October 1991

PITTSBURGH HISTORY & LANDMARKS FOUNDATION oNE STATION SQUARE, SUITE 450 Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PITTSBURGH, PA I52I9-II7O PAID Pittsburgh, Pa. Address Correction Requested Permit No. 598 Published for the members of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation No. 120 October 1991 Around Town with the Preservation Fund a The Syria Mosque Site a Preservation Scene & Education News Pittsburgh Architecture: Moldíngs and the Like More Luck at the Neville House The Penn syln:ünifr Presemsatinn, Crßß : As Wb See It rt the Moment We are, at the time of writing, still Bingham Street, and merely passed the uncertain of what resources historic staff reports on to City Council. preservation in Pennsylvania, or per- Councilman Jim Ferlo has spoken as haps anywhere in the United States, will well in favor of making the Oakland have in the future. The situation looks Civic Center a City Historic District, an 330 South Third bad for any sort of governmental land- act that would protect historic buildings Street, Phila.del- marking that uses an element of legal and impose design controls on the phia. Thc Hßnrí- force. Until three months ago it ap- Mosque site and other cleared areas: cal Commíssi.on peared that governmental police power but, wou'ld this be constitutional? plaqu.e ß just ner might extend to historic preservation, On August 23,the State Supreme thc ground-fl.oor and municipal bodies in Pennsylvania Court granted the "petition for reargu- uind.ow. such as the Pittsburgh City Council, ad- ment and petitions on behalf of amicus vised by the Historic Review Commis- curiae lo interyene": in other words, sion, ând the Philadelphia Historical consented to reconsider the question of Commission, which itself can designate whether designation of a property buildings, were operating in confidence. without owner's consent constitutes a No longer: things have, or seem to taking. The reargument is scheduled for have, changed. October, and the storm clouds may yet An interesting story appeared in the pass. Post-Gazette of August 8. The City of We are thus in a state of suspense. Philadelphia is being asked for $2.5 mil- When the matter of 901-ll Bingham lion by Old Original Bookbinder's, a Street first came before the HRC, there restaurant oflong standing in the was indeed a brief presentation of the historic waterfront area. Having built a proposed design, but the developer's replica of the Krider Gun Shop for representative was not there to talk cul- expansion a couple ofdecades ago, ture; he talked only of money jobs Bookbinder's wants to tear down the and taxes. There might have been- a authentic, and landmarked, Elisha more appropriate forum to present such Webb Ship Chandlery for a parking lot; an argument and have it considered the $2.5 million is apparently to be com- carefully, but the representative was pensation for not doing so. Since the perhaps clinging to reality as he per- changing only slowly, form tough seems to have been an amicable affair Philadelphia Historical Commission ceived it, was perhaps one for whom, in strands binding the past to the future, with effects similar to the grant of a has landmarked a staggering 13,000 in- such a situation, money was everything. leaving us the sense of remaining at facade easement. Landmarks, being a dividual buildings and two districts A similar attitude appeared in the HRC home. We entertain nightmares of an private charitable organization, devel- (with hve more districts pending), a city membership in the August 2 meeting, a absentee, or merely money-blinded, oped a program to accept several facade already in plenty of trouble may be fac- manifestation of the members' uncer- developer's architecture of indifference easements, and continues to be willing ing an avalanche of lawsuits or other tainty as to their purpose. spreading over land cleared of such old to do so. Such easements bind the such claims. A historical analogy is possible. The places; of a community adequate only owner and future owners to maintain This, ofcourse, is a consequence of Pittsburgh developers of the past built for semi-nomadic business types, here the affected parts of the building the State Supreme Court's decision of industrial plants devoid of amenity for a couple of years and more inter- unaltered and in good condition. This July 10 in the Boyd Theater case, United though awesome in their size and force. ested in consumer goods than in streets obviously limits the uses to which the Art¡sts TheaÍer Circuit v. Philadelphia Had they bothered to justify themselves, and neighborhoods. property can be used, and its saleability Historical Commission, discussed in our they would have talked jobs and taxes. f$/- hat other resources might to a developer assembling a larger last issue. The question of