City Receives Nomination of 12 West North Avenue (Garden Theatre) to be a City Historic Structure

From the City of Pittsburgh Historic Preservation Planner

This is to officially inform you of the receipt (on August 10, 2007) by the Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission of a nomination of the above-named property to be a City Designated Historic Structure.

The Historic Review Commission acts to maintain the distinctive historic and architectural character of nominated and designated buildings, sites, objects, and districts in the City of Pittsburgh. According to the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 11, Historic Preservation, Chapter 1, Section 1.3, once a property has been nominated and until City Council makes a final decision on the historic designation (or until eight months have passed, whichever comes first), all proposed exterior work on the property must be reviewed and approved by the Historic Review Commission before the work may proceed. No property owner is forced to do any work to his or her building because of a nomination; a review is required only if the owner decides to make exterior changes. Please note that the Commission does not review interior work or use.

The Commission made a preliminary review of this nomination at its last regular meeting on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. At that meeting, the members of the Commission determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the nomination will meet the definition of “Historic Structure” as set forth in the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.

As a result of the preliminary finding that the nominated structure is eligible for designation, the Commission’s regulation of any exterior renovations that are visible from a public way will continue during the designation process (for a maximum of eight months).

The Historic Review Commission will hold a Public Hearing at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 to take testimony from the public concerning the appropriateness of the proposed designation. This hearing will be held after 1:00 PM in the Commission Hearing Room on the first floor of the John P. Robin Civic Building at 200 Ross Street, Downtown. All members of the public are invited to attend. A copy of the agenda will be posted on the Department of Planning website at:

(http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/html/historic_review_commission.html)

The Historic Review Commission may make its recommendation to City Council concerning the designation of the nomination at its November 7, 2007 meeting. This recommendation, together with the recommendation of the City Planning Commission in November or December 2007, will be transmitted to Council for its review and for Council’s final decision.