Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation 450 The Landmarks Building One Station Square Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Published for the members of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation No. 106 Summer 1988 Motor Square Garden & our Market House Tradition Preservation Fund Brings Economic and Social Benefits a Hands-On History Festival a Steel Worth Preserving a Remains from a Heroic Time Preserving Our Industrial [feritage Councilman Champions DemolitÍon of Historic J&L Structures After City Council voted almost unani- mously to ask the City Historic Review Commission to evaluate the LTV site, Councilman Jim Ferlo did an abrupt about-face and campaigned to rescind the motion; Ben Woods, Jack Wagner, Otis Lyons, Jr., and Eugene P. DePasquale joined him. Landmarks had only asked for several months time to evaluate a few especially significant structures and had agreed to the demolition of other structures. Landmarks believes that enormous benefits can be created by saving and interpreting the most significant artifacts of our steel industry heritage. As an examplg the restoration of about 100 dilapidated but historic houses in Savannah has resulted in tourist revenue of over $200 million a year, in a city not strate- gically located. Consider how much more impact these major industrial structures, lo- cated at the river's edge near downtown, could have had as an attraction. Building and Open Hearth #2 complex present preservation and reuse options for A løst /ooþ, most þrobably at Opeø Heørth #2 ønd Just why members of Council refused to for 90 days, to allow a reuse study. the LTV South Side Works. ty'¡e Bessenzer Building øt the IXV Soat/t Siù Plant. grant a few months' delay for various The Steel Industry Heritage Task Force studies that could have resulted in a multi- What We Høve Done: met for the first time on April 6. The Task million dollar tourist attraction is a mys- What We Can Do Force will act as a coordinating agent for tery. We might take a guess as to why Jack Our work to date, despite this reverse, gives the multiple reuse plans being proposed for STEEL TASK FORCE Wagner opposed the historic designation us a basis for hope. In early April, Land- abandoned steel sites from Pittsburgh to Chairman, David Bergholz evaluation of the J & L site. Councilman marks received official word from the Na- McKeesport, and will identify the best sites Wagner, an advocate of Jack Buncher's ef- tional Park Service's Mid-Atlantic Office for reuse as historic sites, develop adaptive The organizations and offices represented date forts to develop a festival market in the Director, James W. Coleman, Jr. that the reuse plans for other sites, assist in the to are: Strip District at enormous public cost, may NPS will be working with Landmarks and preservation of thousands of artifacts and Allegheny County Department of have been motivated to prevent such an at- the Steel Industry Heritage Task Force this documents from these sites, and find ways Development traction as portions of a preserved mill summer to carry out initial planning for the to fund this important work. Allegheny County Department of lrom coming into being on the South Side. reuse of several historical steel sites in The Task Force plans to build upon the Planning According to the Business Times Journal Allegheny County. This formal commit- example set by several other industrial Allegheny Conference on Community (May 16), Buncher is proposing that a ment of professional assistance comes at a preservation projects in the country, such as Development phoney "working model of a steel mill" be critical timg and builds upon several key in- the Lowell (Mass.) Historic Preservation Braddock's Field Historical Society built next to the festival market entirely itiatives Landmarks has undertaken, in- Commission. The Commission developed a Committee on Pittsburgh Archaeology with public money. I¡ve for the festival- cluding: preservation, interpretation, and reuse pro- and History market idea has faded across the country, Completing a four-county steel site survey ject for Lowell's abandoned textile mills Representative Ronald Cowell Representative William and fortunately has not won support in (the nation's first survey of steel sites); that now attracts over 800,000 tourists an- J. Coyne Greater Pittsburgh Convention Pittsburgh, thus far. A lengthy article in Conducting an intensive artifact and build- nually, and most recently has attracted & Visitors Bureau Business W'eek (Ãpril4) describes how fes- ing survey of the USX Duquesne Works Wang Industries' national headquarters. Senator John Heinz tival markets are failing to attract cus- and National Tübe Works, in cooperation By combining portions of the historic Historical Society of Western tomers and costing their city-sponsors large with the Historical Society of Western Furnaces and perhaps Carrie Open Hearth Pennsylvania subsidies. Pennsylvania, for the Regional Industrial #4 or #5 at the Homestead Works with Borough of Homestead We would like to hear more about