Category Archive: Threatened Historic Resources
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Making hay out of history
By Marjorie Wertz
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 20, 2005Pennsylvania wants to make hay out of its historic barns.
The state House and Senate recently passed a resolution to take inventory of Pennsylvania’s historic barns and to use the list to promote agriculture and tourism.The inventory, conducted by the state Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, is due November 2006.
“There are 22,000 farms in western Pennsylvania in 33 counties,” said Lu Donnelly, project coordinator for an upcoming exhibit on barns at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. “Many of these farms have more than one barn, yet many of the barns are falling down.
“Pennsylvania is quickly losing its rural heritage. Barns are very important and I’m glad the Legislature is aware of them,” Donnelly said.
The inventory was sparked by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, a legislative research agency of the General Assembly. “Pennsylvania has a rich agricultural heritage and barns have been a mainstay in the state’s agriculture industry,” said Jonathan Johnson, senior policy analyst for the center.
Researchers will start with farms listed with the state’s Century and Bicentennial Farms Program, which recognizes families who have been farming the same land for 100 or 200 years.
“We have over 2,000 farms in the centennial and 205 farms in the bicentennial categories,” said program director Catalina Ruhl. “But whether there are barns on these lands is another thing.”
The Albert and Nancy Lee Shetler farm, located outside of Greensburg, is the only Westmoreland County farm to receive the bicentennial farm award since the program was implemented last year.
The Shetlers’ original log barn burned down and the family built a new one in 1909. It was one of the first barns in the county built with trusses.
The legislators’ resolution did not determine what constitutes a historic barn, Johnson said.
According to criteria set by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation’s Historic Farm Preservation Program, a historic barn must be at least 50 years old, said Jack Miller, director of gift planning.
“The barn should have significant architecture or architectural style,” Miller said.
A major grant from a local foundation helped the organization to preserve five farms throughout Western Pennsylvania with historic buildings and more than 1,300 acres of farmland since the program started in 2000.
“Rural preservation is especially important in Allegheny County,” Miller said. “We’re down to less than 18,000 acres of farmlands. One of the issues that farmers are facing is the escalation of taxes and urban sprawl. They can’t afford to pay the taxes and they end up selling part of their land because farming no longer pays the bills.”
Miller said his role is to show farm owners how planned gifts can be beneficial in saving farmlands.
Liberta and Richard H. McConnell have lived on their Buffalo Township, Butler County farm since 1939. The couple purchased the farm from her parents, Daniel and Pauline Zeloyle.
“In the block foundation of the barn, somebody chiseled 1900 into the block,” said Liberta McConnell. “My dad bought the farm from Oscar Uhl and I think he was the one that founded it. The barn is still in good shape. Some people let their barns go downhill and that just makes me sick. Once the barns are gone, they’re gone and that’s the end of an era.”
The L.B. Roenigk Farm in Buffalo Township, Butler County, also has a 110-year-old barn.
Most of the old barns in Pennsylvania are known as bank barns, said Gary Shepard, director of the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Westmoreland County.
“These historic barns were designed as closed structures. They were very efficient at the time and worked for a small number of animals. They’re beautiful old buildings but in light of modern technology, they don’t fit in,” Shepard said.
Bank barns were built into a mound of earth or an artificially created bank.
“They tend to be poorly ventilated and dark as opposed to what we use today,” Shepard said. “Feed was dropped into the basement of the bank barns for the animals. These barns continue to be used by dairy farmers and they still work but they don’t offer much animal comfort.”
Historic barns were considered near extinction in 1987 when the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Successful Farming magazine launched Barn Again, a national program to preserve historic farm buildings. Barn Again has shown how historic barns can be adapted for new farming uses and ways in which preservation techniques are more cost-effective to tearing down and rebuilding.
Scott Branthoover’s bank barn in West Newton was built around 1904 or 1907 and has been in his family since 1945 when his grandfather purchased the farm. Much of his farm’s infrastructure is built around the barn.
“We’re putting red sheet metal over one exterior side of the barn to preserve the wood. It’s very labor-intensive to keep the wood preserved,” said Branthoover. “We did a lot of replacement beam work downstairs and I put in a cement floor in the upper floor. This barn is still a very functional part of our business.”
