap could be reached for comment.
The former stables are surrounded by Victorian-era industrial buildings. Companies today prefer one-story, open floor plans to the old style of thin, multi-floor designs of the other buildings on the street. As a result, they’ve sat vacant for years, said Jim Wallace, chairman of the Allegheny West Civic Council’s Housing and Planning Committee.
But the old, detailed style of architecture common to the street and its proximity to Downtown, Heinz Field and PNC Park make the area ripe for loft-style apartments and condominiums, Fatla said.
That is, if neighborhood advocates can keep the buildings from being knocked down.
Preservationists and community leaders ultimately want the area designated as a historic neighborhood, which they said would preserve its unique architecture. Since the Allegheny Stables were in danger of being demolished first, the group started there — and got the blessing of the city’s planning and historic preservation commissions.
“People have returned to these neighborhoods for something they can’t get anywhere else,” Fatla said. “More and more homes are getting restored.”
The next step is organizing development of the entire block. Otherwise, once one condominium is finished, the first residents would have only abandoned industrial buildings as neighbors.
Should no one be keen on living in a former stable, Timothy G. Zinn, a co-author of the proposal for the building’s historic designation, urged them to consider this: It was a really nice stable.
“This would have been like a horse palace, almost,” said Zinn, 43, a historic preservationist with the Michael Baker Corp. architectural firm. “This had to be the most well-appointed of all the stable buildings. There’s nice architectural detailing and wonderful brickwork.”
Zinn said state records indicate 15 stables were built throughout Allegheny City, which became part of Pittsburgh after a controversial annexation in 1907.
The rest of the stables “were not like this,” Zinn said. “This was certainly the most grand structure.”
Mike Wereschagin can be reached at mwereschagin@tribweb.com or (412) 391-0927.
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Can the former Fourth United Presbyterian Church be saved? – Friendship landmark abandoned and crumbling
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, July 7, 2007With its rugged presence, the former Fourth United Presbyterian Church holds a prominent corner in Friendship, at the intersection of Friendship and South Pacific avenues. But for how long? It’s a good building fallen on bad times.
Built in the 1890s when the Richardsonian Romanesque was in vogue, the sandstone church has an arcaded porch with three arches supported by massive columns. Inspired by the welcoming, triple-arched porches of several of Richardson’s civic buildings, this one also promises shelter and security.
Sadly, the building no longer provides either. From the outside, the lack of maintenance is apparent in the missing windows and mortar. But that doesn’t prepare you for the scene of utter devastation and chaos inside.
In a first-floor hallway, water bubbles up from a hole in the floor, causing the floor tiles to buckle under puddles. Because water leaks through a portion of the roof when it rains, a staircase has rotted, and mold and mildew are everywhere. In the sanctuary, plaster falls from the ceiling onto the pews and paint peels from the columns, which still carry their Byzantine capitals, one of the interior’s few grace notes that have survived unscathed.
Stained-glass windows have been removed and replaced by plywood, which is falling away, or by nothing at all. Furniture is strewn about and packaged food still stands on the kitchen counters. In an office room, file cabinets hold manila folders full of church records.
It looks as if the congregation just up and left, which is exactly what happened several years ago, said the Rev. Lorraine Williams. The Fourth United Presbyterian Church — not to be confused with the still-active Fourth Presbyterian Church at Friendship Avenue and Roup Street — closed in the 1960s. Then it rented the church building to a school for about 10 years, the Rev. Williams said. She and her former husband, also a pastor, purchased the church in 1976 from Pittsburgh Presbytery. He now suffers from Alzheimer’s in an assisted living facility. She left their congregation in the mid-1980s and now is pastor of a church she declined to identify because she did not want to associate it with this situation.
She said the congregation that abandoned the church — the Greater Pittsburgh Gospel Deliverance Center — now calls itself New Day Ministries and rents space in Emory United Methodist Church. But her name is still on the deed. The Rev. Williams said she, too, was appalled at the condition of the building when she was last inside about two years ago.
The church has been on the market for more than a year and been under agreement three times, including twice with the same buyer. Neither was able to come up with financing for what they wanted to do — demolish the church and replace it with townhouses.
The Rev. Williams said windows and other objects were sold and removed from the building when it looked as if it would be demolished.
For the past year, the church has been listed with Tim Kimbel, president of Star Real Estate, and is now priced at $165,000. Mr. Kimbel will hold an open house on Monday and Tuesday for qualified bidders. About 20 parties expressed interest in the property while it was under agreement, including two who’d like to turn it into a neighborhood arts center. Of those 20, nine will be touring the building. Others are welcome to do so, but they must call Star Real Estate at 412-494-4110 on Monday morning to report their interest.
After the open house, to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. Kimbel will take bids on the property.
“This is not an auction,” he said. “We want people to submit their highest and best offer” by Thursday, along with a refundable deposit in the amount of their choice between $1,000 and $5,000. He and the Rev. Williams then will decide which to accept or counter-offer.
The Rev. Williams said the income from the sale would be distributed to a church ministry but not to New Day Ministries.
The church’s architect is unknown; several local and out-of-town firms were working in the Richardsonian Romanesque style in the 1890s here. Nevertheless, the building is a neighborhood landmark, although not, unfortunately, an official city historic landmark nor part of a city historic district. Demolition will require only a permit and, Mr. Kimbel said, about $85,000, according to estimates he had received from demolition contractors who looked at the building.
Jeffrey Dorsey, director of the neighborhood nonprofit Friendship Development Associates, said his group was inside the church as recently as late winter.
“By our estimate it’s close to a $2 million project to rehab it,” he said, adding that while Friendship is full of preservationists, they are also realists. “It’s just not a front-burner project for us because we have other projects going, mostly on Penn Avenue,” including development of the Glass Lofts at Penn Avenue and Fairmount Street.
Can this church be saved? Yes, it can and should. But it will take someone with vision — and very deep pockets.
(Architecture critic Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590. )