Coun- Development Corporation; many artifacts from the Duquesne Works, Homestead C.D.C. cilman Wagner's working-mill model. In Proposing new federal legislation, which and other planned and existing attractions Homestead Historical Society the meantime, LTV may soon proceed with has been introduced by Senator Heinz, to from the Point to McKeesport (Buhl Kennywood Corporation demolition at the J & L site. Most probably include Allegheny County in the National Science Center, Three Rivers Stadium, LIV Steel doomed are the Bessemer Building and Park Service's 'America's Industrial Heri- Point State Park, Duquesne Incline, Station McKeesport Heritage Center Open Hearth #2. Future demolition could tage Project"; Square, the South Side, Kennywood's Representative Tom Michlovic include the rolling-mill steam enginq a Testifying in favor of Representative Mur- waterfront park), the Pittsburgh region can Monongahela Valley Area Historical small foundry, machine shop, and some roll tha's companion legislation before the develop a very powerful tourist-attraction Society stands: structures and equipment that could House Subcommittee on National Parks package. This package would have been Borough of Munhall have been creatively reused to show the nuts and Public Lands, chaired by Representa- much stronger if it included portions of the PA Heritage Affairs Commission and bolts of a steel industry. tive Bruce Vento (D- MI); LIV South Side Works, which are now PA Historical and Museum We greatly appreciated the efforts of Sponsoring a regional Steel Site Preserva- most probably lost. The city of Pittsburgh, Commission Mark Pollock, Michael Coyne, and tion Conference on February 18 to discuss itself, will no longer have structures that Park Corporation Senator Michelle Madoff who voted to retain the the potential for preservation and reuse of speak eloquently of the steel industry. Frank A. Pecora Pittsburgh History & Landmarks historic review, and who recognized the cul- the most significant steel sites and artifacts; Some artifacts, however, will be saved be- Foundation tural and economic potential of the site. Establishing the Steel Industry Heritage cause LTV has generously agreed to donate Project for Economic Renewal of As we go to press, the preservation ofthe Task Force (see Steel Task Force), in them to Landmarks we remove if them Cc¡mmunities LIV site hangs in the balance. Only two cooperation with the Historical Society the of from site. Rankin C.D.C. possible actions could alter current circum- Western Pennsylvania, as a result of the In cooperation with the NPS, the Task RIDC stances and allow the Historic Review Com- February 18 conference; Force by the fall of this year will have iden- Senator James A. Romanelli mission to carry out its designated func- Submitting a federal budget request for tified two or three "cornerstone" preserva- South Side l,ocal Development tion: $550,000, through Senator Heinz, to sup- tion projects for interpretive purposes, Company . Mayor Sophie Masloff could veto Coun- port National Park Service assistance for drafted proposals for reuse of other struc- Steel Valley Authority cilman Ferlo's legislation; the Task Force in planning and designing tures, and published an Action Plan for Borough of Swissvale Ot' the reuse of selected steel sites; Steel Site Preservation in Allegheny Coun- Swissvale C.D.C. r City Council could pass a compromise Working with the Task Force to sponsor a ty. Subsequently, with funding through the ili-State Conference on Steel measure just introduced by Councilman community meeting, at the suggestion of NPS, preliminary design-development can United Steel Workers of America Lyons to stay demolition of the Bessemer the National Park Service, on May 12 to begin for these sites. Page2 PHLFNews Summer 1988 ffiNEWS Welcome New fuIenzbers Th e C lt øirmøn's Rønzb /e : James E. Anuszkiewicz Ms. Judy Palkovitz Richard B. Bohnet Ms. Betty l¡u Parke Restoring Courtroom No. 321 P. A. Calderone Gene Pas Arthur L. Caldwell Mrs. Helen Jayne Paton Ms. Rosemary Crist Mrs. Mary Ellen Preuhs & Family Mr. & Mrs. Mark D. Freier Mrs. Thomas Purcell Mr. & Mrs. Erik Hardy Mrs. Margaret Pollare Rea Mrs. Paul F. Henry Mrs. Gleyn Richards Mr. & Mrs. Paul B. Jones & Family Mrs. C. W. Ruzzini John W. Kerns David A. Scherb Mrs. Evelyn A. Mason Miss Rosalie Silverman Ms. Glenna McElhone Ms. Debbie Turici $ Eric Minde Lawrence Vaccaro \ Northern Area PTO Mrs. Marigil M. lValsh & Family N Volunteer Profile: F \J V/alter G. Ritchie E o Walter G. Ritchie has been a loyal volunteer assistant for the past year. Majoring in architectural history and Oi creative writing, a self-defined pro- gram at Carnegie-Mellon University, 'Walter came to Landmarks needing 't to begin work in his chosen field. Su- san Donley, Landmarks'director of education, found his research and w * writing techniques valuable in creat- o ing a world architecture timeline for .o o the- Exploring Architecture teacher inservice and in writing How to Re' search the History of a House, which presents guidelines for tracing the È history of a specific property.