One of the most visible farms along Route 30 in Westmoreland County is the Clair Frye farm in Unity Township.
“The house is about 200 years old. I don’t know exactly how old the barn is, but I think it’s well over 100 years old,” said Lois Frye.
She and her husband, the late Clair Frye, purchased the farm in 1954 from Martha Kuhns.
“There was a barn that sat up the road from us and somebody told us that barn had been built during the Battle of Gettysburg,” said Frye, 75. “The rumor was that the workers stopped construction on the barn because they could hear the cannons from the battle. I believe our barn was built around the same time.”
Frye’s son, Wayne, now runs the farm. He said there is an underground cave with a spring that runs down the hill to the barn.
“There used to be a watering trough for travelers along old Route 30,” said Wayne Frye, of the road that runs directly through the farm.
The Carnegie Museum of Art is also harvesting the revived interest in barns.
It will sponsor a special exhibit, “Barns of Western Pennsylvania: Vernacular to Spectacular,” beginning in February.
The state Historical and Museum Commission has been working on farmland preservation issues with the agriculture department for some time, said Jane Crawford, press secretary for the commission.
“This is an interesting and ambitious project. We have to meet with some of our partners to get a sense of what has to be done and how this inventory can be accomplished,” said Crawford. “We’ve already been working on identifying historic farms so this resolution will be a continuation of what we’ve done but at a stepped-up pace.”
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Plan to build school divides district
By Daniel Casciato
Thursday, October 27, 2005Woodland Hills School District officials are proceeding with plans to build a new East Junior High School despite opposition from some in the community.
There has been disagreement among school board members and residents in the district about whether to build a new $18 million junior high school in Turtle Creek or remodel the current one, which is in the former Turtle Creek High School.“This is an illogical project,” said Bob Mock, a lifelong Turtle Creek resident. “Demolition of the current school is out of the question.”
Mock has organized a campaign, Save Turtle Creek High School, to preserve the building, which was constructed in 1917. The building is slated for demolition under the plan to build a new high school.
Earlier this month, the school board voted 5-3 to submit preliminary construction documents to the state Department of Education so the district will be partially reimbursed for building a new, 100,000-square-foot school.
School board members Robert Tomasic, Fred Kuhn and Marilyn Messina voted against the new school. Board President Cindy Lowery and four members — Linda Cole, Dr. William Driscoll, Colleen Filiak and Dr. Randy Lott — voted in favor. Board member Tanya Smith was absent.
The board also voted 5-3 to issue a $30.9 million bond issue to fund this project and make improvements to the Wolvarena football stadium and the Woodland Hills High School soccer field. Tomasic said the bond is expected to add about 1 mill to the current tax rate of 23.9 mills. The owner of a home assessed at $100,000 a year would pay an additional $100 a year in property taxes with the increase.
“Our taxpayers cannot afford this type of project,” Tomasic said. “It’s unbelievable that some of the board members want to go through with this.”
Filiak said that school officials might be able to cut other expenses to compensate for all or part of the increase in millage needed for the bond issue.
“We’ll have to take a close look at the budget,” she said.
Chris Baker, facilities coordinator for the school district, said school officials explored the option of remodeling the current building, which houses about 330 students.
“We were told by our architects that it would cost several million dollars more to renovate,” he said. “It would be more cost-effective to build a new school. People look at the building and see that it is safe, structurally. But what people do not see is the difficulty and the costs in maintaining it. This building is outdated.”
East Junior High was last renovated during the 1978-79 school year, when new windows were installed. However, since then, more energy-efficient windows have been created, Baker pointed out.
The valves on the air handlers in each room also are worn out, and the entire heating, ventilation and air conditioning system needs to be replaced, Baker said.
School officials also are opting for a new building because the current one is not accessible to people with disabilities and does not comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Baker said. The district would have to make the building ADA-compliant if it went ahead with any major remodeling.
“To make this facility ADA-compliant would require an extensive undertaking,” Baker said. “We’d have to add an elevator, accessible stalls would have to be installed in the bathrooms, and the classroom doors would all have to be widened.”
The current building originally was designed for high school students, Baker said.
“There is a mismatch of what is being taught at this level and what the rooms are set up for, such as the wood shops, science labs and consumer science home economics lab,” Baker said. “This was designed for a different curriculum, more than what is necessary for a junior high.”