whether Is not a modern developer who wants lf,/ there be? parcel, and the main advantage to the designation backed by a landmarks to break up a streetscape for an office Y Y For one thing, there is owner, apart from gratihcation at seeing ordinance is an uncompensated taking cluster in the middle of a parking lot, guidance andior pressure fiom organi- the building preserved, is in the tax under the Pennsylvania Constitution take a slice off the top of Mount zations such as Landmarks, publica- deduction available for a charitable has implications for such landmarking Washington for a hotel, or wreak some tions such as this one, and from a criti- donation. all over the state, and indeed nationally. other defacement simply acting in the cal public awakened to and vocal con- Scenic easements, used in Virginia, Our own current situation is a pecu- Pittsburgh tradition? cerning matters of quality in their com- seem unknown here. Yet even formid- liar one, with City preservation agencies Probably so, though the results are munity. Some developers, property able terrain like ours can be defaced: a operating in the subjunctive mood at almost bound not to be as heroic as owners, and tenants will be more acces- ravine made a parking lot, a hilltop best. Important issues such as those of they were in the industrial past. The sible to advice and comment than chopped down for a hotel. The grant of Syria Mosque, 901-11 Bingham Street, laissez-faire spirit u the same though, others, but the power of public opinion easements on a few critical places that and the Howe-Childs gate house have and we may know it to our cost if the is considerable. Our publications and are still largely wild might prevent some been handled as if the Historic Review preservation ordinance is voided. education programs will attempt to ad- nasty intrusions in the future. Commission and City Council had Suppose the State Supremç Court's dress both the public and the property Finally, in some cases outright pur- power over their destinies, even as the decision holds, and historic-preserva- owners. chase, by the community or by a private City Solicitor has been warning of City tion ordinances, insofar as they involve Again, there is the almost-untried foundation, may be possible and justi- liability for landmarkings of individual landmarking without owner's consent, resource offacade and scenic ease- hed by the unique quality of the proper- buildings, and of districts as well. are invalidated. Such a direct means to ments. So little has been done in this ty, its beauty, its historical value. This precipitated the famous HRC the preservationist end has been so areathat even lawyers interested in Remaining up in the air is the ques- session of August 2 in which the mem- tempting, and one looks about, anx- historic preservation do not know if the tion of whether any property can be bers showed themselves so unsure of iously, for something to take its place. City is empowered to accept such ease- said to belong to the people of a com- their obligations and powers in the pres- Out there are a few buildings that ments. Perhaps, until the controversies munity through their affection for it, ent legal situation - and perhaps un- would be works of art or shrines any- over St. Peter's and West Shadyside two rather than to its normal owner. But sure ofwhat they had been supposed to where. Moreover, there are many other years or so ago, there was no need to this had better be saved for another be doing all along - that they decided buildings and districts that probably know; landmarking before that time, es- article. nothing on Syria Mosque and 901-11 should not be frozen in time but that, in pecially as regards individual properties, Page2 PHLF News October l99l ffiNEV/S Welnome ['{eus Memberc Allegheny Historic Preærvation Society, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. John R. McMorris Mrs. Lois Monahan Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Nock Mr. & Mrs. Elmer R. Pohl & Family Mr. & Mrs. Michael Taylor New Corporate Members Allied Security, Inc. The Genix Group Bell ofPennsylvania SmithKline Beecham Consumer Brands Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania T&T Hardware Company, Inc. Fisher Scientific The Westin rWilliam Penn Hotel I¿ornre R Elkw We deeply regret that a long-time member of our Board of Trustees, Leonore R. Elkus, died on August 7. Active at WQED Mrs. Elkus conceived of our Bicentennial lecture series and then edited the lectures into the popular book Famous Men and Women of Pittsburgh, which we published in 1981. She was deeply committed to Pittsburgh and to civic af- fairs. She conceived of and hosted progmms such as "Key to the City" and "Let's Explore Music," and was a Distinguished Daughter of Penisylvania.

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