Latest News
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If You Hand Out Eat’n Park Smiley Cookies . . .
. . . then your sidewalk activities will be a success! That’s what PHLF staff and volunteers discovered when they handed out 960 mini smiley cookies, compliments of Eat’n Park, on September 8, 9, and 10 to people who were waiting at the downtown bus stop on Liberty Avenue at Tenth Street, from about 3:30 to 6:00 P.M.
PHLF staff and docents involved people in trivia games, cup stacking, and identifying Pittsburgh photos and architectural details. All the activities were provided in conjunction with the Project for Public Spaces’s 18th Annual Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place Conference. The goal was to enliven a downtown public space, and thanks to Eat’n Park’s cookies, in large, part, we were able to do so,” said Executive Director Louise Sturgess.
Click here to skim an alphabetical list of people’s Favorite Pittsburgh Places (from “All of it” to “Wherever the free cookies are”) and to read some Bus Stop Stories.
Below is a gallery of 20 photos of the sidewalk activities.
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October Bus Tours Feature 20th- and 21st-century Architecture
- Modernist Landmarks on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Saturday, October 11, 2014
2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Board the bus at 1:45 p.m. at Station Square
- Chatham University’s Self-Sustaining Eden Hall Campus
Saturday, October 25, 2014
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Board the bus at 12:45 p.m. at Station Square .
PHLF’s final two bus tours of the year feature twentieth-century and twenty-first-century architecture and design. For reservations and information on tour fares, contact Mary Lu Denny (412-471-5808, ext. 527)
On October 11, architect Martin Powell of The Design Alliance will tell us about the Alcoa Corporate Center (1998). Al Tannler of PHLF will discuss the former IBM Branch Office building (1975), Pittsburgh Schiller School (1939), and the Letter Carriers’ Union (1928). Paulo Nzambi, executive vice president and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, will lead us on a tour of the community arts center and job-training facility designed in 1986. This bus tour features some of the sites in Al Tannler’s newest guidebook, Pittsburgh Architecture in the Twentieth Century: Notable Modern Buildings and Their Architects, and coincides with the Docomomo US Annual National Tour Day. (Docomomo is an abbreviation for “documentation and conservation of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of the modern movement.”)
PHLF’s October 25th tour will be a real adventure, beginning with a scenic 45-minute bus ride at the height of the fall foliage season to Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus in Richland Township. Eden Hall is the first university campus in the world built from the ground up for the study of sustainable living, learning, and development. Participants will tour several historic buildings and see the newly constructed Field Lab (pictured here) and amphitheater, among other places. Kelly Henderson, Sustainability Education Coordinator of Eden Hall, will welcome our group and explain how the 388-acre campus is self-sustaining in every way by producing zero carbon emissions and more energy than it consumes.Thinking Ahead: If you have tour ideas for 2015, please contact Louise Sturgess (412-471-5808, ext. 536) to let her know the places you would like to visit with PHLF on walking or bus tours.
- Modernist Landmarks on Pittsburgh’s North Side
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Historic Religious Properties Program News
HRP Technical Assistance Workshop a Success
Forty-six people representing 24 congregations from around Allegheny County and one group from Fairmount, West Virginia attended our Technical Assistance Workshop on September 30 at historic Calvary United Methodist Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Many of these congregations were there to learn from their peers about applying for a grant, selecting a contractor, managing a project, and raising funds for their grant match. A roofer, masonry contractor, and a stained glass window expert discussed restoring those significant building elements. The attendees also received detailed advice about filling out a grant application for the 2015 grant cycle.
2014 Grant Work Completed on Seven Historic Religious Buildings
So far this year, seven HRP grant awardees have completed work to preserve and maintain their buildings. Matching grant awards have helped to restore stained glass windows at All Saints Polish National Church in Carnegie, at Fairhaven United Methodist Church in Carrick, and at Sacred Heart Church in Shadyside. Jerusalem Baptist Church in the West End used their grant award to replace a very worn and rotted front door with a historically appropriate new one. The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh in Oakland replaced their entire flat roof, and Pittsburgh Mennonite Church in Swissvale pointed their bell tower. The Pittsburgh Northside Church of God in Manchester repaired windows and painted exterior trim. These matching grants, totaling $55,680, have leveraged $189,245 in restoration work. Other grant awardees are expecting to complete their projects by the end of the year.