Mock disagreed with the school officials’ reasons for going ahead with a new school..
“I have spoken to major Western Pennsylvania contractors and technology consultants about this building, and they said that renovation would be cheaper for this district,” he said.
“There is wide range community support against this project, and the school board knows that if this was put to a public vote, it would fail.”
Tomasic made a motion at the last school board meeting to put the plan before the voters, but the motion failed.
“Everyone says it’s a good idea, but they don’t want to put this up for a vote,” Tomasic said. “If it’s such a great idea, let’s see if the taxpayers will accept this project. If you’re so proud of this decision, go to the taxpayers.”
Baker said school officials hope to break ground next summer, begin construction of the new school next to the current building and then gradually move the students to the new building in the fall of 2007. Eventually, the existing school would be demolished.
Filiak said she supports the project based on the findings of the school board’s Building and Grounds Committee, which developed a long-range building plan after studying the district’s needs.
“We need to build a new junior high school,” she said.
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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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Wilkinsburg housing project gains approval
By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 29, 2005Another project to improve the housing inventory in Wilkinsburg has been approved by the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority.
The authority on Wednesday authorized the county’s Economic Development Department to move ahead on the Peebles (Street) Square project, which involves the rehabilitation or construction of 12 to 14 houses in that area.
In July, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation joined with Wilkinsburg Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, in a separate project to revitalize housing in a six-block area near St. James Church, known as Hamnett Place neighborhood.
For the Peebles project, the authority will seek $1 million in acquisition funds from the state and apply to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for about $2 million to assist the developer, Action-Housing, in the project.
“About four of the houses are occupied, two by owners, but the rest are either vacant or boarded-up, or the site vacant,” said Dennis Davin, the Economic Development Department’s executive director.
The overall cost of the program is about $5.6 million, with new houses selling for about $75,000 and rehabilitated houses, $65,000. The authority plans to provide a second mortgage of about $20,000, which is paid only upon resale of the house, he said.
The Hamnett Place neighborhood project includes rehabilitation of six abandoned buildings along Jeanette Street to create opportunities for new single-family housing.
Allegheny County is providing $500,000 for the project, and the History & Landmarks Foundation, and the state, will provide matching funds.
Cathy McCollom, the foundation’s chief programs officer, estimates the cost to redo the initial six properties could range between $90,000 and $130,000 per unit.
Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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From landmark to Wal-Mart
By Rick Wills
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 8, 2005Dixmont State Hospital finally will meet the wrecking ball, more than two decades after the Kilbuck facility shut its doors, officials said Wednesday.
Demolition of the hospital overlooking Route 65 is expected to start within a few weeks to make way for a $28 million Wal-Mart Supercenter. The work is expected to stretch over several weeks, with construction starting in December and the discount store slated to open in May 2007, said Tony Chammas, a partner at ASC Development Inc., of Emsworth.Ralph Stroyne, of Kilbuck, bought the 407-acre Dixmont site for $757,000 in January 1999. ASC is to close this week with Stroyne on a deal reached three years ago to buy 75 acres of the site for the Wal-Mart.
Officials declined to disclose ASC’s purchase price. Stroyne could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Social reformer Dorothea Lynde Dix opened Dixmont in 1859, and the state Department of Public Welfare closed the facility in 1984 amid state budget cuts.
“Dixmont’s history is very sad, but reflects changes in ways mentally ill patients are treated,” said Christine Davis, an urban archaeologist and president of Chris Davis Consultants in Verona.
Once declared a historic landmark, the hospital’s 24 buildings, garages and dumps are crumbling, a target for vandals and a party center for young revelers.
“It’s important that people know what is there,” Davis said. “Once the Wal-Mart is there, no one will be aware of what was there.”
At its height, Dixmont cared for more than 1,000 patients. In its first century, the facility was operated according to Dix’s philosophy of keeping patients active and self sufficient. Patients spent their time tending to gardens and livestock, making shoes and engaging in a variety of sports and recreational activities.
Rick Wills can be reached at rwills@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123.
