PITTSBURGH | Development Rundown II

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

My only question would be whether the prominent Forbes Avenue entrance canopy of the Skinny Building would be restored. I would think so... That doorway and canopy could serve as the Forbes entrance to the combined upper floors (whether residential or commercial) while the Roberts entrance and canopy could provide access to a ground floor retail space which incorporates the first level of the Skinny Building.

That would be awesome.

Relevant zoom:



I agree about the flowerboxes too. There is just so much you could do to make the Skinny Building a real gem--I might even suggest it could be a significant tourist attraction.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That would be awesome.

Relevant zoom:



I agree about the flowerboxes too. There is just so much you could do to make the Skinny Building a real gem--I might even suggest it could be a significant tourist attraction.

Look at that detail. It will really be stunning if restored to its original condition.

The Post-Gazette reported that the Skinny Building is recognized as one of the two thinnest buildings in the world. There is some disagreement as to which of the two is skinnier... I don't recall the details but our entry could well turn out to be a novelty tourist attraction, particularly if brought back properly.

Learned a bit more: The buildings will only be protected by easement if that option is chosen by the next owner. Now, PHLF has a binding 20-year agreement that the exteriors cannot be changed once restored. Apparently restoration funding is from a state program called RCAP and the 20 year protection is the most allowable. I figure that the two buildings, with restored facades and in a rapidly improving neighborhood, will have appeal to many developers and the URA could make a protective easement a condition of sale. And easements are move valuable to private owners versus government agencies due to the Federal tax benefits. All in all, this will be a great little project. Wonder how much the buildings would cost? Remember that Standard Life went for only $2 million. Maybe we could all pool our money...

The canopy of the Skinny Building has a name on it along the side facing Forbes. Can you zoom in a bit more to make the name readable?

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That would be awesome.

Relevant zoom:



I agree about the flowerboxes too. There is just so much you could do to make the Skinny Building a real gem--I might even suggest it could be a significant tourist attraction.

And look at what is now Rite Aid just west of the Skinny Building. I think that was a grocery store called Donahue's. It is a great building with a smaller, unrestored but still impressive façade facing Fifth. I don't care if Rite Aid stays there, but the lower part of the Forbes front needs to be restored. And on Fifth, with the Kashi project finished, I think the Rite Aid façade is one of two still unrestored between Wood and Market.

The city is making steady progress...

[BrianTH]

Max zoom I can get from Historic Pittsburgh:



"Hendel Building"? Something like that. I'll see if I can find out more.

Edit: Yeppers, I believe that is "Hendel"

http://www.emporis.com/building/skinnybuilding-pittsburgh-pa-usa

In 1907, banking magnate Andrew Mellon bought the parcel of land hoping that the City would later widen the sidewalks giving him a profit on his investment. Mellon sold the property in 1918 to Louis Hendel who built the three story building. The ground floor was once a luncheon counter/diner in the 1950s, and even a cookie stand.

Incidentally, that looks like a lunch counter of some sort (2 hamburgers for 15 cents, I believe), so that use must date back to at least the 1930s (not just the 1950s).

As also noted there, it is the Sam Kee Building in Vancouver that also claims to be the skinniest commercial building (there are some houses and such even skinnier I believe). The Sam Kee Building clearly cheats with its large bay windows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Kee_Building

[BrianTH]

Here is a little photo show of skinny buildings worldwide, including Pittsburgh's as well as the Sam Kee Building:

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/photos/9-of-the-worlds-thinnest-buildings

I can attest that Amsterdam house is in fact called out on the canal tours.

Anyway, here is the writeup and picture for the Skinny Building:

Pittsburgh's Skinny Building was built on a plot of land just 6 feet wide. The plot fronted what is now Forbes Street and was created after the city seized some, but not all, of the street-facing plots to widen the throughway. Most of the leftover plots were sold to the city. The lot now holding the Skinny Building was not sold, opening the way for the construction of this wonderful little building.

Just imagine how wonderful they would think it was if it was restored to something close to its original glory!

[Evergrey]

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/12/2...nglish-as-local-nepali-population-grows/

Brashear HS Students Break Through Language Barrier As Nepali Population Grows

December 27, 2013 4:30 PM



PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Tenth grade student Shubunam Magar pays close attention in her English Language class.

