PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[EventHorizon]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The renovated ISDA building is a gem, and it will be nice to see it put to active use:


Italian Sons and Daughters of America Building by joseph a, on Flickr

Very handsome building!

Why would they have even thought about doing this to it in the first place?...


Image from The Atlantic Cities, Courtesy of Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation

[Private D]

Originally Posted by EventHorizon

Why would they have even thought about doing this to it in the first place?...


Image from The Atlantic Cities, Courtesy of Pittsburgh History and Landmark Foundation

This happens all the time with great old masonry buildings. Instead of doing the necessary repairs/upkeep, it is far cheaper (from a maintenance and energy standpoint) to just cover the fucker with god-awful aluminum or steel siding.

It's the cheap alternative to actually giving a 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

[Austinlee]

Looking good their, Mr 🞵🞵🞵🞵! Loving those shades.

[Steel City Scotty]

Not to talk politics, but the polls in Pittsburgh will be closing in about 20 minutes.

From what I've read, it seems like most posters on here agree that a Bill Peduto victory would be best for the future (development) of Pittsburgh?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Steel City Scotty

From what I've read, it seems like most posters on here agree that a Bill Peduto victory would be best for the future (development) of Pittsburgh?

Looks like we are going to find out!

Just my two cents, but Peduto ran an impressive campaign (not a bad thing in someone running for an executive office), and he specifically won at least in part because he impressed people with his passion for urban policy issues. Of course lots of things could still go wrong (say, a bad dynamic with Council, continued anti-urban sentiments at the state and federal level, and so on). And even under the best of circumstances, I'm not sure if everything Peduto might do on specific issues would meet with favor around here. But overall, by the end it seemed clear to me he was the best candidate for anyone with a forward-looking perspective on Pittsburgh's development possibilities, and with some luck he could turn out to be very good indeed.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

This happens all the time with great old masonry buildings. Instead of doing the necessary repairs/upkeep, it is far cheaper (from a maintenance and energy standpoint) to just cover the fucker with god-awful aluminum or steel siding.

It's the cheap alternative to actually giving a 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

Thats not why they did that 🞵🞵🞵🞵 from the 50s-80s. They did it to "modernize" the look of the old buildings to compete with suburban strip malls and keep downtowns relevant. People during that time thought the simpler and more horribly disgusting a building looked the better it was since it was modern.

[LMich]

Except that like on the building above, some of these "modernizations" most definitely were done to keep down on facade upkeep. When modernization were done for looks, they usually deconstructed the historic facade instead of just covering it up.

There are exceptions, of course, but I'd bet the modernization pictured above was done specifically to cut down on window and facade cleaning.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Thats not why they did that 🞵🞵🞵🞵 from the 50s-80s. They did it to "modernize" the look of the old buildings to compete with suburban strip malls and keep downtowns relevant. People during that time thought the simpler and more horribly disgusting a building looked the better it was since it was modern.

I disagree with you to some extent. No question that what you say was partly responsible for the ridiculous and ugly coverings on so many of our masonry facades, but I really believe the maintenance factor was the biggest reason for these monstrosities. Either way, I'm glad to see many to most of them, at least Downtown, being eliminated finally!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[BrianTH]

It was both, of course. It is true that late-19th/early-20th Century urban architecture fell out of fashion in the decades after WWII (this is a common problem--when architecture is only a few decades old, it can strike people as outdated but not yet historic, and lots of buildings get lost in this period of their minimum perceived value). But it is also true that many post-WWII exterior renovations were specifically designed to save costs, in part because manual labor was getting more and more expensive.

Anyway, it is great to have this building back to the way it should be, and in fact it turns out that the way they did the siding, while obviously horrible to look at, was not too damaging and overall kept the building's exterior reasonably well preserved.

[Private D]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Thats not why they did that 🞵🞵🞵🞵 from the 50s-80s. They did it to "modernize" the look of the old buildings to compete with suburban strip malls and keep downtowns relevant. People during that time thought the simpler and more horribly disgusting a building looked the better it was since it was modern.

While a ton of classic architecture was destroyed in the process of making them look more "modern", the above case (and similar cases seen all around cities like Pittsburgh) is an example of slapping on cheap metal siding instead of repairing/maintaining/upgrading a building's exterior/fenestration. It became almost standard practice to do this to aging brick industrial buildings in the 70s and 80s, and regrettably it crept to commercial buildings as well.

They still do it today all the time, unfortunately.

[Private D]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Looking good their, Mr 🞵🞵🞵🞵! Loving those shades.

So 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

So 🞵🞵🞵🞵.

Of course by now she is probably in her 50s (judging from the apparent vintage of the photo).

[Found5dollar]

Does anyone know what is being built at Center and Melwood? I go by there almost everyday on the bus but just realized they have torn down almost a compete block of buildings.

[JDG]

I just learned from a linked article on PopCity that Pittsburgh was home to the WORLD's first movie theater. I'm a huge fan of movies so I was very excited to learn this. Seems to fit perfectly with the fact that Pittsburgh's been home to so many great films lately...

Does anyone know what's there now? Apparently the Nickelodeon was on Smithfield. Is there even a plaque or anything? I for one think that this is a really cool fact about the city and should be displayed. Furthermore, I would love to see a new movie theater downtown... (who knows, maybe in the former arena site?)

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/downtown/down_n71.html

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by JDG

I just learned from a linked article on PopCity that Pittsburgh was home to the WORLD's first movie theater. I'm a huge fan of movies so I was very excited to learn this. Seems to fit perfectly with the fact that Pittsburgh's been home to so many great films lately...

Does anyone know what's there now? Apparently the Nickelodeon was on Smithfield. Is there even a plaque or anything? I for one think that this is a really cool fact about the city and should be displayed. Furthermore, I would love to see a new movie theater downtown... (who knows, maybe in the former arena site?)

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/downtown/down_n71.html

According to Cinema Treasures, it was at 433-435 Smithfield Street although there seems to be a lot of dispute about whether or not that was actually the first dedicated movie theater.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by Found5dollar

Does anyone know what is being built at Center and Melwood? I go by there almost everyday on the bus but just realized they have torn down almost a compete block of buildings.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6130321&postcount=3873

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by JDG

I just learned from a linked article on PopCity that Pittsburgh was home to the WORLD's first movie theater. I'm a huge fan of movies so I was very excited to learn this. Seems to fit perfectly with the fact that Pittsburgh's been home to so many great films lately...

Does anyone know what's there now? Apparently the Nickelodeon was on Smithfield. Is there even a plaque or anything? I for one think that this is a really cool fact about the city and should be displayed. Furthermore, I would love to see a new movie theater downtown... (who knows, maybe in the former arena site?)

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/downtown/down_n71.html

Yes, there is a plaque:


There are some arguments that the first movie theater was Tally's Electric Theater in Los Angeles.

[doo dah]

...oh, and my husband, the Hamburger in Pittsburgh, says Hamburg has way more bridges than us OR Venice, about 2300. Whatever, I say

[BrianTH]

You have to watch those canal cities--if they throw a plank over a gutter with running water they will call it a bridge.

[JDG]

wow, thanks all for the info on the old Nickelodeon theater! Great to see they have a plaque down there too. Any thoughts on a new movie theater downtown? All the theaters around here seem to be either very small or further out of the city. I think movie theaters are always a nice way to draw a crowd into an area.... I'd love to see something like the AMC Loews Theater that's on the Boston Common. Has anyone ever heard of anything like that ever discussed?