Scholarship Recipients Celebrate at Historic Mansions on Fifth

Landmarks Scholarship award recipients together with their parents and members of the Scholarship Committee posed for a photo at the historic Mansions on Fifth Hotel in Shadyside.

Our organization was delighted to host our Landmarks Scholarship Awards reception at the historic Mansions on Fifth Hotel in Shadyside on June 17.

In this, our 27th year of this scholarship program, our organization awarded three scholarships and five Honorable Mention-awards to college-bound students in Allegheny County who care deeply about the history and distinctive built environment of our city and region.

This year’s awards, makes it 94 scholarships and 74 Honorable Mentions that our organization has awarded to high school graduates in Allegheny County since the program’s inception in 1999.  This program has helped to introduce young people to the work and mission of our organization and has created a network of support and a sense of family among the recipients.

The scholarship award of $6,000 is payable over four years, while the Honorable Mention award is a one-time gift of $250, payable to the recipient’s college or university for tuition and book expenses.

The 2025 Scholarship winners are:

• Ryann Johnson of Pittsburgh CAPA, will attend Morgan State University
• Ala Kalani of North Allegheny, will attend the University of Pittsburgh
• Nora Kudis of Thomas Jefferson, will attend Saint Vincent College

Our Honorable Mention recipients are:

• Brodie Bard of Pittsburgh Sci-Tech, will attend Susquehanna University
• Aviv Davidson of Pittsburgh Allderdice, will attend American University
• Chloe Hanna of Quaker Valley, will attend Fordham University
• Riley Sheposh of McKeesport, will attend Duquesne University
• Sarah Voigt of Shady Side Academy, will attend Brown University

We were delighted to interact with our scholarship and honorable mention winners, together with past scholarship recipients, Scholarship Committee members, staff and members of our organization’s Board of Trustees.

David Brashear, who chairs the Scholarship Committee, and initiated the Landmarks Scholarship Program with funding through a PHLF Named Fund, presided over the event and congratulated award recipients along with their parents on the submission of essays that reflect their love of our city and region, and its built environment.

The Landmarks Scholarship program is supported by foundations, businesses, and many PHLF members have generously contributed to it over the years.

Located in a stretch of Shadyside that was once famously known as Millionaire’s Row, what is now Mansions on Fifth Hotel, was built in 1906 as the home of Willis McCook, a Pittsburgh lawyer and industrialist who was Henry Clay Frick’s attorney. The mansion, and a sister house was designed by the Pittsburgh architectural firm Carpenter and Crocker. It was completed in 1906.

It would go on to serve as a private residence and a boarding house for college students for many years before it was saved from demolition and adapted for a new use as a boutique hotel with the help of our organization. Today, the house boasts of a 22-room boutique hotel and is protected by a preservation easement controlled by our organization.

Scroll through the photo gallery below to see more photos from our reception.