Applications are Now Being Accepted for the 2015 Grant Cycle
Any religious congregation in Allegheny County that owns an historic building that is more than 50 years old and is planning on undertaking critical exterior work in 2015 may apply to PHLF’s Historic Religious Properties Program. Applications for the 2015 grant cycle are due December 1, 2014. Please see our web-site, www.phlf.org., for information about the program and an application.
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Thank You Interns
Jade Dominique Lee, who is studying environmental and interior design at Syracuse University, and Conner Houk, who is studying justice administration and anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, completed volunteer internships this summer at PHLF. As a result, they developed a deeper appreciation for the work of PHLF and for Pittsburgh. We thank Jade and Conner for their assistance and wish them much success. They are shown in this photo participating in a workshop with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project: Conner is standing in the front of the classroom and Jade is at the far right edge.Jade summed up her experience by writing:
Being an intern for PHLF was nothing I expected it to be, and way more than I had hoped for! Every week was a new experience, and a new chance for me to look at Pittsburgh differently. Spending my first summer in the city with PHLF gave me a great understanding of Pittsburgh’s history. From visiting the “Points of View” sculpture on Mt. Washington to touring a variety of Gothic churches and learning about Charles Connick’s impact on the stained glass industry, I was exposed to what it meant to know and love Pittsburgh. As a result, I now have pride.
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Register for Two October Bus Tours
- Modernist Landmarks on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Saturday, October 11, 2014
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Board the bus at 1:45 p.m. at Station Square
- Chatham University’s Self-Sustaining Eden Hall Campus
Saturday, October 25, 2014
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Board the bus at 12:45 p.m. at Station Square
PHLF’s final two bus tours of the year feature twentieth-century and twenty-first-century architecture and design. For reservations and information on tour fares, contact Mary Lu Denny (412-471-5808, ext. 527).
On October 11, architect Martin Powell of The Design Alliance will tell us about the Alcoa Corporate Center (1998). Al Tannler of PHLF will discuss the former IBM Branch Office building (1975), Pittsburgh Schiller School (1939), and the Letter Carriers’ Union (1928). Paulo Nzambi, Executive Vice President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, will lead us on a tour of the community arts center and job-training facility (shown above) designed in 1986. This bus tour features some of the sites in Al Tannler’s newest guidebook, Pittsburgh Architecture in the Twentieth Century: Notable Modern Buildings and Their Architects, and coincides with the Docomomo US Annual National Tour Day. (Docomomo is an abbreviation for “documentation and conservation of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of the modern movement.”)
PHLF’s October 25th tour will be a real adventure, beginning with a scenic 45-minute bus ride at the height of the fall foliage season to Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus in Richland Township. Eden Hall is the first university campus in the world built from the ground up for the study of sustainable living, learning, and development. A representative from Eden Hall will welcome our group and explain how the 388-acre campus is self-sustaining in every way by producing zero carbon emissions and more energy than it consumes.Thinking Ahead: If you have tour ideas for 2015, please contact Louise Sturgess (412-471-5808, ext. 536) to let her know the places you would like to visit with PHLF on walking or bus tours.
- Modernist Landmarks on Pittsburgh’s North Side
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Register by Sept. 20 for Historic Religious Properties Workshop
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Calvary United Methodist Church (North Side)
971 Beech Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15233Reservations required by September 20, 2014. Up to 3 members from any one historic religious property. $20 per person (includes lunch). Space is limited so register early.
Contact: Carole Malakoff, 412-321-3612 or hrp@phlf.orgPHLF will be holding a Technical Assistance Workshop for guardians of historic religious properties on Tuesday, September 30, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Calvary United Methodist Church (Beech and Allegheny avenues), on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
This one-day workshop will be peer-generated: the focus will be on building a network of congregation members and religious leaders who are committed to restoring their historic religious structures and learning from each other as well as from experts in the construction field. Panels of congregation representatives will relate their experiences in managing building projects at their places of worship.
Participants will be able to ask questions and discuss ideas about selecting and working with a contractor, raising matching funds, and undertaking critical exterior work on their historic religious properties.
In addition, PHLF staff will guide participants through the process of applying for an HRP matching grant. By the end of the workshop, participants who want to apply to PHLF for a matching grant or technical assistance in 2015 will have completed about 75% of their application. The application deadline for PHLF’s 2015 HRP program is December 1, 2014.
We encourage you to attend the workshop if:
- you are a religious leader or member of a congregation that needs matching funds to undertake an exterior project, roofing, gutter work, masonry repairs, or stained glass window restoration;
- you want to connect with others who have had experience with PHLF’s HRP program and have successfully undertaken critical building improvements;
- you want to know how to begin prioritizing your building needs and involving your congregation in raising funds to maintain and restore its place of worship.
Registration fee is $20 which covers lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Advance reservations are required. Space is limited. Please contact Carole Malakoff, HRP Coordinator, before September 20, to let her know how many people from your congregation will attend. (Up to 3 members from any one congregation can register.) Help us make the workshop a success by registering today! Send your check ($20 per person) made out to PHLF to:
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation
100 West Station Square Drive, Suite 450
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-1134
Attn.: Carole Malakoff -
100% of Your Gift Funds Preservation Work
I really appreciate the work PHLF does to maintain historical buildings in our city. These projects touch so many lives and make our city a much better place.
––Everett Ramer, Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, January 27, 2014
One of the most direct ways that PHLF helps maintain architectural landmarks throughout Allegheny County is by continuing its Historic Religious Properties (HRP) program, supported each year by generous donations from its members and friends.
“We improve the quality of life for people as we help renew the institutions they value,” said David Vater, Chair of PHLF’s HRP Committee. Since 1997, PHLF has awarded 247 matching grants totaling more than one million dollars to help restore key historic religious properties in Allegheny County and, in the process, has created community pride and encouraged renewal.
“The contributions we receive in support of our HRP program, now through December 31, will make it possible for us to offer another cycle of matching grants and technical assistance in 2015,” said HRP Committee Vice-Chair Kathy Testoni. “Since PHLF underwrites the staff and operating costs of the HRP program, 100% of each donation is awarded in the form of matching grants to directly fund restoration work.”
“This is PHLF’s 50th anniversary year,” noted Mr. Vater. “I encourage people to give generously, in thanks for all that PHLF has done to improve the quality of life for people in this region.”
Please click here to contribute; please direct your gift to the Historic Religious Properties program. For more information about the HRP program and the award recipients in 2014, click here.
Your support will help us continue this valuable program of financial and technical assistance that has produced significant preservation results since its inception in 1997. We thank you!
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Summer Workshops Result in 3 New Poetry & Art Books
Imagine being a detail on a building: the doorway, window hood, or rooftop, perhaps. What poem would you write about being that detail? How would you draw that detail?
That was the assignment that Louise Sturgess, Executive Director of PHLF, gave to 23 teachers on July 10 and then to 39 students on July 11, during workshops offered through the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (WPWP).
A site of the National Writing Project, the WPWP is co-sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. It aims to improve literacy teaching and learning pre-K through college, across all subjects. Each year the site hosts a four-week Summer Institute for teachers, where teachers engage in intensive writing, inquiry, and leadership work. This summer, the site also sponsored five Young Writers Institutes in the region; PHLF engaged with the Westmoreland Young Writers.
The poems and artwork created during PHLF’s workshops were compiled and published in one book for the teachers and in two E-books for the students (grades 4-6; grades 7-9), thanks to funding support from the McSwigan Family Foundation and Alfred M. Oppenheimer Memorial Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation.
“We have published more than 40 Poetry and Art books since 2003,” said Louise, “and, in the process, have helped people understand how the built environment can be a source for inspiration and creativity. As people learn about (and draw and write about) historic places, they naturally develop a desire to further explore and possibly even care for those places.”
If you would like to see PHLF’s collection of Poetry and Art books, please visit our library, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To make an appointment, e-mail Albert Tannler.