On this day, the students are working on pronunciation.

“Pay very, very special attention to your grammatical use and pronunciation of the apostrophes,” Brashear High School ESL teacher says.

Magar and her family moved to the U.S. three years ago from the south Asian country of Nepal.

They are among the nearly 4,000 Nepali speaking refugees from Bhutan who have chosen Pittsburgh as their new home.

“My sister found out that they have a lot of jobs here,” Magar says.

Not only do they move here for jobs, but they also find Pittsburgh to be affordable, safe and welcoming.

But many in the Bhutanese community, such as Magar and her family, come here speaking very little English.

“It was really hard for me, because wherever I go, everybody was like speaking English and it was really hard for me to understand,” she said.

Currently, there are nearly 300 Nepali speaking English language learners in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

In addition to the language barrier, there are also cultural difference and social customs that create challenges in school.

Like on days hamburgers are served for lunch.

“They praise cow,” Suraj Nepal, of Brashear High School, says. “They don’t eat cow, because they think cows are god.”

...

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

And look at what is now Rite Aid just west of the Skinny Building. I think that was a grocery store called Donahue's. It is a great building with a smaller, unrestored but still impressive façade facing Fifth. I don't care if Rite Aid stays there, but the lower part of the Forbes front needs to be restored. And on Fifth, with the Kashi project finished, I think the Rite Aid façade is one of two still unrestored between Wood and Market.

The city is making steady progress...

It's CVS, not Rite Aid; Donahoe's was a food shop/cafeteria - here is a photo from the Fifth Avenue side: http://danepieri-images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/large_64112892_12.jpg
Rick Sebak discusses Donahoe's (apparently pronounced "Dona-hoos") in one of his shows.

[photoLith]

^
Man from that photo the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 they covered up those facades with even when they were brand new looked like garbage, why they ever thought covering up beautiful facades with those blank ugly squares was a good idea is beyond me.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Max zoom I can get from Historic Pittsburgh:



"Hendel Building"? Something like that. I'll see if I can find out more

Hendel Building! Thanks! Was always curious whether the building had a name, althought Skinny Building has a certain charm.

The last zoom of yours appears to show that the upper curtain walls were mostly solid. It looks like the only windows were the ones above the flower boxes. Look like that to you? So much for light flooding in...

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by doo dah

Donahoe's was a food shop/cafeteria - here is a photo from the Fifth Avenue side: http://danepieri-images.s3.amazonaws.com/images/large_64112892_12.jpg
Rick Sebak discusses Donahoe's (apparently pronounced "Dona-hoos") in one of his shows.

Awhile back, either PHLF or HSWP published some interior and exterior photos from Donahoe's. The exteriors of the building were incredible---what a fancy place to house a food store. And I remember one interior pic showed a little shop girl surrounded by huge towers of fresh vegetables and fruit. It was impressive.

The Fifth Avenue facade needs to be restored to what is seen in your pic.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Just imagine how wonderful they would think it was if it was restored to something close to its original glory!

Given how the Buhl and Thompson and ISDA and the three cast irons came back, here's hoping that the Hendel Building can be restored to something near its original condition. I am trying to get a look at the plans.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

The last zoom of yours appears to show that the upper curtain walls were mostly solid. It looks like the only windows were the ones above the flower boxes. Look like that to you? So much for light flooding in...

In the full version, I think it is clear those upper floors are mostly glass, and the photo is capturing a reflection off the glass:



I think it only looks like solid wall in the zoomed-in version because in those portions of the glass, the reflected image is of buildings (presumably across the street).

I'd also note that since this is 1930s Pittsburgh, there is a good chance the windows either have Holland cloth roller shades, and/or are just dirty as heck.

[BrianTH]

By the way, it looks like to me in the current version of the building, it is only the divided-light portions of the windows (directly above the flower boxes, and also in a continuous clerestory row) that have been blacked out. See the image above, and also here:



That same source also has this neat interior shot, where you can clearly see the blacked-out clerestory row and the boarded section above where the window-box would be:



So I think it is a safe to conclude that a fully-restored, well-cleaned, version would in fact have a LOT of light coming in.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

In the full version, I think it is clear those upper floors are mostly glass, and the photo is capturing a reflection off the glass:



I think it only looks like solid wall in the zoomed-in version because in those portions of the glass, the reflected image is of buildings (presumably across the street).

I'd also note that since this is 1930s Pittsburgh, there is a good chance the windows either have Holland cloth roller shades, and/or are just dirty as heck.

I see that now. More glass is good---glad that is in keeping with the original.

[DKNewYork]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

By the way, it looks like to me in the current version of the building, it is only the divided-light portions of the windows (directly above the flower boxes, and also in a continuous clerestory row) that have been blacked out. See the image above, and also here:



That same source also has this neat interior shot, where you can clearly see the blacked-out clerestory row and the boarded section above where the window-box would be:



So I think it is a safe to conclude that a fully-restored, well-cleaned, version would in fact have a LOT of light coming in.

Agreed. Now I see all the blacked out windows. And the 7/11 trim is so bumped out, I suspect that the original detail is under there. Love the pic of the man reaching from wall to wall. Going by the earlier photos of the two buildings, it strikes me that maybe the floor heights of the upper levels might not match up perfectly. That could be worked around, I'm sure, but it just occured to me.

[Found5dollar]

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
Man from that photo the 🞵🞵🞵🞵 they covered up those facades with even when they were brand new looked like garbage, why they ever thought covering up beautiful facades with those blank ugly squares was a good idea is beyond me.

See: Modernism

the same distaste we currently have for styles like brutalism, the people of mid-century America had for victorian architecture. It was seen as old fashioned, ugly, and unusable.

This is why when anyone complains of a building from around the 50's being ugly and unusable you have to stop and think, "will we be decrying its loss in another 50 years?"

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by DKNewYork

Going by the earlier photos of the two buildings, it strikes me that maybe the floor heights of the upper levels might not match up perfectly. That could be worked around, I'm sure, but it just occured to me.

I had noticed that too--they may be as much as a half-step off, depending on how the windows are positioned inside the Roberts Building's upper floors.

One idea would be some sort of skylight-type effect, meaning the windows of the Skinny Building would be letting light into the level of the Roberts Building a half-step lower. But depending on what the City allowed, you could potentially also do some sort of sunporch-type space, in which case you could step down into it from the the level a half-step above. That would make for some pretty unique residences if you wanted to go with that approach. Finally, using your idea of recreating the Forbes Avenue entrance as an access to the upper floors, at least one section could be a stairwell, in which case the half-step off could be pretty much perfect.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Interesting article about three big development sites (the Buncher, Lower Hill, and ALMONO sites):

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...the-balance-in-2014/stories/201401030104

The most news seemed to be in the ALMONO part, including this:

US Steel's rendering for the lower hill:

[Austinlee]

Since there is no Erie thread, I will post this one interesting development for our only other "large" Western Pennsylvania city.

$150 million dollar project on the downtown Erie, PA waterfront. It's basically just some townhouses and apartments + a kinda lifestyle center. It seems feasible too since the owner has been sitting on the prime piece of land for 15 years presumably waiting for the economic conditions to make this redesign feasible.

I like the renderings because it seems like it will be a benefit to pedestrians as well as the residents who will live there.

http://goerie.com/article/20131128/NEWS0...tails-plan-for-Erie-bayfront-development

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Austinlee

Since there is no Erie thread, I will post this one interesting development for our only other "large" Western Pennsylvania city.

$150 million dollar project on the downtown Erie, PA waterfront. It's basically just some townhouses and apartments + a kinda lifestyle center. It seems feasible too since the owner has been sitting on the prime piece of land for 15 years presumably waiting for the economic conditions to make this redesign feasible.

I like the renderings because it seems like it will be a benefit to pedestrians as well as the residents who will live there.

http://goerie.com/article/20131128/NEWS0...tails-plan-for-Erie-bayfront-development

Looks damned good in terms of the overall layout, and the fact that it's a pretty large project, especially for Erie, makes it even better. This should be one heck of a major jump-start for Erie's downtown/lakefront!

Aaron (Glowrock)