Former Pennsylvania National Bank Building Nominated for City Historic Landmark Status

Earlier this fall, in partnership with the building’s owner, we submitted a City Landmark nomination for the former Pennsylvania National Bank Building (3480 Penn Ave.) in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.

Designed by the regionally known (and then Pittsburgh-based) Beezer Brothers and constructed between 1902-03 to replace the older, three-story bank building that existed on the same site and housed the Lawrence Savings Bank. The Pennsylvania National Bank hired the contracting firm of Calhoun & Miller to construct the building. George Calhoun and John F. Miller were Lawrenceville residents who had built several small houses, stables, and garages throughout the city with particularly high concentrations in Lawrenceville, Highland Park, and Friendship.

The architects were twins Louis and Michael Beezer from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and practiced much of their early work in central and western Pennsylvania before moving their firm to Seattle in 1907. While working in Pennsylvania, they primarily designed houses and churches. Notably, in Pittsburgh their most well-known building is perhaps St. John the Baptist Church, today known as the Church Brew Works.

The bank would close during the Great Depression in 1932 and today houses Desmone Architects, who just completed a modern addition onto the rear of the building.

To read more about the history of the building and for additional photographs, please click here.

If you would like to lend your support for the designation, please email the City’s Preservation Planner, Sarah Quinn at sarah.quinn@pittsburghpa.gov.

We would like to thank the Federal Government for their partnership and their efforts to maintain the building and restore important historical elements changed over time.

If you would like to help our landmarking efforts, please consider donating to our Landmarking Fund.

U.S. Post Office & Courthouse Nominated for Historic Landmark Status

Earlier this month, in partnership with the Federal Government, we nominated the U.S. Post Office & Courthouse building (Weis Courthouse) downtown to be considered for historic landmark status to the City’s Historic Review Commission.

Designed by the nationally prominent, New York-based architectural firm Trowbridge & Livingston and constructed between 1931-34, the monumental scale of the building was largely a response to the growing needs of Pittsburgh and the inadequate and outdated Victorian Era edifice that once graced Smithfield St. During the design phase Pittsburgh’s Chamber of Commerce perhaps best suited this call for change, urging the Federal Government to build “…a different sort of structure—one symbolic of Pittsburgh’s progress and industrial importance.”

And they did. The new building was the largest structure in downtown Pittsburgh, with around 600,000 square feet of floor space and room for 3,000 employees. The Pittsburgh Press reported that the building contained 15,000 tons of steel, 60,000 cubic yards of concrete—enough to build a sidewalk from Pittsburgh to Wheeling—and over 16,000 stone blocks, along with 1,126 doors and 1,200 windows.

The building also houses two of the four WPA murals within the City of Pittsburgh. In 1935 three large 20-by-10-foot murals were commissioned for the courtrooms on the eighth floor. Steel Industry by Howard Cook, Modern Justice by Kindred McLeary (since lost), and Pittsburgh Panorama by Stuyvesant Van Veen remain some of the most accessible, and breathtaking, pieces of WPA art for Pittsburghs downtown. The building also houses an incredible amount of Guasatavino tiling, a portion of which is currently undergoing extensive rehabilitation.

We hope that Pittsburgh’s City Council will join us in extending formal recognition to such an important, and monumental, piece of Pittsburgh’s history.

To read more about the history of the building and for additional photographs, please click here.

If you would like to lend your support for the designation, please email the City’s Preservation Planner, Sarah Quinn at sarah.quinn@pittsburghpa.gov.

We would like to thank the Federal Government for their partnership and their efforts to maintain the building and restore important historical elements changed over time.

If you would like to help our landmarking efforts, please consider donating to our Landmarking Fund.

Heathside Cottage Nominated for Historic Landmark Status

In partnership with its owners, we recently submitted an historic landmark nomination for Heathside Cottage in Pittsburgh's Fineview neighborhood to the City's Historic Review Commission for consideration.

Likely constructed between 1864-66, it first served as the home of "Colonel" James & Maria Carson Andrews, a nationally-prominent builder and homemaker, respectively, when the neighborhood was comprised of large tracts of land. As time progressed, the land was subdivided and the house became home to plethora of interesting characters.

Today, Heathside Cottage is home to theater artists Greg Manley & Catherine Gowl. The cottage gardens also function as a performance venue for City of Play, an organization devoted to reminding us all of our innate ability to play. They seek to transform their Gothic Revival masterpiece and home as a gathering place and point of pride for the neighborhood and city. More information about the house, including photographs, may be found here.

Heathside Cottage's architectural design is exemplary and draws direct stylistic connections to mid-19th Gothic Revival residential architecture more commonly found in New York's Hudson River Valley. We hope that Pittsburgh's City Council will move to recognize the exceptional nature of their home and celebrate its role in Pittsburgh's history.

If you would like to lend your support for the designation, please email the City’s Preservation Planner, Sarah Quinn at sarah.quinn@pittsburghpa.gov.

We would like to thank Greg Manley & Catherine Gowl for their partnership, as well as the Fineview Citizen’s Council for their support!

If you would like to help our landmarking efforts, please consider donating to our Landmarking Fund.

South Side Presbyterian Church Nominated for Historic Landmark Status

Earlier this year, in partnership with the South Side Presbyterian Church’s congregation, we submitted an historic landmark nomination for the church to be listed on the City of Pittsburgh’s Register of Historic Places.

South Side Presbyterian Church is located at 1926 Sarah Street and was constructed in 1869 by the prominent contractor John T. Natcher when the neighborhood was still the independent borough of Birmingham. Natcher is also responsible for constructing the South Side Market House, (former) Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church, and mills or foundries for the Garrison Foundry Company, Robinson Rea & Company, Zug and Company, Shoenberger & Company, McIntosh & Hemphill, and Clark’s Solar Iron Works. South Side Presbyterian Church would be enlarged by Waite & Rowlands in 1893 when a Gothic Revival facade, including two prominent bell towers, was added fronting Sarah Street.

The South Side Presbyterian Church is historically significant because of its embodiment of mid-nineteenth vernacular Gothic Revival design with late-nineteenth century Gothic Revival alterations, its association with themes of religion, ethnicity, and social history; and that it’s a prominent visual feature of the South Side Flats in which it stands.

Earlier this month, the Historic Review Commission found the building eligible for historic landmark status because of the reasons above and forwarded the nomination to the Planning Commission for its recommendation before Pittsburgh’s City Council will take it into consideration.

If you would like to lend your support for the designation, please email Council President Bruce Kraus at bruce.kraus@pittsburghpa.gov.

We would like to thank the South Side Presbyterian Congregation, Pastor Kathy Hamilton-Vargo, and the Pittsburgh Presbytery for their partnership and the extraordinary work they do to preserve, and now formally recognize, this exceptional piece of our city.

If you would like to help our landmarking efforts, please consider donating to our Landmarking Fund.