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PHLF offers to save Market Square Buildings
August 31, 2005
On Monday, August 29, 2005, we received a telephone call suggesting that an emergency meeting be held with the City’s Building Inspection Department to review the situation at 439 Market Street, a handsome Victorian building that once housed the restaurant Alexander’s Graham Bell. Some years ago it was fire damaged; the City took possession of the property and steady deterioration took place until the roof fell in through three floors to the basement. The walls are intact as is a mezzanine that is just above the front entrance.
We learned that the City had a bid of $30,000 to put on a new roof, make remedial repairs, and clean up the debris.
The next morning, Landmarks submitted a letter offer to Deputy Mayor Tom Cox and URA Director Jerry Dettore offering a loan from PHLF for up to $33,000 for the roof repairs and clean up, and the City would give Landmarks design approval rights for the exterior of this building and two buildings to the east. The loan offer is at no interest and for two years.
The City accepted the offer on August 31, 2005 and negotiations on details have begun.
We will report on progress as it occurs.
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Foundation tries to save Market Square building
By Mark Belko,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, August 26, 2005The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is offering to repair a deteriorating four-story building at 439 Market St., Downtown, to keep the city from demolishing it.
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks President Arthur P. Ziegler Jr. has sent letters to the city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority with his offer after learning that the vacant city-owned building, part of the Market Square historic district, could be facing the wrecking ball.
There is no doubt that the building is in need of work. The roof is falling in, floors are collapsing and walls need to be stabilized. Its condition has spawned complaints from some Market Square property owners, which, in turn, has prompted talk of demolition.
But the structure also is targeted for redevelopment by Preservation Pittsburgh as part of its plan for a “transit cafe” at Market and Fifth Avenue.
That proposal relies mainly on the former Regal Shoe Co. building at the corner, a structure designed by Alden & Harlow, one of the city’s most prominent architectural firms in the early 20th century. But the group also is interested in 439 and 441 Market as well.
After visiting 439 Market with Preservation Pittsburgh President Rob Pfaffmann Monday, Ziegler presented two proposals to the city and the URA in an effort to save the building.
One would be for Pittsburgh History & Landmarks to take ownership of the structure, plus the old Regal Shoe Co. building and 441 Market, both owned by the URA. As part of the transfer, it would put on a new roof at 439 Market and clean up the inside.
As an alternative, the foundation is offering to lend the city up to $33,000 interest-free for the new roof and to clean up the inside, with the loan to be repaid once the building is sold or developed by the city.
The only stipulation would be that the building, along with 441 Market and the old Regal Shoe Co. store on Fifth, be preserved and that the foundation have approval over any exterior design done as part of a redevelopment.
Ziegler was out of town and unavailable for comment yesterday.
But Cathy McCollom, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s chief programs officer, said it is not routine for the agency to offer to make repairs or assume ownership. But she added it was willing to do so in this case because “we believe those buildings are important.”
“It’s an attempt to address the issues of concern to the city and to allow time to look at the reuse of the buildings because once they’re gone, they’re gone,” she said.
Pfaffmann said the city has received an estimate of $30,000 to repair the roof and to clean up the inside of 439 Market. While neither that building nor the one at 441 Market were designed by Alden and Harlow, they both are “contributing buildings” with good facades that deserve to be preserved, he said.
“Preservation Pittsburgh and the PHLF have been constantly told by Mayor [Tom] Murphy that we ought to put our money where our mouth is. We believe this is exactly what we’re doing now,” he said.
All three buildings are part of the Market Square historic district, meaning that the demolition of 439 Market could not occur without approval of the Historic Review Commission, unless it were an emergency.
Neither Murphy nor his executive secretary, Tom Cox, was available for comment yesterday. They have fought preservationists in the past over plans for the Fifth and Forbes retail corridor. URA Executive Director Jerome Dettore reacted favorably to the proposal however.
“It sounds good to me. It’s an area where we’re all supportive of preservation. I think the preservation of those buildings is probably a good thing,” he said.
Dettore said negotiations over 439 Market would have to be handled through the city, since the building is owned by the city, not the URA.
Ron Graziano, chief of the city Bureau of Building Inspection, said any attempt to demolish the building at 439 Market is on hold as a courtesy to Pittsburgh History & Landmarks while it tries to work out a solution.
Aaron Klein, owner of Camera Repair Service Inc. a couple of doors down from 439 Market, said he would like to see something — anything — done with the building. He said it “already is falling down in the back” and attracts rats.
(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette